Sask. Party, NDP, Andrew Scheer oppose draft Clean Electricity Regulations

Published Aug 11, 2023 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read

REGINA, SASK : May 18, 2023– Premier Scott Moe speaks to the media after question period at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on Thursday, May 18, 2023 in Regina. KAYLE NEIS / Regina Leader-Post Photo by KAYLE NEIS /Regina Leader-Post

The federal government’s draft Clean Electricity Regulations are being shot down by the Saskatchewan Party, provincial NDP and Regina-Qu’Applle MP Andrew Scheer.

The regulations are designed to help Canada achieve a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, which Premier Scott Moe said is unaffordable, unrealistic and unconstitutional.

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“They will drive electricity rates through the roof and leave Saskatchewan with an unreliable power supply. Our government will not let the federal government do that to Saskatchewan people.”

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Moe said he agrees with the federal government that reliable and affordable power grids are needed, and emissions need to be reduced, but it’s not possible for Saskatchewan to achieve it by 2035.

“We might be able to achieve that by 2050, and we can’t afford to do it by 2035 either, can’t even afford to attempt that.”

Moe added generating electricity is fully under provincial jurisdiction.

“We put forward a plan, just over a month ago, about what the future looks like in Saskatchewan. Full agreement on where that plan ends with the federal government,” he said.

“The federal government seems to have a different timeline than what we have put forward in Saskatchewan. Fair enough, they can have whatever timeline they have, it doesn’t impact how we generate power due to the wording of the constitution.”

The draft regulations were already rejected by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who called them unconstitutional and irresponsible.

Regina-Qu’Applle MP Andrew Scheer said he believes the proposed regulations are an attack on Saskatchewan.

“If they’re implemented as proposed, it will be one more addition to the cost of energy that Justin Trudeau has imposed on Canadians,” he said.

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“It’s going to cost our province especially, potentially billions of dollars that will have to be passed on to consumers and SaskPower customers.”

While the federal government said the initial increases in energy costs will be offset as more people move away from fossil fuels, Scheer said he doesn’t think this is the case.

“I just don’t trust Justin Trudeau when he promises things won’t cost money. He has just been completely wrong before. Canadians should not have any faith in his forecast,” he said.

“He promised the carbon tax would be revenue neutral, it wasn’t, he promised that the vast majority of Canadian families would get more in rebates than they pay in the tax, they don’t.”

Scheer added there are other things the federal government could focus on in order to reduce emissions.

“There has been a proposal that has been around for a long time to link up the territories’ power grids with the provinces to help get the territories off of diesel power.”

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said she also does not support the federal government’s imposition of a net-zero power grid by 2035.

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“With more than two-thirds of SaskPower’s generation coming from fossil fuels today, it isn’t realistic to replace all that generation capacity with renewables in the timelines proposed by the federal government.”

Beck pushed the blame on the Sask. Party. Net zero by 2035 probably would have been possible with “a different government committed to emissions reductions over the last 16 years,” she said.

“But because of the Sask. Party inaction for the last 16 years, that isn’t an achievable goal for our province today.”

Protesters in favour of SaskPower reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 held a rally at SaskPower’s head office Friday afternoon, calling on the Crown corporation to transition to clean energy.

A statement from SaskPower said it has a plan to achieve this goal by 2050 or sooner, but “reaching net zero by 2035 isn’t feasible technically, logistically, or financially.

“To reach net-zero our company must transform our entire power system — which took almost 95 years to build — in just 12 years. We’ll greatly reduce GHG emissions as we approach 2035.”