Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault speaks at a press conference in Ottawa on Monday, June 5, 2023. PHOTO BY SEAN KILPATRICK /The Canadian Press
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So much for the Kumbaya moment Premier Danielle Smith thought was possible.
We’ve got fireworks but this light show is not a pretty sight and is not celebrating anything, at least not in many parts of Alberta.
You see, Steven Guilbeault, the man nicknamed the Green Jesus of Montreal, the one-time Greenpeace somebody, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s point man on climate change, was at a green gabfest in the Belgian capital of Brussels last week.
It sure didn’t sound like the federal government was moving Alberta’s way.
Quite the opposite.
In a Euractiv news report from Belgium, the green guru talked about the phasing out of fossil fuels.
We’ve seen this movie before.
These are so-called unabated fossil fuels, where the emissions are not captured and stored.
Guilbeault agrees the phasing-out should be no later than 2050 and he’s open to a conversation on going faster to an earlier date.
Trudeau’s green guru looks ahead 27 years and sees about a 75% cut in fossil fuels and they “will likely not be for combustion” but instead be only for industrial uses, like for asphalt.
And all the emissions from the production of those fossil fuels would be captured and stored or offset in some way.
There will still be a net-zero emission electricity grid in 12 years where any remaining emissions from fossil fuel-producing facilities would have to be carbon captured and stored.
While we’re talking about carbon capture and storage, Guilbeault says it is not a magic bullet and doesn’t feel that technology will achieve even 20% of the emission reductions.
The writing is on the wall.
There will be a cap on emissions in the oil and gas sector.
That cap, looking like a 42% reduction in energy sector emissions by 2030, will almost certainly mean a cut in production in the oilsands.
What is important to Guilbeault is a rapid decline in overall emissions.
“Robust regulations” are needed to make sure emissions go down.
Then companies can decide whether or not they will produce oil and gas using carbon capture and storage or do something else.
Guilbeault will meet Rebecca Schulz, Alberta’s environment minister, later this week.
Yikes!
While we wait, Premier Smith did fire off a strongly-worded statement over the weekend, a little more than a week after her sit-down with Trudeau where it looked like more of a clashing of skulls than a meeting of minds.
Once again, the gauntlet was thrown down.
Once again, the line was drawn in the sand.
Smith said what Trudeau wants is unconstitutional.
It creates uncertainty for investors and is extremely harmful to the economy.
She is “alarmed” Guilbeault believes oil and production will likely be cut by 75% in 27 years.
But this is the Green Jesus of Montreal!
Again, Smith talked up the province’s Trudeau-can-go-to-hell sovereignty act where Alberta would refuse to enforce the federal government’s edicts.
For the premier, Alberta won’t recognize any emission-reduction targets imposed by the Trudeau government for energy and electricity.
If Alberta doesn’t sign on, the federal government’s plans aren’t happening here.
Smith has made plain Ottawa would have to take Alberta to court.
Smith hopes Trudeau will tell his ministers on this file to respect the rights of Alberta and other provinces.
We shall see.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, meets with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary on Friday, July 7, 2023. PHOTO BY JEFF MCINTOSH /The Canadian Press
Scott Moe, Saskatchewan’s premier, was right to the point.
“If it wasn’t clear before, it is now. The Trudeau government doesn’t want to just reduce emissions in our energy sector, they want to completely shut down our energy sector.”
On a phone call from Belgium, Guilbeault told Canada’s National Observer the federal government’s intentions are “unwavering.”
Canada’s constitution gives the provinces the say-so over natural resources, so it is reported the Trudeau government is being careful to cook up an emissions cap in a way that is aimed at emissions, not production.
They expect a legal challenge so they want to make sure they are on “solid legal ground.”
The Trudeau government did win in court on the federal carbon tax where the majority on the bench found climate change to be a national concern, a grave threat crossing provincial boundaries.
So here we sit.
Does anybody believe Guilbeault is going rogue, somehow not doing Trudeau’s bidding?
Does anybody believe appointing the Green Jesus of Montreal as the point man on the environment file was not a signal of where the Trudeau government wanted to go?
Does anybody really believe Trudeau’s other sidekick Jonathan Wilkinson is for real when he speaks all sweetness and light while he’s in Alberta?
Of late, there was optimism in the corridors of the Alberta government. There still is hope.
Maybe they know something we don’t know.
Still, it doesn’t sound like there’s a group hug with the Trudeau crowd coming any time soon.
This Article and More From Rick Bell HERE
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