“You'll just have to watch me if you don't believe me.“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith invoked the memory of another famous prime minister named Trudeau when pressed on her government’s response to what she said is a brewing national unity crisis over its plans to cap emissions from oil and gas.“You'll just have to watch me if you don't believe me. That is what the Sovereignty Act was about, sending the indication that we're simply not going to comply with federal rules around this,” she said.Smith is warning that Ottawa is risking a full-blown constitutional crisis over what she is calling “economic sanctions” in the form of proposed caps on oil and gas she says amount to a production cut.Speaking at a media availability from Dubai where she is attending the United Nations’ COP28 climate confab, the premier further complained spurious policy decisions from federal cabinet ministers are creating a real — and unnecessary — threat to the foundations of Confederation itself.She went as far as to call the whole process “imperious.”.”We are facing a crisis of the federal government's making, which is why they have to back down.”Premier Smith.“This proposed cap also undermines the unity of our country and Albertans will not tolerate it. Our province is simply done with what amounts to a steady stream of economic sanctions and punitive measures thrown upon our citizens and businesses to intentionally damage their livelihoods and the economic engine that disproportionately powers our national economy and the programs that Canadians rely on,” she seethed. “I think we are facing a crisis of the federal government's making, which is why they have to back down.”.That’s why her government will be setting up what she described as a “constitutional shield” to “fight them every step of the way.”When asked what that entails, she outlined a series of measures including more Sovereignty Act motions, court challenges and even the possibility of setting up another Crown corporation to ensure that Alberta’s oil and gas isn’t capped in the ground under threat of criminal prosecution.“We're going to assert our right under the constitution. We are not a subordinate level of government. We are an equivalent level of government and we are going to act in our areas of jurisdiction and we're going to make sure that we defend our right to develop our resources and development plan… that works in our province in our own way,” she said. “They would be wise to simply withdraw this proposal and work with us on our 2050 targets because, as I've said, We're gonna fight them every step of the way.”.“That is wildly disrespectful given that my meeting with him was only two days ago. So they knew exactly what they were up to. They just didn't want to have the conversation.“Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz.Although she and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz went to the COP28 conference to head off unilateral attempts by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to impose “punitive” policies, Schulz complained of missed and misleading meetings and pronouncements that add up to more than just a lack of professionalism, but mean-spirited duplicity to appease his base of climate activists.“I reached out to him last week to let him know about the success that Alberta had when it came to meeting our methane emissions reduction targets three years ahead of schedule and update him on our CCUS tax credit Program. We met here in Dubai and at that meeting, he refused to tell me when they would be announcing this emissions cap,” she intoned. Instead, he asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which she refused to do. Consequently she and Smith learned about the cap basically at the same time everyone else did. Schulz scoffed at the suggestion it amounted to ‘constructive federalism’ as required under the constitution.“That is wildly disrespectful given that my meeting with him was only two days ago. So they knew exactly what they were up to. They just didn't want to have the conversation. I quite frankly think that that is unbecoming of a minister and I think it's absolutely disrespectful,” she said.
“You'll just have to watch me if you don't believe me.“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith invoked the memory of another famous prime minister named Trudeau when pressed on her government’s response to what she said is a brewing national unity crisis over its plans to cap emissions from oil and gas.“You'll just have to watch me if you don't believe me. That is what the Sovereignty Act was about, sending the indication that we're simply not going to comply with federal rules around this,” she said.Smith is warning that Ottawa is risking a full-blown constitutional crisis over what she is calling “economic sanctions” in the form of proposed caps on oil and gas she says amount to a production cut.Speaking at a media availability from Dubai where she is attending the United Nations’ COP28 climate confab, the premier further complained spurious policy decisions from federal cabinet ministers are creating a real — and unnecessary — threat to the foundations of Confederation itself.She went as far as to call the whole process “imperious.”.”We are facing a crisis of the federal government's making, which is why they have to back down.”Premier Smith.“This proposed cap also undermines the unity of our country and Albertans will not tolerate it. Our province is simply done with what amounts to a steady stream of economic sanctions and punitive measures thrown upon our citizens and businesses to intentionally damage their livelihoods and the economic engine that disproportionately powers our national economy and the programs that Canadians rely on,” she seethed. “I think we are facing a crisis of the federal government's making, which is why they have to back down.”.That’s why her government will be setting up what she described as a “constitutional shield” to “fight them every step of the way.”When asked what that entails, she outlined a series of measures including more Sovereignty Act motions, court challenges and even the possibility of setting up another Crown corporation to ensure that Alberta’s oil and gas isn’t capped in the ground under threat of criminal prosecution.“We're going to assert our right under the constitution. We are not a subordinate level of government. We are an equivalent level of government and we are going to act in our areas of jurisdiction and we're going to make sure that we defend our right to develop our resources and development plan… that works in our province in our own way,” she said. “They would be wise to simply withdraw this proposal and work with us on our 2050 targets because, as I've said, We're gonna fight them every step of the way.”.“That is wildly disrespectful given that my meeting with him was only two days ago. So they knew exactly what they were up to. They just didn't want to have the conversation.“Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz.Although she and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz went to the COP28 conference to head off unilateral attempts by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to impose “punitive” policies, Schulz complained of missed and misleading meetings and pronouncements that add up to more than just a lack of professionalism, but mean-spirited duplicity to appease his base of climate activists.“I reached out to him last week to let him know about the success that Alberta had when it came to meeting our methane emissions reduction targets three years ahead of schedule and update him on our CCUS tax credit Program. We met here in Dubai and at that meeting, he refused to tell me when they would be announcing this emissions cap,” she intoned. Instead, he asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which she refused to do. Consequently she and Smith learned about the cap basically at the same time everyone else did. Schulz scoffed at the suggestion it amounted to ‘constructive federalism’ as required under the constitution.“That is wildly disrespectful given that my meeting with him was only two days ago. So they knew exactly what they were up to. They just didn't want to have the conversation. I quite frankly think that that is unbecoming of a minister and I think it's absolutely disrespectful,” she said.
