Alberta NDP leader wants Ottawa to drop 'just transition' bill
CBC
Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley wants the federal government to drop the so-called "just transition" legislation it plans to introduce in the House of Commons this spring.
The legislation is expected to lay out Ottawa's plan to retrain workers to move into green or renewable energy jobs so they don't get left behind as the world moves away from oil and gas.
But Premier Danielle Smith has cited the plan as evidence Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is plotting to kill Alberta's oil and gas industry and eliminate tens of thousands of jobs.
At an unrelated news conference Wednesday, Notley repeated comments first reported in a Calgary Herald column the previous day. She accused Smith and her government of incompetence for not knowing more about what is contained within the bill.
Notley also blamed Ottawa for not consulting with Albertans and releasing the proposed legislation a few months before the provincial election.
"Just take it ... and basically get rid of it," Notley said.
Debate over the proposed bill escalated after talking points prepared for federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson about moving to a low-carbon economy surfaced last week.
Smith is relying on one page of the 81-page document that discusses the amount of training workers will need in certain sectors to move into green or renewable energy jobs. She and her cabinet ministers said the number of jobs cited on that page are how many that will be lost.
The federal government says they are the number of jobs in each sector that could be affected by a transition to a low-carbon economy. Liberal cabinet minister and Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault said the just transition plan will create jobs not eliminate them.
Last week, Notley said the federal government needed to increase investment in energy projects that reduce emissions, such as carbon capture, utilization and storage and hydrogen technology, to move oil and gas workers into those jobs.
Notley's call for Ottawa to drop the bill completely is new.
When asked if she thought the move would alienate her base, who favours moving away from oil and gas production to stop climate change, the NDP leader said she wasn't certain.
"Maybe, maybe not," she replied. "Not sure. It's hard to say."
Now that Notley has publicly refuted the bill, Smith suggested in a video posted to social media on Wednesday that the NDP leader isn't going far enough.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Nineteen years ago, Gary Conway bought a ticket to the Winnipeg Folk Festival to hear singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn.
The City of Edmonton is launching a trial period to expand its transit payment system to include direct credit and debit card transactions.
Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki made headlines last week when he said in an interview with iPolitics that humanity has lost its fight against climate change.
A firestorm of controversy has been brewing in Niagara Falls, Ont., in the weeks since a former Olympian-turned-councillor was charged with domestic assault.
The 32-year-old man who died at the Windsor jail last month is being remembered as a great man who always wanted to help those who needed it.
In one week, Patrick Cully will find out whether his five-year-old daughter Scarlet will be able to continue the life-changing therapy she's relied on for more than a year — or if long waitlists and a lack of funding will halt her progress.
As Conestoga College faces layoffs and program suspensions, the union leaders representing its employees say the toll on the workers is mounting.
Hoping to drive more people downtown and breathe more life into the area, the City of Summerside is now going over a number of recommendations on how to revitalize its downtown and waterfront.
Yukon First Nations are calling on the territorial government to repeal amendments it made in May to mining regulations.
Wanda Resmer says she didn't see the news coming.
Residents along the Toronto West Railpath are frustrated with what they say is a lack of transparency from Metrolinx on end dates for nearby construction projects, their city councillor says.
As officials try to make sense of an alleged multi-year fraud engineered so several people could personally profit from money meant to be spent on keeping London's hospitals running, CBC News dug into the people accused in the scheme.
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to slap a 35 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods as the two countries have been engaged in negotiations to reach some sort of trade agreement.