OTTAWA – A Canadian energy strategy would do more than a national carbon tax to expedite the American approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to Alberta Premier Alison Redford.
Redford is in Washington, D.C. meeting with many state governors and pitching the benefits of the pipeline, which would stretch from Hardisty, Alta. to Steele City, Neb. to transport Alberta bitumen to the Gulf of Mexico.
“My sense from what I’m hearing in the United States is they want to know where our record has been, but I haven’t heard from decision makers down here that if we were to implement (a carbon tax) that that would somehow shift the dial on those issues,” Redford said in an interview on the Global News program The West Block with Tom Clark.
But the message from President Barack Obama in his state of the union address earlier this month suggests otherwise, with the president demanding that Congress find a market-based solution to climate change.
One such solution is a carbon tax, and many observers have interpreted the president’s charge as a signal that he may implement a price on emissions in exchange for approving the highly contested Keystone pipeline.
The U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson also made it clear the White House’s call to action extends north of the border, telling media that Canadian progress on climate change weighs in the decisions Washington makes.
The Canadian government approved Keystone in 2010, but TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline, is now waiting on approval from U.S. regulators. After more than a year and a half, a decision is expected from Washington, D.C. early this year.
Redford said the message from the Americans may be new to some, but she and other pipeline proponents have always worked from the assumption the environmental considerations would be as important as economic concerns.
Spreading the story of responsible energy development in Alberta and Canada was one of the main goals of Redford’s journey south of the border. In her meetings, she has been touting Alberta’s environmental record, including its emissions targets, carbon pricing and carbon capture efforts.
The Americans, she said, understand Canadian provinces are all different and want to see Canada adopt a multifaceted, energy strategy — not just a carbon tax.
“Where we are able to say, as Canadians, that we understand that we are an energy superpower, that we have an ability to market around the world and that we have a coherent policy with respect to everything from energy efficiency to monitoring to carbon tax, where necessary, to integrated land-use management and what our record has been,” Redford said. “I think that is more important in terms of where we have to be as Canadians right now.”
Alberta desperately wants the new markets the pipeline would produce, arguing that it would help stem falling resource revenues that have led the province to project at $4 billion deficit.
Redford conceded a national carbon tax is a discussion worth having in Canada, even if it’s not something being raised by those she is meeting with in the U.S.
“We still have some discussions in Canada we have to have about that,” she said.
The federal Conservatives have consistently said it will not adopt a carbon tax, which it has said will kill jobs. Nor are there any immediate plans for a cap-and-trade system, according to the government.
Instead, the national efforts will continue to centre around the adoption of sector-by-sector emissions regulations, while the provinces pursue their own emissions policies.
With the White House expected to rule on the Keystone proposal within weeks, Canadians and Redford will soon see whether existing environmental efforts north of the border will be enough to allay American concerns or if any deal with come with green conditions.
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