Premier Brad Wall is speaking out against the Liberal government for not working with the provinces after the feds announced a plan to phase out the use of coal-fired electricity by 2030.
On Monday, the federal government announced that it plans to make sure 90 per cent of Canada’s electricity comes from sustainable sources by 2030.
READ MORE: Ottawa announces plan to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2030
Coal power in Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia accounts for 10 per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
After the announcement, Wall released a statement saying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed at the First Ministers’ meeting in March to work with other provinces to develop a Canadian approach to climate change that would be discussed and finalized at the next First Ministers’ meeting in early December.
“The federal government has now violated that commitment for a second time by making its second major policy announcement in advance of the First Ministers’ meeting in December – the announcement last month of a national carbon tax and now today’s announcement of an accelerated phase out of coal-fired electrical generation,” Wall said in the statement.
Wall said both announcements have “severely undermined” the December meeting and “have exposed the Prime Minister’s disingenuous commitment to federal-provincial collaboration.”
Under the federal plan, provinces can choose to completely phase out coal entirely, and replace it with lower-emitting sources or they can use carbon capture and storage technology.
According to Wall, the Saskatchewan government will evaluate the environmental and economic impact for phasing out coal-fired electricity in Saskatchewan. The province currently has three coal-fired plants: two in Estevan and one in Coronach.
“We will continue to strongly oppose any attempt to impose a federal carbon tax on Saskatchewan and will not support any agreement at the December meeting unless the proposed federal carbon tax is withdrawn,” Wall said.
According to SaskPower, in 2015, 42 per cent of the province’s power came from coal while 34 per cent came from gas and 14 per cent from hydro.
Four per cent of power came from coal with carbon capture and storage.
With files from the Canadian Press
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