Alberta and Ottawa remain far apart on energy, climate policies after meeting

Federal ministers met with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to discuss the Liberal government's clean energy job transition bill and emissions targets for Alberta and Ottawa.

There is no line in the sand between his government and Alberta over energy and climate policies but there is also still a lot of daylight in their respective visions, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Monday.

Wilkinson was in Calgary with Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc for a face-to-face meeting with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. It was the first Alberta-Ottawa sit down since Smith’s United Conservative Party was re-elected last month.

The two governments have had a rocky relationship amid concerns in Alberta about Ottawa’s climate-change policies and plans for a transition to a net-zero emissions economy.

Before the meeting Smith said Ottawa’s plan for an emissions-free electricity grid by 2035 and a cap on oil and gas sector emissions that could be announced before the end of June aren’t realistic for her province without a massive cost to the economy and jobs. She said she was drawing a line in the sand that Ottawa can either get on board Alberta’s plan for getting to net-zero emissions by 2050, or it can get out of the way.

“I put forward our emissions reduction and energy development plan for a reason, because I’m sending the message to Ottawa that we are going to chart our own pathway to meet our national commitment of being carbon neutral by 2050 and they’ve got to come into alignment with us,” she said at a news conference.

Following the meeting Wilkinson said they did not “fully get to a meeting of minds.” But he was open to trying to understand what Alberta’s concerns are and “to see the extent to which we may be able to address them.”

“I think it’s a mistake for anybody to be drawing a clear line in the sand saying, you know, we’re not willing to compromise on anything,” said Wilkinson.

“I’ve never been somebody who takes those kinds of polar positions. You know, we clearly are interested in moving forward with electricity regulations to see a clean grid, because we think that underpins the economy in the future. We have committed to a cap on oil and gas emissions. But there are lots of different ways to do that. There are flexibilities and how you design it.”