As Premier Danielle Smith finally invokes the Sovereignty Act to pre-empt a dangerously activist federal environment minister, one is inevitably reminded of that famous Ralph Klein moment in which he offered a one-finger salute to an environmental activist back in 1990. He spoke for many, then. Today, Smith also speaks for many.And yet, there is so much more to what Smith did today, than Klein's act of hasty irritation. It was in fact a well-calculated and prepared step to resist federal encroachment upon a provincial jurisdiction and she has now done more or less exactly what she told the Western Standard she might do, more than three months ago. .That sounds like a high-level discussion of abstracts, but it is not. How Smith fares in her upcoming battle with the Trudeau-Liberals may ultimately determine whether Albertans have heat and light on some cold and future winter’s day.In a nutshell, this is what’s going on.Alberta’s supply of electricity has become over-dependent upon interruptible energy sources at the expense of baseload (natural gas-fired) generation. For ‘why,’ see here. As a result, we now risk brownouts when the wind doesn’t blow, the sun doesn’t shine and the gas plants can’t keep up. According to Smith today, there were eight such close calls in the last year.Nevertheless, the Trudeau Liberals have, through their Clean Energy Regulations, demanded the gas-fired generators upon which Alberta depends — and in fact will need more of to serve its growing population — must meet arbitrary, ideologically-conceived net-zero carbon emission reduction targets by 2035.Smith says it can’t be done.Some of us think it shouldn’t be done. However, Smith is not a revolutionary and she is prepared to meet that target. She just wants another 15 years to do it. Net Zero by 2050, then.But, for the Liberals, that’s not good enough. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said a Liberal government would use the Environmental Protection Act to criminally prosecute power companies — more particularly, senior power-company personnel — if the standards are not met by 2035.This, despite the fact that Ottawa’s legislation has twice been ruled unconstitutional by the courts.So, there’s the standoff. Not surprisingly, there’s no queue outside the premier’s office of people wanting to show her their gas-fired power generation projects.And that’s what’s needed, not more windmills.How then, to ‘de-risk’ the process?Smith’s answer today: Have the Government of Alberta indemnify any of its employees affected by federal legislation and for the private sector, some form of government ownership transferring legal responsibility from private individuals to the government itself.So that’s the issue. Two considerations arise.First, technically Smith didn’t need to summon up the Sovereignty Act to do what she did today. So, why did she?If, as I strongly suspect, the Trudeau Liberals relish a fight with Alberta as a means of keeping eastern waverers voting their way in 2025, they will not back down and not go away. For the minister himself, it is also a matter of conviction to the point of mania.Therefore, the matter will (once more) end up in court. And when it does the court, as a result of today’s actions, will be under no misapprehension about the Government of Alberta’s intentions and reasoning. It is for certainty.Second, is this still all for show, a partisan venting as Opposition Leader Rachel Notley proposed in the legislature Monday? After all, many good Albertans just want everybody to get along and they may be anxious — angry even — that their premier is (in their view) picking a fight with Ottawa.It is important therefore to recognize who is picking the fight. Energy is a provincial matter. The Trudeau Liberals want to make it a federal one and apparently believe that acting as if it is, will make it so. They started it and even if their actions were driven by the purest environmental motives, they seem to be delighted by the prospect of collateral damage to Alberta...That’s also worth pushing back against.Ever since the Second World War, the federal government has gathered power to itself. They do so ostensibly to foster national unity. In practice power is good and more of it is better. Thus equalization; thus the Canada Health Act; thus federal control over provincial environmental policy and now, if they get their way, energy.Smith embarked upon a high-risk (to her) strategy when she first embraced the Sovereignty Act idea. So far, she has effectively made the case.And evidently she means to see it through: speculating upon who might go to jail if Ottawa sends the RCMP, she remarked during a lockup with media Monday morning, that it could be her, in 2035. A fourth term, then?One last thing: Those who know Smith well will be shaking their heads that their free-market premier could ever be the one to establish a publicly-owned utility. Needs must, when the devil drives, of course.But, once the putative government-owned Alberta power entity has done its job, will it be delivered back to the private sector? Ms. Smith, we need to know... .Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
