Climate policy remains top of mind as session ends

With a carbon tax, a reference case and a pipeline convoy, this session of the Saskatchewan Legislature was nearly dominated by environmental and climate issues.

And on the last day of session, Thursday, that didn’t abate.

Much of the questioning of NDP Leader Ryan Meili and Premier Scott Moe centred around climate policy and SaskPower’s coal-fired power plants in particular.

Moe was positive about the future of coal in Saskatchewan, despite federal regulations which would shutter coal plants within the next few decades. The provincial government has signed an equivalency agreement and Moe says he wants to get as much out of those coal plants, and the investment the province put in them, as possible.

Moe talked about the coal industry’s emissions, which are some of the highest, but didn’t make any commitments to expanding carbon capture which could lower net emissions.

“We are actually looking at opportunities to clean up the emissions profile of that industry as we move forward, but also looking at other opportunities that we have to generate clean electricity here in the province of Saskatchewan,” he said.

There has been some anger coming up at Meili from people in the coal industry after he said phasing out coal is the right idea. Meili repeated that opinion, saying there are opportunities to increase jobs with a focus and investment in renewable resources.

Meili said that if he could talk to people in the coal industry, he’d tell them the NDP cares deeply about their jobs.

“We want to see them employed, we want to see them have options to continue those jobs as long as that’s feasible but also see opportunities for retraining, opportunities for other employment,” he explained.

Meili accused the provincial government of giving false hope to that industry and of not being realistic about the phase-out of coal.

Nuclear power

Moe said the government has made other investments, like retrofitting, wind power and natural gas. He explained that, as conversations continue, nuclear power is also coming into the mix. Moe noted Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick have all been talking about small modular nuclear reactors.

“This is a new and innovative technology that is very different from the conversation that we’ve had around a larger nuclear reactors here in the province. These are small, they’re stackable and they’re safe,” he said.

Moe said the government wants to add power generating capacity in Estevan, so that could be a good place for the reactors.

However, Meili isn’t convinced on the idea of nuclear power.

“From what I’m able to understand, so far, that technology isn’t ready for this market,” he said. “We should make sure that we’re actually jumping on the things that are.”

Meili added the province should be working on what’s readily available and affordable and what reduces emissions first.

A distraction

Even with all the hubbub around the carbon tax and reference case, Moe doesn’t think that issue distracted from others in the past three months. He said it affects the economy, which is imperative to investing in other services the province provides.

Meili agreed in a way, saying he thinks his opposition was still able to talk about some of their priorities around education, health care and the economy during the session.