Alberta and Ottawa remain far apart on energy, climate policies after meeting
Before the meeting Smith said Ottawa’s plan for an emissions-free electricity grid by 2035 and a cap on oil and gas sector emissions that could be announced before the end of June aren’t realistic for her province without a massive cost to the economy and jobs. She said she was drawing a line in the sand that Ottawa can either get on board Alberta’s plan for getting to net-zero emissions by 2050, or it can get out of the way.
“I’ve never been somebody who takes those kinds of polar positions. You know, we clearly are interested in moving forward with electricity regulations to see a clean grid, because we think that underpins the economy in the future. We have committed to a cap on oil and gas emissions. But there are lots of different ways to do that. There are flexibilities and how you design it.”He did not say whether that would mean changes to the timelines for those policies.
One area of contention that seems to have been resolved is the federal sustainable jobs legislation, which Wilkinson tabled last week. Last winter Smith came out swinging against the promised bill, saying it was Ottawa’s intention to use the legislation to kill Alberta’s energy sector.She said scrapping the jobs transition plan was a “non-negotiable condition” of Alberta investing more for carbon capture and storage in the oilsands.
Initially called the “just transition” plan, the bill has been renamed “sustainable jobs” which the government says better reflects its intention.On Monday Smith’s concerns about that bill seemed to have mostly vanished, including because of the name change. She said calling it a just transition “set the expectation of phasing out oil and natural gas workers completely.”
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