Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says Ottawa's proposed cap on greenhouse gas emissions from the oilpatch singles out her province for punitive measures and she promises another court fight with the federal government over it.
In a press conference from Dubai, where she is attending the COP 28 climate meetings, Smith called federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault an extremist and a menace who refuses to work with her province.
She says Canada is facing a crisis because of the proposal.
Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is calling the federal proposal a new National Energy Program, a '70s-era federal policy that still evokes anger in the oilpatch.
Under Guilbeault's policy, the oil and gas industry will have to cut emissions by more than one-third by 2030 or buy offset credits.
The Canadian Energy Regulator says Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada where greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, mostly because of oilpatch production.
Recent polls suggest most Albertans support an emissions cap on oil and gas.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2023.
The Canadian Press
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I was wondering when Alberta
I was wondering when Alberta will pay Ontario for the emission reductions they negated after Ontario closed its coal plants. Canada had a significant reductions in emissions but Alberta increase in tar sands productions negated this completely.
Alberta has been in bed with the worse climate disinformation corporations on the planet. Koch Industries made a large portion of their fortune refining bitumen. We need to stop dancing around this. The Alberta government is every bit the climate villain as the Kochs, Exxon, Shell, Saudis, Russia, and the rest of them.
She is so amazingly full of
She is so amazingly full of it it's amazing there isn't brown bubbling out of her eyes and ears.
I'm imagining Newfoundland back in the day saying fishing quotas "single out" Newfoundland. It's so bloody stupid.
There is a partial solution
There is a partial solution to this problem. Keep all emissions locked up within Alberta. Can't be done because GHG molecules freely cross boundaries? Then buck up, Ms. Smith, and fund carbon capture. It is supposed to be the best option, as you repeatedly say when complaining the feds are not paying enough for it
The rest of us are at the point we don't believe anything Alberta leaders say, and resent having to subsidize "solutions" that do not have a proven record and are too costly to even contemplate. Solar, wind and the latest batteries are far more affordable.
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