Sen. Paula Simons suggests Alberta seek constitutional amendment to tax railway

It's not every day that Canada's Constitution gets amended.

But that's exactly what's happened following a request from Saskatchewan to get rid of a long-standing tax exemption granted to Canadian Pacific Railway.

A senator from Alberta is suggesting her province should pursue the same goal.

The permanent exemption for the CPR's main-line operations on the Prairies was granted by the federal government in 1880. It was designed as an incentive to get Canada's first transcontinental railway built.

The exemption was also written into the legislation that created the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905.

The Saskatchewan legislature unanimously passed a motion in November 2021 calling for a constitutional amendment to retroactively remove the exemption.

The Saskatchewan government said that would level the playing field for all businesses in that province while supporting provincial autonomy. The potential tax revenues would be worth millions of dollars annually.

The House of Commons supported the amendment. It was also approved in the Senate last week.

Alberta Sen. Paula Simons, who is with the Independent Senators Group, voted for the amendment. She said the passage of the legislation should send a signal that Alberta could follow.

She said Alberta should seek equal treatment.

"Like all Albertans, I'm all prepared to get my dander up at the thought of Alberta not getting a fair deal," said Simons.

"When Alberta entered Confederation in 1905, we were treated as a second class jurisdiction. We didn't have control over our resources and we didn't have this tax power."

To Simons, it doesn't seem fair that Saskatchewan has now been given the ability to tax the railway but Alberta cannot.

"Now we have this really sharp difference that in Saskatchewan there's been a constitutional amendment. The CPR will have to pay taxes along its main line, including fuel taxes," said Simons.