An April Fool's joke that won't be particularly funny to farmers is coming from the federal government on Wednesday, April 1, as the federal carbon tax increases. With the tax jumping from $20 per tonne to $30, local farmers are preparing to absorb another hit to the wallet. 

Those farmers include Troy Adams, who runs his operation not far from Torquay. Adams, like most farmers, hasn't been a fan of the carbon tax from day one, but he said he had held out some hope the government might back off in light of the impact of COVID-19. 

"It's just another blow that we really don't need right at this time," he said. "You look around and see the economic damage that's happening in the country, and the government is intent on raising the carbon tax another 50 percent tomorrow. It just doesn't even make sense."

Some provinces who instituted their own carbon tax, like British Columbia, have refrained from hiking the price at this time. But as of this writing, the federal government has shown no such restraint. 

"We can all use a little bit of a break right now," Adams said. "It's a weird thing how they want to try to say they're stimulating the economy, yet (they're) raising taxes in the middle of it."

Business hasn't changed much for Adams's operation despite COVID-19, and that means neither have his expenses. He is still considered an essential service, and so work continues as usual, though he said he has one employee self-isolating at the moment, which has added to his workload.  

Adams is not alone in voicing his opposition to the tax hitting at the moment. Saskatchewan NDP leader Ryan Meili also said raising the tax right now, in the midst of people trying to get by against COVID-19, doesn't make sense to him.

"There's so much going on right now, I don't know that it's helpful to have that tax increase at this time," Meili said. "We think there are big flaws with the federal plan. Hard to imagine the province coming up with an alternate plan right now when they're scrambling on so many things on COVID-19. It would be very reasonable for the federal government to put a pause on the increase right now." 

Meili added that Saskatchewan should come up with their own plan once everything settles down, as the case before the Supreme Court might not get settled for a very long time.