'Billions of dollars': Schulz says federal strings on electricity climate funding is a 'threat'

Alberta's minister of environment and protected areas says Ottawa is threatening her province by suggesting it will withhold federal funding from electricity projects that don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet 2035 net-zero goals.

Alberta's minister of environment and protected areas says Ottawa is threatening her province by suggesting it will withhold federal funding from electricity projects that don't reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet 2035 net-zero goals. 

"I think that that is not going into negotiations in good faith," said Rebecca Schulz.

"Quite frankly, it comes across as a threat to provinces who've already said, 'Look, this isn't doable for us based on our grids and based on the sheer costs that have been cited, of what this would take to get there by 2035.'"

Schulz made the comments following the release of a paper from Canadian Natural Resource Minister Jonathan Wilkinson which re-announced a host of new investment tax credits and programs for renewable electricity projects and technology upgrades. 

Wilkinson notes that billions of dollars in tax credits and grants will be tied to progress towards a net-zero grid, but says accessing the tax credit "will require that we are moving in a direction of a non-emitting grid."

"Alberta wants to ensure that it is affordable for their citizens and that it is reliable and we agree with that," Wilkinson said in a statement to CTV News.  "At the end of the day, rather than having an argument over the fence, what we have both said is that it is important for us to sit down and to work through where concerns may exist and how we can actually address those concerns."

The financial concerns, however, from a non-emitting grid comes as an "ultimatum," according to Schulz, who points to high increases in electricity costs.