The provincial government is taking aim at the federal government for a proposal to put a cap on oil and gas emissions.
Brian Jean, the province’s Energy Minister, calls it a “job killing cap”.
“The idea that we would actually have increased wages and more jobs coming into Alberta, these are the things that are going to slow those things down and make it more difficult to afford things at a time of frankly a bit of a crisis. The federal governments proposed de facto production cap is in our minds unconstitutional, it’s not realistic and can not and will not be implemented in Alberta.”
A report commissioned by the government of Alberta estimates that the proposed federal oil and gas emissions cap would require deep production cuts and lead to billions in lost GDP.
Jean says the timelines from the feds for reaching certain emission reduction targets are “unrealistic”.
“While the federal government continues to put forward lofty unrealistic goals that kill jobs, we’re going to take the position that it violates the canadian constitution. That it actually reduces global efforts to reduce emissions and improve energy security. Natural gas, cheap affordable natural gas from Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan, can go a long way to displacing coal and other substances that are not as clean burning.”
You can listen to the full interview with the Minister below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
