Hours after the operators of the province’s power grid warned that new federal electricity regulations could lead to blackouts, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government is preparing for the possibility of enacting her signature legislation in an effort to push back against Ottawa’s planned emissions reductions.
“We’re preparing a Sovereignty Act motion, and I’m hoping we don’t have to use it. That’s why we’re at the table having these negotiations,” Smith said, referring to a recently formed Alberta-Ottawa working group focused on emissions reductions.
“But we are going to defend our constitutional jurisdiction to make sure that we develop our oil and gas industry at our own pace, and that we develop our electricity system so that it achieves the goal of reliability and affordability.”
When asked at what point she would potentially invoke the act, Smith said she has continually said she would do so if Ottawa “comes through with emissions caps that are unconstitutional.”
Slightly. 😉
I still believe this falls firmly under provincial rights. Ensuring stability of the electric grid is a matter of life and death in the north. The Feds are unwilling to understand that.
Then perhaps they should stop subsidizing the on-it’s-way-out o&g sector and use that money to modernize the grids you’re saying won’t work.
It’s really not that difficult.
If only Alberta had some sort of major windfall years ago that they could have invested heavily into renewable energy projects…
Right now, unless we drastically change pace, there are 5 major glaciers at risk of collapsing in the next 15-20 years.
Each of these glaciers will independently make every coastal city(globally) uninhabitable due to sea level rise.
The time for drastic action is now.
We’ve known about this problem for over 20 years now. Alberta has done the bare minimum to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels for electrical generation.
And Alberta still has 12 years to bring new capacity online. That will have been 32 years in which they sat with their hands against their ears and did little but yell OIL OIL OIL!
If the Albertans government was so concerned for those in the north of the Province, they would have got to work decades ago. Global warming isn’t a new phenomenon they’ve only known about for the least 2 years. Other Provinces have successfully shut down their CO2 emitting power plants during this time — Alberta absolutely should not get a pass on this as a reward for doing close to squat for the least 2 decades.