Alberta's New Premier Puts Ottawa on 'Notice,' Vows to Defend Provincial Control of Oil and Gas
November 3rd 2022
Article by Meghan Potkins, published Oct 12, 2022, by Financial Post.
'Get tough with Ottawa' message comes as Saskatchewan gears up for similar battle over natural resources
Danielle Smith put Ottawa on notice after being sworn in as Premier of Alberta in Edmonton on Tuesday. PHOTO BY LARRY WONG/POSTMEDIA
Canada’s energy transition is at risk of becoming mired in political wrangling, as both Alberta and Saskatchewan signalled more determined resistance to federal environmental policy, seeding new uncertainty about the direction of climate policy.
Link to the video can be found here.
On her first day in office, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fired a warning shot at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pledging to use the courts to keep Ottawa out of provincial jurisdictions, and saying she might even attempt to counter Trudeau’s policies on the floor of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Smith reiterated her campaign pledge to mount another legal challenge of the federal carbon tax — despite the Supreme Court of Canada upholding the levy in March 2021 — and suggested that her government won’t shy away from engaging Ottawa in further battles over perceived incursions into provincial jurisdiction.
“I feel like there is a mandate to get tough with Ottawa,” Smith, who was elected leader of the governing United Conservative Party last week, said at a press conference after she was sworn-in as premier. “I know it’ll be a bit of change because we’ve acted like a subordinate level of government, but I feel that when you are going to change a relationship, you should give notice.”
Smith made the comments just hours after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe signalled that he is also prepared to battle Ottawa over natural resources, releasing a new study decrying the economic cost of federal climate policies and pledging to defend the Prairie province’s economic autonomy. Combined, the two events signalled a new level of stridency, complicating the ability of investors and executives to predict where Canadian energy policy is headed.
Smith slammed the federal Liberals for failing to facilitate a deal with Germany for liquified natural gas exports during Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit in August, and for comments made by Trudeau that disparaged the business case for LNG exports from the East Coast.
“I do not trust that our message will get out by relying on them to deliver that message,” Smith told reporters. “We need to deliver it ourselves.”
Smith said Alberta will send a delegation alongside the federal team headed to next month’s COP27 conference in Egypt to talk about how Alberta’s oil and gas sector plans to deploy carbon capture and storage technology to reduce emissions. Smith said the province should be at the table to ensure decisions are not made that will cause Alberta’s energy sector to be “transitioned out.”
The new premier said: “If they’re not going to be constructive in helping us to meet with the German chancellor so we can get an LNG deal, or develop economic corridors with our neighbours so that we can get our products to market, we’re going to have to take the lead on doing that ourselves.”
In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe was just as strident, accusing Ottawa of continually interfering in the province’s jurisdiction over natural resources. The Saskatchewan government’s study alleged that federal climate plans will cost the province $111 billion by 2035.
The report points to nine federal policies — including the federal carbon tax, zero-emissions vehicle sales targets and Ottawa’s plan to cut fertilizer emissions by 30 per cent — as potentially having a detrimental impact on the Saskatchewan economy.
Moe’s headline figure of $111 billion in economic damages has already been challenged by some economists and academics who argue that Saskatchewan’s calculations fail to account for carbon tax rebates and overestimate the costs associated with Canada’s new clean fuel regulations.
The premier was unmoved by such criticism. Invoking language similar to that used by Smith during her leadership campaign, Moe said his government will introduce legislation to “reaffirm” Saskatchewan’s provincial jurisdiction under the Canadian constitution.
“It’s really about defending Saskatchewan’s opportunity and defending our jobs,” Moe said at an event in North Battleford. “And pioneering a way for us to be able to ultimately have more jobs in our community, have more of an opportunity for that next generation.
Moe said the federal government should be incentivizing companies to invest more in improvements to reduce emissions, rather than implementing regulations that could shrink economic activity in Canada, resulting in emissions being pushed offshore.
“We should not in any way be backing away from what we are producing here, how we are producing it,” he said. “We should be yelling from the rooftops that it’s some of the most sustainable product available in the world.”
Smith, a former leader of Alberta’s Wildrose Party and a talk radio host, said she spoke to Trudeau last week about the opportunity for Canada to earn carbon credits for helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in other countries — a mechanism laid out in Article 6 of the Paris climate agreement. The new premier has echoed an argument advanced by proponents of Canadian LNG exports who say it could reduce emissions in Asia if it were used to displace coal-produced energy.
“That’s going to be central in us exporting LNG and displacing higher-emitting fuels like coal and wood, and other more polluting fuels,” Smith said. “If we can work with our federal counterparts to be able to get that kind of credit here, and accelerate some of the expansion of our LNG, I think that those are the kind of global wins and local wins that we’re looking for.”
Smith also used Tuesday’s press conference to walk back some of her prior rhetoric on her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act. Previously, during her campaign for UCP leadership, Smith had said the act could give the province the power to disregard federal laws and court decisions — but on Tuesday, Smith struck a more conciliatory stance: “When the Supreme Court makes a decision, we have to abide by that,” she said.
• Email: mpotkins@postmedia.com | Twitter: mpotkins
Original article can be found here.
'Get tough with Ottawa' message comes as Saskatchewan gears up for similar battle over natural resources
Danielle Smith put Ottawa on notice after being sworn in as Premier of Alberta in Edmonton on Tuesday. PHOTO BY LARRY WONG/POSTMEDIA
Canada’s energy transition is at risk of becoming mired in political wrangling, as both Alberta and Saskatchewan signalled more determined resistance to federal environmental policy, seeding new uncertainty about the direction of climate policy.
Link to the video can be found here.
On her first day in office, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fired a warning shot at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pledging to use the courts to keep Ottawa out of provincial jurisdictions, and saying she might even attempt to counter Trudeau’s policies on the floor of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Smith reiterated her campaign pledge to mount another legal challenge of the federal carbon tax — despite the Supreme Court of Canada upholding the levy in March 2021 — and suggested that her government won’t shy away from engaging Ottawa in further battles over perceived incursions into provincial jurisdiction.
“I feel like there is a mandate to get tough with Ottawa,” Smith, who was elected leader of the governing United Conservative Party last week, said at a press conference after she was sworn-in as premier. “I know it’ll be a bit of change because we’ve acted like a subordinate level of government, but I feel that when you are going to change a relationship, you should give notice.”
Smith made the comments just hours after Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe signalled that he is also prepared to battle Ottawa over natural resources, releasing a new study decrying the economic cost of federal climate policies and pledging to defend the Prairie province’s economic autonomy. Combined, the two events signalled a new level of stridency, complicating the ability of investors and executives to predict where Canadian energy policy is headed.
Smith slammed the federal Liberals for failing to facilitate a deal with Germany for liquified natural gas exports during Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit in August, and for comments made by Trudeau that disparaged the business case for LNG exports from the East Coast.
“I do not trust that our message will get out by relying on them to deliver that message,” Smith told reporters. “We need to deliver it ourselves.”
Smith said Alberta will send a delegation alongside the federal team headed to next month’s COP27 conference in Egypt to talk about how Alberta’s oil and gas sector plans to deploy carbon capture and storage technology to reduce emissions. Smith said the province should be at the table to ensure decisions are not made that will cause Alberta’s energy sector to be “transitioned out.”
The new premier said: “If they’re not going to be constructive in helping us to meet with the German chancellor so we can get an LNG deal, or develop economic corridors with our neighbours so that we can get our products to market, we’re going to have to take the lead on doing that ourselves.”
In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe was just as strident, accusing Ottawa of continually interfering in the province’s jurisdiction over natural resources. The Saskatchewan government’s study alleged that federal climate plans will cost the province $111 billion by 2035.
The report points to nine federal policies — including the federal carbon tax, zero-emissions vehicle sales targets and Ottawa’s plan to cut fertilizer emissions by 30 per cent — as potentially having a detrimental impact on the Saskatchewan economy.
Moe’s headline figure of $111 billion in economic damages has already been challenged by some economists and academics who argue that Saskatchewan’s calculations fail to account for carbon tax rebates and overestimate the costs associated with Canada’s new clean fuel regulations.
The premier was unmoved by such criticism. Invoking language similar to that used by Smith during her leadership campaign, Moe said his government will introduce legislation to “reaffirm” Saskatchewan’s provincial jurisdiction under the Canadian constitution.
“It’s really about defending Saskatchewan’s opportunity and defending our jobs,” Moe said at an event in North Battleford. “And pioneering a way for us to be able to ultimately have more jobs in our community, have more of an opportunity for that next generation.
Moe said the federal government should be incentivizing companies to invest more in improvements to reduce emissions, rather than implementing regulations that could shrink economic activity in Canada, resulting in emissions being pushed offshore.
“We should not in any way be backing away from what we are producing here, how we are producing it,” he said. “We should be yelling from the rooftops that it’s some of the most sustainable product available in the world.”
Smith, a former leader of Alberta’s Wildrose Party and a talk radio host, said she spoke to Trudeau last week about the opportunity for Canada to earn carbon credits for helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in other countries — a mechanism laid out in Article 6 of the Paris climate agreement. The new premier has echoed an argument advanced by proponents of Canadian LNG exports who say it could reduce emissions in Asia if it were used to displace coal-produced energy.
“That’s going to be central in us exporting LNG and displacing higher-emitting fuels like coal and wood, and other more polluting fuels,” Smith said. “If we can work with our federal counterparts to be able to get that kind of credit here, and accelerate some of the expansion of our LNG, I think that those are the kind of global wins and local wins that we’re looking for.”
Smith also used Tuesday’s press conference to walk back some of her prior rhetoric on her proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act. Previously, during her campaign for UCP leadership, Smith had said the act could give the province the power to disregard federal laws and court decisions — but on Tuesday, Smith struck a more conciliatory stance: “When the Supreme Court makes a decision, we have to abide by that,” she said.
• Email: mpotkins@postmedia.com | Twitter: mpotkins
Original article can be found here.
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