(Ottawa) Alberta’s environment minister has warned his federal counterpart, Steven Guilbeault, that his province will sue Ottawa if he dares to impose measures that affect oil production. Alberta definitely does not intend to “cooperate” with the Trudeau government as long as its “crazy” climate plan is on the table.
Posted at 9:15 p.m.
“I can assure you that in my 30-minute meeting with Alberta’s Minister of the Environment last week, he reminded me for 30 minutes that the production of natural resources was under provincial jurisdiction and that if we tried to touch it in any way, they were going to take us to court,” Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault told a press conference on Monday.
Mr. Guilbeault was answering a question aimed at understanding why Ottawa does not limit the production of fossil fuels, as demanded by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its most recent report.
“We have this element which is the constitution in Canada which ensures that natural resources are under provincial jurisdiction”, noted the Minister.
This is why Ottawa is tackling pollution, said the notorious former environmental activist, noting that the important thing “from an atmospheric point of view” is to reduce emissions anyway.
“No matter what happens with production, we will achieve our targets,” assured Mr. Guilbeault.
Last week, the Trudeau government unveiled a plan with the goal of reducing Canadian emissions by at least 40% by 2030 from 2005 levels.
While the IPCC recommends cutting global emissions by 45%, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that current climate commitments would mean a 14% increase in emissions.
Canada is “moving in the right direction”, argued Minister Guilbeault, especially since “two years ago, the objective was -30%”.
To demand such a reduction in the oil and gas sector is “overly ambitious and very much in line with what the IPCC is asking us to do”, he said.
“Alberta will not cooperate”
In an emailed statement to The Canadian Press, Alberta’s environment minister says his province “will not cooperate” while Minister Guilbeault’s “crazy” plan is on the table.
Jason Nixon points out in passing that “Canada cannot achieve these objectives without the cooperation of Alberta”.
“The plan that was presented by the federal government last week goes beyond emissions targets and enters the realm of production caps, which falls within the constitutional jurisdiction of the province,” he wrote. This action could trigger further legal action. »
The province also intends to take the “legislative tools at its disposal if necessary”, but prefers to be invited to a table where “solutions that do not increase the costs for Canadians and keep the economy of Canada intact” are discussed.
On his weekly radio show on Sunday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called Minister Guilbeault a “former Greenpeace radical” and the plan a “frontal attack on the 800,000 people who work in the energy sector”.
According to him, the Ottawa plan will require a reduction in production, which would be “catastrophic” for the Canadian economy.
The world’s governments agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement to keep global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius this century, and ideally below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
According to the latest IPCC report, it is highly likely that unless countries step up their efforts to reduce GHG emissions, the planet will be on average 2.4 to 3.5 degrees warmer by the end of the century.