Alberta Will Never Comply with Federal Clean Power Grid Plan, Premier Vows
BNN Bloomberg
Alberta will never comply with a federal plan to phase out carbon emissions from power generation by 2035 and will go its own way if such a plan is implemented, Premier Danielle Smith said.
The province, which relies on fossil fuels for 89 per centof its electricity, can achieve a net zero power grid by 2050 but the Trudeau government’s 2035 goal would be too costly and carry the risk of blackouts, Smith said at a news conference on Monday. The price tag to zero out emissions could run as high as $400 million (US$297 million), she said.
“We will never allow these regulations to be implemented here, full stop,” she said. “If it comes down to it, we are going to do our own thing. We have to.”
Smith’s United Conservative Party, which was reelected in Canada’s major oil and gas-producing province in May, has taken a confrontational approach to dealing with Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government in Ottawa. Federal plans to phase out emissions from the electricity grid and slash emissions from the oil and gas industry are an unconstitutional encroachment on the rights of provinces, Smith has said, threatening to defy federal legislation if necessary.
