She’s been saying it for months. Lights out. End of story.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been warning Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for almost a year that his boneheaded ‘clean’ electricity regulations were eventually going to get somebody killed.On Saturday night they nearly did. It was almost too predictable. For months the UCP government has been warning — pleading — Ottawa to back down on its misguided policies or risk people freezing in the dark, to no avail. It took out ads across the country in its so-called ‘Lights Out’ campaign warning of the danger..Instead, Guilbeault mocked Smith and accused her of alarmism and spreading fake news.And then chastised her for imposing a moratorium on new wind and solar projects, as if it was some kind of a silver bullet out of this mess.Guess what? It isn’t. Wind represents about 22% of Alberta’s total generating capacity and on Monday morning — after yet another grid alert — it was supplying just 5% of total demand.That’s because windmills don’t run particularly well below -30C, when the fibreglass blades can shatter and break. That’s if it’s even blowing at all, which it tends not to when the big Arctic high pressure domes settle in.Toss in a lack of spare export capacity from BC and Saskatchewan, which are dealing with their own blasts of cold weather and it’s a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe took the unusual — and illegal — step of firing up an idle coal fired plant to help make up the shortfall in a move that could have sent him and his energy minister to jail under Guilbeault’s ill-conceived and ill-informed policy..And what did he have to say for himself? Absolutely nothing, after spewing 1,490 characters of bile against Smith on Twitter (“X”) on Thursday for her moratorium on renewable energy projects, among others.For her part, Smith — who is reportedly out of the country on a sun vacay (we should all be so lucky) — was gracious. She resisted the urge to say ‘I told you so’ and rub his nose in it. Instead, she thanked Albertans for doing their part in avoiding what could have been a potentially life threatening — and predictable — disaster.And she doesn’t really need to, because it’s been clear she was right all along. More than anyone, she’s managed to take an extremely complicated issue and boil — or crystallize? — it down to something everyone can understand.And by now, everybody surely does.That not only are Ottawa’s climate dictats politically motivated and impossible to achieve, they’re downright dangerous. If anyone should be hauled off to jail for keeping the lights on, it’s Guilbeault on charges of gross negligence.That would be a step toward true climate progress and fairness. Too bad it isn’t going to happen as long as this Liberal government remains in power — or lack thereof.
She’s been saying it for months. Lights out. End of story.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been warning Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for almost a year that his boneheaded ‘clean’ electricity regulations were eventually going to get somebody killed.On Saturday night they nearly did. It was almost too predictable. For months the UCP government has been warning — pleading — Ottawa to back down on its misguided policies or risk people freezing in the dark, to no avail. It took out ads across the country in its so-called ‘Lights Out’ campaign warning of the danger..Instead, Guilbeault mocked Smith and accused her of alarmism and spreading fake news.And then chastised her for imposing a moratorium on new wind and solar projects, as if it was some kind of a silver bullet out of this mess.Guess what? It isn’t. Wind represents about 22% of Alberta’s total generating capacity and on Monday morning — after yet another grid alert — it was supplying just 5% of total demand.That’s because windmills don’t run particularly well below -30C, when the fibreglass blades can shatter and break. That’s if it’s even blowing at all, which it tends not to when the big Arctic high pressure domes settle in.Toss in a lack of spare export capacity from BC and Saskatchewan, which are dealing with their own blasts of cold weather and it’s a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe took the unusual — and illegal — step of firing up an idle coal fired plant to help make up the shortfall in a move that could have sent him and his energy minister to jail under Guilbeault’s ill-conceived and ill-informed policy..And what did he have to say for himself? Absolutely nothing, after spewing 1,490 characters of bile against Smith on Twitter (“X”) on Thursday for her moratorium on renewable energy projects, among others.For her part, Smith — who is reportedly out of the country on a sun vacay (we should all be so lucky) — was gracious. She resisted the urge to say ‘I told you so’ and rub his nose in it. Instead, she thanked Albertans for doing their part in avoiding what could have been a potentially life threatening — and predictable — disaster.And she doesn’t really need to, because it’s been clear she was right all along. More than anyone, she’s managed to take an extremely complicated issue and boil — or crystallize? — it down to something everyone can understand.And by now, everybody surely does.That not only are Ottawa’s climate dictats politically motivated and impossible to achieve, they’re downright dangerous. If anyone should be hauled off to jail for keeping the lights on, it’s Guilbeault on charges of gross negligence.That would be a step toward true climate progress and fairness. Too bad it isn’t going to happen as long as this Liberal government remains in power — or lack thereof.
