By The Canadian Press

Provincial Politics

Alberta takes aim at GHG emissions cap, proposes rules on trespass and data gathering

Nov 26, 2024 | 5:33 PM

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government is taking steps to challenge the proposed federal greenhouse gas emissions cap.

Suggestions include a legal challenge to the cap, passing legislation to give the province exclusive authority over emissions data and banning federal employees from designated oil and gas facilities.

Smith says the federal cap would cripple Alberta’s oil and gas economy and the province has a constitutional right to develop its resources.

She says any of the suggested changes would first need to be approved by a majority vote in the legislature under the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act.

The emissions cap aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about one-third over the next eight years, and the federal government says it would not decimate the industry.

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Alberta rolled out last month a $7-million advertising campaign across multiple provinces calling for the cap to be abandoned.

Naheed Nenshi, Leader of Alberta’s New Democrats, issued the following statement in response:

“Today is likely the most important day for the Alberta economy in a generation. What the incoming U.S. President has announced on tariffs will devastate us. But instead of a coherent response, what Premier Danielle Smith said is solely a terrible act of political theatre, nothing more. It is completely meaningless and accomplishes nothing.

“We need our provincial governments and federal government to come together in a Team Canada approach to deal with President-elect Trump’s threat of tariffs, which would destroy our economy. Instead, Premier Smith prefers to engage in performative fights.

“The federal emissions cap is not good policy for Alberta. Let’s be reminded, however, that Rachel Notley’s plan was a cap that worked with industry to reduce emissions intensity. That kind of made-in-Alberta cap works. It also helped get a pipeline to tidewater built, something the Conservatives have not accomplished in a generation.

“Danielle Smith also doesn’t trust the oil and gas industry to do its job. She wants to sell oil for them, as if they don’t know how to sell it. She wants to enforce who can and cannot visit their sites, and she wants to muzzle them from telling their shareholders about the good work they are doing to reduce emissions. Danielle Smith simply doesn’t trust anyone, let alone Albertans.

“What she’s announced today is a cooked-up potion of things that won’t work, that are likely illegal and will not make any difference in Alberta’s prosperity.”

(The Canadian Press)

(With files from rdnewsNOW)