Smith talks energy, ‘just transition’ legislation in provincial update

In a provincial update and media briefing Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith addressed her concerns that the federal government’s ‘just transition’ legislation will wipe out the oil and gas industry.

Smith first tweeted about how she felt Ottawa was attacking Alberta’s largest industry with this new policy Jan. 4.

She reiterated Tuesday that the language suggests the federal government wants to phase out oil and gas workers – an option the premier says is completely unacceptable.

Smith first elaborated on this during 630 CHED’s Your Province, Your Premier Saturday about her thoughts on Ottawa’s role in industry regulation policy.

“Let me be perfectly clear: We are not going to be shutting down our oil and natural gas industry,” she said.

“We are not going to be transitioning our workers who are in good, high-paying, meaningful, important jobs into installing solar panels, which was the idiocy, which is what Elizabeth May was first proposing when this kind of thing came out.

“The kind of jobs that are going to be expanded in the oil and gas industry will involve the reclamation of oil sites that will allow for more jobs to be in that industry – reclaiming those sites and putting them back to their natural condition.”

Addressing a crowd of reporters in Calgary on Tuesday, Smith said she thinks the legislation is a “big threat” because the phrase “just transition” was the same one used when the federal government phased out coal.

“If they wanted to talk about sustainable jobs, that’s completely different,” she said, adding her government would be happy to have that discussion.

But the “social justice” language being used by the feds isn’t flying in Alberta.

“To use that terminology, they’re virtue signalling to an extreme base that is openly advocating to shut down oil and natural gas.”

This is not at all Canada’s intention, according to federal resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

In an interview on Jan. 5 with Global News, Wilkinson said he prefers to use the term “sustainable jobs” because “it better reflects what we are intending to do.”

He added that the legislation is intended to grow an economy that is going to create jobs and economic opportunity going forward

“What I am saying is we need to work together to ensure we can seize those opportunities – great jobs, good-paying jobs and economic opportunities for Albertans, just as we need to do that as a federal government for people who live in Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories,” Wilkinson said.

Political scientist Lisa Young says that, despite both parties saying they are willing to work together to solve the issues at hand, there is a clear conflict.

“It’s very clear that we’re headed towards a huge conflict between the provincial government and the federal government around the just transition, around capping greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas sector and certainly I think that the sovereignty act was a signal that the Alberta government was going to fight the federal government on these issues and do its very best,” she said.

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Smith would not confirm to reporters whether or not she was going to invoke the sovereignty act over the legislation when the time comes.

“Part of what we’re seeing is the provincial government objecting to the word transition and what we’ve seen is a retrenchment of the provincial positions basically saying the idea of an energy transition isn’t on the table for the provincial government, which is a pretty remarkable stance given that certainly there’s lots of provincial investment into alternative energy,” said Young.

Wilkinson’s office said Tuesday they will be moving forward with the sustainable jobs legislation in early 2023.

— With files from Heather Yourex-West, Global News

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