Alberta to study forming its own power company in fight with PM Trudeau (updated)
27/11/2023 23:29
(Adds quote from federal Environment Minister)
By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The premier of
Canada's oil and gas producing province Alberta said on Monday
her government will consider creating a publicly-owned
electricity company, in a bid to evade federal requirements to
develop a net-zero power grid by 2035.
The move is Alberta's latest attempt to undermine the
climate action plans of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
which Premier Danielle Smith and other conservative politicians
say are unrealistic.
Smith's United Conservative Party (UCP) government
introduced a resolution in the Alberta legislature to study
forming a province-run power corporation run under its
Sovereignty Act, a previously unused law enacted last year to
give Alberta a legislative framework to defy federal laws it
deems unconstitutional.
The resolution, once passed by the UCP majority government,
would also order provincial authorities not to cooperate in
implementing the Canadian federal government's planned clean
electricity regulations. Such regulations would be costly and
could lead to power shortages, Smith said.
"It's simply too massive a risk for Albertans," Smith told
reporters. "If we do not act we will end up with instability in
our grid (and) we will either not be able to grow as a province
or end up with brownouts and blackouts."
Smith said her government hoped Ottawa would back down,
adding the fight may end up in court.
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Ottawa
would continue moving ahead with its clean electricity
regulations and there was no legal basis for Alberta's actions.
"That's what I find unacceptable with the position that
Premier Smith has taken because it's bad for Albertans, it's bad
for workers in Alberta, it's bad for the economy of Alberta,"
Guilbeault told reporters in Ottawa.
Canadian provincial laws are not allowed to frustrate
the progress of federal laws, meaning Alberta's plan is
unconstitutional, said Martin Olszynski, an associate professor
at the University of Calgary.
"This is just a bunch of political theatre," Olszynski
said.
The resolution would instruct the Alberta government to
study forming a corporation to produce electricity if
private-sector generators determine it is too risky to operate
such facilities because of the Canadian government's
regulations.
The Alberta government company would be "generator of last
resort," Smith said, meaning it would produce power only when
supplies from private-sector companies are insufficient. The
province currently generates most of its power from the private
sector, unlike most others.
That power corporation would not recognize federal
regulations as valid. It would build or buy power plants that
run on natural gas that might otherwise not be able to operate
past 2035 due to the regulations.
Canada already produces most of its power from renewable
sources such as hydro and nuclear. Alberta, however, generates
nearly half of Canada's emissions from electricity generation
due to its reliance on natural gas.
Power generators such as TransAlta TA.TO and Capital Power
CPX.TO have not committed to Trudeau's 2035 goal but some say
they may reach net-zero ahead of Alberta's own 2050 target.
The federal government's electricity regulations are in
draft form and scheduled to come into force on Jan. 1, 2025
after further consultation.
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, additional
reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Nia Williams in
British Columbia; editing by Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates)
((rod.nickel@tr.com; X: @RodNickel_Rtrs;))