Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.No surprise then, that Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault — along with Calgary Liberal MP and natural resources committee chairman George Chahal — are blowing smoke over Alberta’s renewables policy changes.According to Guilbeault, placing “overkill conditions” on renewable energy applications “it has the same effect as a moratorium by burying projects in red tape.”.“Danielle Smith and Pierre Poilievre are united in their desire to block clean energy at all costs,” he posted on Twitter (“X”).Meanwhile, Chahal issued a statement accusing Smith of blocking $33 billion worth of projects, effectively eliminating $270 million in tax revenue and 24,000 jobs..Under the UCP government’s plan, wind and solar projects on prime agricultural land would be banned, as would development within 35 kilometres of parks and protected zones in keeping with similar practices in places like the EU and the US where renewable energy is much more common..The irony is that both Guilbeault and Chahal, who advocate punitive regulation of Alberta’s oil and gas sector in the form of emissions caps, are now complaining of overarching regulation and calling for a laissez faire approach to renewables. In his own version of ‘overkill’, Chahal used the actual word “kill” — and variations thereof — no less than half a dozen times in his statement and accused Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of “toxic and partisan ideology” Despite the fact he refused to meet with her when she was in Ottawa earlier this month..“Her ideological mismanagement of our electricity system is already costing Albertans. We saw during our recent cold snap how quick she was to blame and scapegoat renewable energy for the stress to the grid, when it was largely due to with two gas plants having gone down and her own government’s mismanagement.”.Chahal went as far as to blame both Smith and former premier Jason Kenney of a quadrupling of electricity rates since 2019 — when the former NDP government retired coal fired power plants six years early..The natural resources committee chairman also took the opportunity to fire shots at federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for shutting down offshore wind power in Atlantic Canada and attempted to tie them back to Alberta.“Pierre Poilievre and his Conservative Alberta caucus need to stop hiding and denounce this job-killing policy. While they claim to advocate for Canadian jobs and investment, they continue to bog down C-49, a bill that would unleash Atlantic Canada’s potential for offshore wind,” he ranted. .“They voted against our (Liberal) investment tax credits that will get major clean energy projects off the ground, and they vow to cancel job-creating energy projects in Alberta, financed by the Canada Infrastructure Bank.”
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.No surprise then, that Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault — along with Calgary Liberal MP and natural resources committee chairman George Chahal — are blowing smoke over Alberta’s renewables policy changes.According to Guilbeault, placing “overkill conditions” on renewable energy applications “it has the same effect as a moratorium by burying projects in red tape.”.“Danielle Smith and Pierre Poilievre are united in their desire to block clean energy at all costs,” he posted on Twitter (“X”).Meanwhile, Chahal issued a statement accusing Smith of blocking $33 billion worth of projects, effectively eliminating $270 million in tax revenue and 24,000 jobs..Under the UCP government’s plan, wind and solar projects on prime agricultural land would be banned, as would development within 35 kilometres of parks and protected zones in keeping with similar practices in places like the EU and the US where renewable energy is much more common..The irony is that both Guilbeault and Chahal, who advocate punitive regulation of Alberta’s oil and gas sector in the form of emissions caps, are now complaining of overarching regulation and calling for a laissez faire approach to renewables. In his own version of ‘overkill’, Chahal used the actual word “kill” — and variations thereof — no less than half a dozen times in his statement and accused Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of “toxic and partisan ideology” Despite the fact he refused to meet with her when she was in Ottawa earlier this month..“Her ideological mismanagement of our electricity system is already costing Albertans. We saw during our recent cold snap how quick she was to blame and scapegoat renewable energy for the stress to the grid, when it was largely due to with two gas plants having gone down and her own government’s mismanagement.”.Chahal went as far as to blame both Smith and former premier Jason Kenney of a quadrupling of electricity rates since 2019 — when the former NDP government retired coal fired power plants six years early..The natural resources committee chairman also took the opportunity to fire shots at federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for shutting down offshore wind power in Atlantic Canada and attempted to tie them back to Alberta.“Pierre Poilievre and his Conservative Alberta caucus need to stop hiding and denounce this job-killing policy. While they claim to advocate for Canadian jobs and investment, they continue to bog down C-49, a bill that would unleash Atlantic Canada’s potential for offshore wind,” he ranted. .“They voted against our (Liberal) investment tax credits that will get major clean energy projects off the ground, and they vow to cancel job-creating energy projects in Alberta, financed by the Canada Infrastructure Bank.”
