Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would use her province’s sovereignty law as a last resort to challenge any attempt by the federal government to impose a carbon-neutral electricity grid by 2035.
Smith says reaching carbon neutrality in 12 years is unrealistic, adding it could lead to power outages because Alberta would not have a reliable source of baseload energy such as natural gas.
Ms. Smith’s government is advocating for a carbon-neutral grid by 2050 and has created a task force to discuss the issue with its federal counterparts.
However, Smith says that as a last resort, her government is drafting a motion to reject Ottawa’s deadline under the Sovereignty Act, which her government adopted as flagship legislation when it took office as prime minister last fall.
The law grants the province the power to reject federal rules and programs that it considers to unconstitutionally interfere in areas of provincial jurisdiction, such as energy development.
The legal validity of the law has not been tested in court, and Ms. Smith says she hopes she never has to use it.
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