Alberta is pushing ahead with grants from its Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) fund even as uncertainty reigns over the fate of industrial carbon tax after the April 28 federal election.
Speaking in Exshaw — home of Canada’s largest magnesium oxide plant — Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz announced $72 million towards a ‘funding challenge’ to promote technology upgrades in key sectors like forestry, energy, agriculture and manufacturing, including $7 million earmarked for oil and gas operators to further reduce methane emissions.
It comes amid uncertainty over the federal government’s ‘carbon pricing’ policy — more properly known as the industrial ‘carbon tax’ — after the April 29.
While Liberal leader Mark Carney has vowed to retain, and even increase the industrial portion past the $170 per tonne mark, Conservative contender Pierre Poilievre has vowed to allow regional governments like Alberta’s to determine their own path forward.
In Alberta, the industrial tax is funelled into the TIER program, which has doled out almost $1 billion in grants since the Liberal government introduced the tax in 2019.
It’s no surprise Schulz emphasized her support for devolving environmental decision-making back to local governments, echoing federal Conservative calls to scale back Ottawa’s role in emissions regulation.
But she also insisted that some iteration of TIER would survive, regardless of who is elected prime minister.
“Right now, certainty in investment is a key focus for all of our major industries,” Schulz said. “With all of the uncertainty we see — south of the border, in our trade relationships, and especially from federal government policy — this has been a top-of-mind discussion.”
The TIER program has existed in various incarnations since 2007 when former premier Ed Stelmach imposed a $15 per tonne charge on so-called ‘large emitters’ and redirected more than $2 billion back to industry.
The first outlay under that iteration of program was $745 million for Shell Canada’s Quest carbon capture plant near Edmonton.
While Schulz reaffirmed the government’s commitment to industry, she acknowledged that Alberta’s environmental policy — and programs like TIER — are approaching a crossroads.
The TIER program is up for review in 2026, and her department has been having preliminary discussions with all of Alberta’s major industries on its future, she said.
“We’re trying to understand what industry sees as valuable, what they want to see change, and how we can best support them moving forward,” she said.
“All of the federal policies we’ve seen layered on top of each other—from the industrial carbon price backstop to Bill C-48, C-69, C-59, the clean electricity regulations, plastic bans, and the proposed emissions cap have created huge challenges for our industries.”
Despite those challenges, Schulz said Alberta remains committed to ensuring to what she called “responsible development” and continued energy leadership.
“I often say industry was doing the right thing for the environment long before this federal Liberal government came along,” Schulz said. “They will continue to do the right thing for the environment and for our economy — and we’ll be there to support them every step of the way.”