(Ottawa) The Trudeau government has no plans to challenge Alberta’s use of its sovereignty law to try to circumvent federal clean power regulations. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault reacted to a gesture “motivated by an ideology that is anti-environmental, anti-climate and anti-progress.”
Posted at 7:06 p.m.
“It’s a resolution passed in the Legislative Assembly, it has no legal basis, so I don’t have to challenge it,” he said during a press conference late Monday afternoon. We are continuing to push forward the regulation of the CO2-neutral power grid. »
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is using Alberta’s sovereignty for the first time in a United Canada law to oppose the regulation, which, once enacted, will require its electric grid to be carbon neutral by 2035 .
“We are creating an opportunity for the federal government to do the right thing and take a step back,” she said on Monday.
Alberta wants to extend the deadline from 2035 to 2050, the year in which Canada aims for a carbon-neutral economy.
PHOTO JASON FRANSON, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
A motion tabled in the Alberta Parliament on Monday authorizes officials and regulators to opt out of cooperating with these new federal rules without going so far as to break the law. It also calls on the Alberta government to explore the creation of a Crown corporation, which would be “a last resort” to ensure there is enough electricity to be sent to the grid.
Smith fears disruption if Alberta is forced to replace its natural gas-generated electricity with clean energy. Electricity in Alberta is provided by private companies and they would not be restricted by the government’s proposal.
These fears are unfounded, said Minister Guilbeault. “It is clearly motivated by an anti-environmental, anti-climate change and anti-progress ideology,” he responded. It is important to understand that the Premier of Alberta has placed a moratorium on renewable energy development, jeopardizing $30 billion in investments in her province. Thousands of jobs are at risk and it is entirely ideologically motivated. »
He argued that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, two provinces that are “very dependent on fossil fuels,” have signed an agreement with the federal government to “work toward a carbon-neutral electricity grid by 2035.”
Ottawa has no intention of delaying its 2050 goal of clean electricity production. The regulation, which is still the subject of consultations, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby combat climate change. As part of the Paris Climate Agreement, Canada has set itself the goal of reducing emissions by 40%, and if possible even 45%, below 2005 levels by 2030.
with The Canadian Press