Ottawa’s plan to cut methane emissions ‘unconstitutional,’ Alberta premier says | Power and Politics

Environment Minister Steven Gilbo unveiled Canada’s plan to reduce methane emissions today and to my knowledge um Canada committing to reducing methane emissions by at least 75% by 2030 is the most ambitious goal in the world right now the proposed regulations are similar to those announced in recent Days by the

United States and they are designed to help Canada reach its Target of slashing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by at least 75% by 2030 but two provinces are saying this goes too far for more details I’m joined by minister of energy and natural resources Jonathan

Wilkinson Minister welcome back to the show thank you very much uh 75% reduction by 2030 is a big Target in practice what does Canada need to do to get there well we’ve already made a lot of progress right I mean we we had put in place uh regulations requiring 40 to

45% reductions uh by 2025 and in fact uh most of the provinces uh that this is relevant to actually have either achieved that early or are in the process of actually achieving it early so significant progress has been made obviously 75% is another step up um there are a number of different things

That will need to be done um technology-wise in order to achieve it but those Technologies exist and and to be honest with you um relative to many other ways in which to reduce reductions in the emissions in the economy they’re actually relatively inexpensive so I think there’s a clear pathway here um

And and while I did note you know the reaction from some of the provinces today British Columbia has been developing its own regulations aimed at 75% and Alberta’s emissions reduction plan that was released before the election actually said that they were going to be Consulting on a 75 to 80%

Target okay I I want to get to the provinces in just a second but your government is also going to do some consultations on this as you develop it what what you’ve made it sound very achievable and easy compared to a lot of the other climate challenges that the

Country faces which are more difficult uh I I I what do you expect to come out of these consultations that you’re going to launch well I mean some of this is is reasonably Technical and so you want to make sure that you’ve heard from industry in terms of of some of the

Challenges uh you’ve heard from others in Civil Society including environmental organizations about um what they think perhaps could be done differently to accelerate some of the work um it’s it’s a process within the government where we put it out for consultation with every regulation it’ll be a 60-day period of

Consultation where people can uh can weigh in um but as I say I mean I I actually do think and I think as you know David I used to be the environment Minister and certainly was part of this whole conversation this is one of the more straightforward ways to

Significantly reduce emissions in the econ well you know you to get back to that provincial reaction Saskatchewan Premier Scott Mo has called the methane emissions proposal an overreach Alberta Premier Daniel Smith she’s in Dubai uh she’s the the province is planning to continue to oppose what they’re calling

Illegal and constitutional ideas I mean where do you think this goes uh with the two Western provinces that you’re increasingly at odds with uh on on the climate file well I mean look I I do think there is room for conversation here I mean uh when we brought out the

The plan to cut methane emissions by4 to 45% both of the provinces initially objected um and then we worked with them and they ended up signing equivalency agreements where they implemented the the regulations themselves um and there may be a similar pathway here where they may want to actually put in place their

Own regulations to achieve the same goal but as I say I mean you know Premier Smith in in the um and the government of Alberta the UCP government actually had this as part of their emissions reduction plan just just before the election so I don’t think there’s a fundamental disagreement here and I

Think that you know what folks like premier and Premier Smith will have heard because they’re both at cop is that most of the world is moving in this direction the Americans have announced regulations in this regard the Brazilians have announced they’re going to do it the Egyptians have announced

They’re going to do it the Europeans have just come forward with some of this stuff I mean this is a a relatively as I say straightforward not costly way to cut emissions significantly and that it is in all of our interests from an environmental perspective but it’s also

In our interest economically to drive down the carbon content of the products we sell but but if there is uh this persistent and sort of if there is another round of objections from Saskatchewan and Alberta we’ve not yet speaking to Premier Mo or Premier Smith obviously directly on this because of

The time difference and the announcement is there capacity to to work with them and negotiate on this given what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks I mean we’re rapidly getting to January 1 when Scott Mo says they’re going to stop collecting the carbon tax not just on

Natural gas but on electric heat now it feels like you know the room for good faith negotiations there is getting smaller well let me say that you know with respect to Alberta particular we actually have a working group that’s set up and irrespective of the public sort

Of comments that are going on at times um there’s actually been very constructive good good work that’s been done on things like the clean electricity regulation and so I I expect that those conversations will continue and I hope that we can get to a place where we can uh we can find Common

Ground um with respect to to Premier Mo’s comments about not collecting the price on pollution I mean at the end of the day irrespective of your perspective on a particular policy I think most Canadians or the vast vast majority of Canadians expect their political leaders

To abide by the laws of the land and and uh and I think everybody would expect Premier Mo to do that and I think Premier Mo probably expects Premier mod to do that too okay well we we we’ll find out in less than a month uh back to

To methane Rick Rick Smith president of the Canadian climate Institute he said methane reduction is a no-brainer of Canadian climate policy and relatively cheap uh for companies to eliminate do you think the oil and gas companies share that view that this is a cheap and

Easy one for them I think they do I mean at cop just today yesterday 50 of the largest oil and gas companies in the world actually signed up to something even more ambitious than what we are proposing um you know soas has has signed up to an 80% methane reduction by

2028 not by 2030 so I think most of the oil and gas sector actually understands this is a relatively cheap um and effective and Speedy way for them to reduce the carbon intensity of the products that they sell I I’ve seen some analysis by Katherine heho who you would

Know who’s a scientist who works in this space I think that she’s a chief scientist with the nature conserv and her argument is that because it’s kind of the cheap and easy uh emission to get rid of with methane being that we can’t allow that to let the oil and gas

Sector this is her view off the hook on on the bigger one wi- which is the full CO2 thing because of the larger amount of emissions that come from there uh your colleague Mr Gilbo told the glob mail uh that there would very likely be an emissions cap announcement at cop uh

Before it ends this week um should we brace for that announcement this week Minister and and is Katherine heho right that methane’s the easy part this is where the real work gets done is on a larger emissions cap well Katherine heho is a very very thoughtful Observer of

These issues and I find myself in agreement with uh with Dr heho very often um methane is the easy one uh but certainly we’re going to have to make progress on co2 emissions from the sector as well just as we have to make progress on co2 emissions from all the

Sectors of the economy we have said that we are going to do that in in the case of the oil and gas sector through a cap that will decline over time prime minister has said that we will be putting a framework out before the end

Of the year um and uh we are rapidly approaching the end of the year so I think you can expect us to bring forward a framework for conversation quite soon well well Minister Gilbo suggested by the end of cop so will we get a cap

Before the end of cop I mean we should should we book you to come back this week Minister well I would say stay tuned but I’m always happy to come back okay I have to ask you about this other issue that that has dominated sort of uh the parlamentary calendar today uh the

The point of privilege and the calls for for speaker Fergus to resign where does the government stand on this where does the liberal caucus a liberal cabinet stand on the argument being made that speaker Fergus compromised his neutrality by recording a a video in speaker robes in the speaker chamber

That were played at at a partisan convention well this is all you know kind of breaking news um and uh so I’m not sure that the the government nor the caucus actually has taken any kind of airm position at this stage um cabinet obviously meets tomorrow and caucus

Meets on Wednesday and it’s a subject that we will be discussing but I think we have taken note of the concerns that have been raised not just by the conservatives but others uh in terms of uh of the importance of maintaining the impartiality of the speaker’s office do

You think an AP for you as just a as a member of parliament Mr Wilkinson uh does the apology satisfy whatever concerns you might have about this incident well I I haven’t seen uh the speaker since this happened and to be honest I would like to have a bit of a

Conversation with him to try to understand um his thinking in this regard but I I do you know think that it is important in the context of the conduct of the House of Commons that the speaker be impartial as much as as that is possible and be perceived to be

Impartial and I think that’s something that I would be expressing to uh to Mr Fergus and I’d be interested to hear what he has to say okay but but do you at this point just as a final point do you see any reason why he should or would step down

Well I I think that clearly there is uh certainly some question about the Judgment um but but I do think that uh we live in a world where forgiveness is possible and and I think it’s important that we hear from him um before we rush to judgment okay energy and natural

Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson thanks for joining us today and if the cap does come out before the end of cop we would like you to come back sir all right sounds good thank you Minister okay byebye

The federal government unveiled stricter oil and gas industry regulations with the goal of sharply reducing harmful methane emissions by 75% before 2030. But not all provinces are on the same page, with Alberta calling the proposal ‘unconstitutional’ and Saskatchewan calling it an ‘overreach.’

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