Alberta Premier calls Ottawa’s energy plan “unconstitutional and irresponsible”
Posted Aug 15, 2023 3:12 pm.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith criticized Ottawa’s clean energy regulations Monday, saying the Alberta government will never allow them to be implemented in the province, while at the same time, answering a barrage of questions about Alberta’s six-month pause on the expansion of the renewable sector.
“We asked them not to go to war with us. We said we want to work with you to the table. Let’s figure out a way that we can get there by 2050. And they chose to do this instead,” she said.
“So we were gonna fight it. We’re hoping to come to the table, we’re hoping to be able to get them to a point where they agree that aligning with 2050 is the sustainable policy. And so we’re gonna try to policy first, but if not, then we’re going to have to go our own way.”
Smith said Section 92A of the Constitution allows all provinces to make laws in relation to for the generation and production of electrical energy.
But when it came to the six-month pause on renewable sector in Alberta, Smith was less firm.
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“I haven’t seen the media cover is that we were asked to do this by our regulators,” she said. “We made the the letters available to every member of the media on this. The Alberta electric system operator asked for us to do a pause to make sure that we could address issues of stability of the grid.”
But moments later, when challenged that the letters just ask for a review, not a pause, the premier’s response seemed to change.
Premier Smith was asked if their criticism on Ottawa is justified, given what Alberta is doing to it’s own renewable sector.
“I mean, I’m not sure why you would think that those two are at all equivalent,” she responded. “We have put a six month pause to figure out whether or not we can address these issues of reliability and affordability and siting and reclamation six months, we will have new policy in six months.”
Responding to Smith’s reaction to Ottawa, Alberta NDP Energy critic, Nagwan Al Guneid said, “Both the provincial and federal governments have chosen to fight rather than collaborate and it’s the working people of Alberta that will suffer as a result.”
