For a moment, you got a sense of what really mattered to Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault..In the news conference Thursday during which he outlined the Liberal government’s plans for a net-zero electrical grid by 2035, he enthused that Canada was leading the G-7 in reducing its carbon emissions to fight climate change..I do believe his eyes lit up: As environment minister, he was living his ideological dream..These people are mad..Contrast that with the practicality of Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, who as premiers of provinces, just want to keep the lights on..Said Smith, “Albertans can’t have their power fail on a -30C winter night. Our electrical grid must be reliable.".Moe: “This isn’t about fighting with the federal government. This is about representing Saskatchewan people and ensuring that they have affordable, reliable access to electricity.”.These are the practical concerns of provincial leaders who are responsible for the health and safety of real people, as opposed to the sanctity of an idea..The difference could hardly be clearer. Or more depressing..For the true believers such as Guilbeault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a thumbs up from the Paris crowd is a career topper. If Canadians pay the price, well, accounting for that is an election or two down the road..Meanwhile by the very nature of their jobs, the premiers have to put first not a romantic ideology, but the real needs of the people who elected them.. Smith at LNG2023Premier Smith addresses the LNG2023 conference in Vancouver last week. It was just one of several opportunities Smith took in the last month, to advance Alberta's perspective on energy issues. .Thus, after Guilbeault’s witterings, Moe had this more to add: “Trudeau’s net-zero targets are simply not achievable in Saskatchewan and we will not ask our residents to pay the extraordinary price for the federal government’s divisive policies, nor will we risk the integrity of our provincial power grid to defy the laws of thermodynamics.”.Said Smith, “These regulations make desperately needed investments in new natural gas generation almost impossible. If implemented in Alberta, these regulations would endanger the reliability of Alberta’s power grid and cause massive increases in Albertans’ power bills.”.Moe and Smith get it..The country’s Liberal government does not..That will not stop them from striding forth in ignorance, of course. It does mean, however, that Smith and Moe can be confident they occupy the moral high ground..To that point, three things..First, climate-change theory is probably hokum. Certainly, and contra the Liberal propaganda, the theory cannot be considered climate-change science until what we know of the climate mechanisms of the past can be used to explain the present — never mind predict the future..To wit, not that long ago, the Sahara was savannah not sand, Canada was largely covered by glacial lake Agassiz as a two-mile thick ice sheet began to melt and relative to where it is today, the sea level worldwide was more than 300’ lower..Scientists do not dispute that these vast changes of climate took place thousands of years before humanity reached the threshold of anthropogenic intervention: SUVs are a thing of this century. However, they have yet to use these past processes to predict current experience and Guilbeault’s blandishments bear the mark of religious intensity, rather than scientific rigour..Second, let’s say we believe Guilbeault anyway: For Alberta and Saskatchewan, trying to replace natural gas generation with wind and solar just won’t work..The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow — or sometimes blows too hard. Then you lose power: A rough rule of thumb would be that whatever the rated capacity of your green generator, assume it will only be online a third of the time..Rightly, Smith and Moe ask what do you do for the other two thirds of the day?.Smith: “Every time you bring wind and solar power on the grid, you have to have a backup. What we have is natural gas.” Unlike provinces with vast endowments of nuclear (Ontario) or hydro power. (BC and Quebec.).Third: The federal Liberal proposals aren't even legal. The Trudeau Liberals are guilty of an attempted end run around the Constitution.. Scott Moe Red Tie Budget DaySaskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. .For, under the Constitution Act, energy is a provincial mandate: Ottawa may have its goals and preferences but the backup to renewable energy is a decision for Alberta and Saskatchewan alone to make..Moe: “Electricity generation is a constitutionally protected provincial responsibility…”.Smith, who recently imposed a six-month moratorium on renewable energy projects in Alberta, commented, “Alberta’s government will protect Albertans from these unconstitutional federal net-zero regulations. They will not be implemented in our province — period.”.The stage is set for the expected confrontation between the Trudeau Liberals and the people of Saskatchewan and Alberta..Possibly some accommodation may be possible. That said, the minister's proposals contained none of the recommendations recently offered by the provinces and, frankly, it may suit the federal Liberals' future election strategy well enough, to have a western 'climate-change-denier enemy' against whom it can offer anxious central Canadians their benevolent protection..But this is to assume that they are evil and this is neither entirely accurate nor generally necessary..To understand, all one needs to know is that for all the harm done by evil people, more is done by those who are just plain stupid as bricks.
