“Impossible,” responded Premier Scott Moe to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault‘s new draft regulations to set a target of making the electricity grid “net zero” by 2035.
It’s unachievable It’s unrealistic. Those are SaskPower’s words, not mine. Our power utility cannot actually achieve what the federal government sets us up to achieve and it certainly isn’t going to be affordable as it will double the power rates in the province.
Premier Scott Moe, August 11, 2023; Global News
He echoed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who called Guilbeault’s goals “grand sweeping fairytales” that would cause electricity bills to soar while Albertans already face higher food and shelter costs.
Any plan that makes electricity more expensive and less reliable is a bad plan. And the “clean electricity” regulations are an exceptionally bad, poorly thought out, and illogical plan… Ottawa’s strategy seems to be to placate the environmental extremists while throwing regular Canadians under the bus. That’s wrong, it’s unacceptable, morally and financially… We will never allow these regulations to be implemented here — full stop.
Premier Danielle Smith, Press Conference; cf. video below
Watch:
As Smith noted in her press conference, wind power seldom reaches above 13 percent of its “installed capacity” and solar power seldom over one-third, meaning of all the wind turbines and solar farms in the province — under 13 percent of the turbines and under one-third of the solar panels — are providing electricity to the grid at any given time.1 As such, she said the province will continue to move ahead, on its own path if necessary, with adding high-efficiency natural gas base load to the grid, small modular reactors, hydrogen generation, and other renewables to drive down costs.
If you’re scratching your head, too, because that just sounds like common sense, you’re not alone. “When it comes to the federal government’s new clean electricity rules, released last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith looks like the grown-up in the room compared to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault,” writes Edmonton Sun columnist Lorne Gunter. Smith, he continues, is “leader of a province whose very economy is under threat by juvenile idealogues in the Trudeau government who have tonnes of power over the situation, but few mature, sensible plans.”2
This week, Smith reiterated that Trudeau’s demands are “unconstitutional, irresponsible and utterly out of step with reality. If they become the law of the land, these regulations would crush Alberta’s finances.”3
One need only look across the ocean at the situation in Europe to understand the importance of constant and reliable energy. Having shut down coal and nuclear plants, suddenly the continent is grappling with a shortage of energy, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and a dependence on Russian natural gas. For example, France’s Fessenheim nuclear plant, which produced 70% of the Alsace region’s energy needs, has been switched off and about a dozen more are slated to be removed from the grid by 2035. Yet, these produce 70% of the country’s energy.4
Energy prices have essentially doubled over the last 12 months, and there are growing concerns that might triple by the end of the year, and the crisis is so severe that roughly a quarter of British households will be unable to pay the energy bills.
Dr. Benny Peiser, Global Warming Policy Foundation, May 3, 2022, YouTube @ 5:07
Nancy Southern, CEO of utilities provider ATCO in Alberta, explains in terms a child could understand why Guilbeault’s plan is simply unachievable, especially in our harsh climate (3 minutes):
Even if the provinces could reach Trudeau’s fantastical goals, it would have next to no impact when both China and India utterly dwarf other countries’ emissions output. And those Asian nations have no plans to reach “net-zero” until 2060 and 2070 respectively.
While both Premiers say they are still aiming at 2050 to reach “net-zero”, a growing number of renowned climatologists and scientists are warning that the entire premise for this costly goal is both unachievable and based on fraudulent data and “pseudoscience”.5 Moreover, at a time when Canadians are experiencing increasingly high food, gasoline, and living costs, Trudeau’s energy plan is not only reckless but cruel. Premier Smith said recently, “This is what happens when ideology runs the power grid.”6
This is also what happens when dangerous ideology runs a country.
- cf. edmontonsun.com[↩]
- August 15, 2023, Edmonton Sun[↩]
- cf. Global News, August 14, 2023[↩]
- June 30, 2020, BBC News[↩]
- cf. Hot Air Behind the Wind[↩]
- cf. What Happens When Ideology Runs the Power Grid[↩]
Mark Mallett is a former award-winning reporter with CTV Edmonton and an independent researcher and author. His family homesteaded between Vermilion and Cold Lake, Alberta, and now resides in the Lakeland region. Mark is Editor in Chief of Wind Concerns.