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If the federal carbon tax is off the table after Oct. 21, it could deprive Moe of one of his political weapons. The NDP leader has been forced to fend off criticism that he supports carbon pricing, with the Saskatchewan Party citing past comments that seemed to welcome Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposals.

Meili has since came out against the federal carbon plan as poorly designed for Saskatchewan’s economy.

“It changes their ability to bang this one note that they’ve been banging over and over again, and in many ways misrepresenting, trying to put words in my mouth,” said Meili.

Then again, it might not change that at all. Meili said he’s sure Moe will find some other “distraction.”

Meili’s support — qualified, reticent, but nonetheless real — for federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh might be just the ticket. Moe has said he sees a direct link between the two, and ground to hold Meili accountable for Singh’s decisions.

“I’m a federal New Democrat. I’m a member of the party and that is absolutely who I’ll be supporting,” Meili confirmed.

He said the provincial and federal wings of the party share a social democratic philosophy. But they also have differences. Meili said the federal party under Singh has been too willing to say no to pipeline projects that pass through federal environmental assessments.

“We think it’s really important that we get Saskatchewan products to market,” said Meili.

But he greeted most of Singh’s platform as a “very ambitious” plan for stimulating the economy with green jobs, renewable energy and retrofitting. He also lauded Singh’s early support for universal single-payer pharmacare.