Climate battle looms as Alberta premier takes aim at Trudeau
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[May 30, 2023]
By Steve Scherer and Nia Williams
(Reuters) - Alberta's re-elect conservative leader Danielle Smith has
put herself on a collision course with Canada's Liberal Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau over climate policies that would weigh on the province's
massive fossil fuel industry.
Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP), defeated
left-leaning New Democratic Party leader Rachel Notley on Monday, and
immediately targeted Trudeau, threatening the country's ambitious
climate goals.
Smith warned Trudeau's Liberal climate policies will destroy tens of
thousands of jobs in the oil and gas sector, which contributes more than
20% to Alberta GDP.
Trudeau's government is aiming to cut climate-warming carbon emissions
40-45% by 2030, but will struggle to meet that target without
significant reductions from Alberta, Canada's highest-polluting
province.
Some analysts have said deep emissions cuts are not possible without
reducing oil production, which Smith is fiercely opposed to.
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In her victory speech in front of cheering supporters in Canada's oil
capital Calgary, Smith called on Albertans to stand up against policies
including the federal government's proposed oil and gas emissions cap
and clean electricity regulations, expected to be unveiled within weeks.
"Hopefully the prime minister and his caucus are watching tonight,"
Smith said. "As premier I cannot under any circumstances allow these
contemplated federal policies to be inflicted upon Albertans."
Canada has the world's third-largest oil reserves, most of which are
held in northern Alberta's vast oil sands. The province produces around
80% of Canada's 4.9 million barrels per day of crude oil.
The federal government says Canada needs to cut emissions from oil and
gas production to stay competitive as the world transitions to net-zero
by 2050.
"Alberta is obviously heavily invested in a future that involves the oil
and gas economy," said Darrell Bricker, CEO of pollster Ipsos Public
Affairs. "This is going to be a bone of contention" with Ottawa, he
added.
'BELLICOSE RHETORIC'
Since becoming premier in October, Smith passed legislation allowing the
province to refuse to enforce federal laws it deems unconstitutional,
and she has threatened to use it on legislation seen as a potential
threat to the province's energy industry.
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![](../images/053023PIX/news_d5.jpg)
Danielle Smith of the United
Conservative Party (UCP) gestures during her party's provincial
election night party after a projected win in Calgary, Alberta,
Canada May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Todd Korol/File Photo
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Smith and Trudeau have also sparred over who should pay for
potential increases to tax credits for carbon capture and storage
(CCS) projects that the oil and gas wants to use to decarbonize its
production process.
"One of the challenges is there is a political class in Alberta that
has decided that anything to do with climate change is going to be
bad for them or for Alberta," Trudeau told Reuters in a January
interview.
However, some industry leaders seeking public sector funding for CCS
are tiring of the combative relationship between the two levels of
government and have called for better collaboration.
Eralier this year, Alex Pourbaix, the then-CEO of oil producer
Cenovus Energy, said he would "like to see the temperature turned
down a little bit".
For Trudeau, Smith may be a better political counterpoint than her
less controversial rival Notley would have been, Bricker said, as
the Liberals can cast her as a western version of federal
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
That said, provincial leaders of all political stripes tend to work
with the federal government when it is beneficial to their
electorate, as has been the case recently with federal funding for
healthcare and childcare.
"Danielle Smith is canny enough to know that she has to be able to
work with Ottawa," said Shachi Kurl, president of pollster Angus
Reid Institute.
"There is a lot of bellicose rhetoric that comes from the Western
premiers sometimes... But at the end of the day, politically, it
does none of them any good to not be able to work together."
(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Nia Williams; Additional reporting
by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Denny Thomas and Michael Perry)
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