• Smith responds to the Trudeau Liberals’ proposed emissions cap on the oil and gas industry

• Alberta has jurisdiction over its natural resources production, and Smith says the emissions cap will hurt this production

• Smith says “This cap must be scrapped. Alberta’s government is actively exploring the use of every legal option, including a constitutional challenge and the use of the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act.”

Premier Danielle Smith told reporters on Monday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is actively trying to destroy Canada before he loses the next election.

The federal Liberals introduced a massive emissions cap on the oil and gas industry, and they’re insisting that it won’t impact production or the economy at all.

In fact, they’re saying it will help the economy, though this assumes the oil and gas industry will adopt “technically achievable” decarbonization efforts.

Alberta’s Premier Smith followed the feds’ announcement with a press conference of her own about two hours later, threatening to take the feds to court.

Provinces have jurisdiction over the production of their natural resources, something the Trudeau government is attempting to avoid through their proposed emissions cap.

Smith calls it a de facto production cap, and says it would devastate Alberta’s economy. 

The Premier said that the largest producers are investing in cleantech but “you cannot snap your fingers and say it has to be done by 2026, or 2030, or 2035.”

“The losses to GDP mean 28 billion dollars will disappear from the Alberta economy and nationally 97 billion dollars” she said, citing a report from S&P Global.

The Premier chastised Prime Minister Trudeau for attempting to “sneak in” an emissions cap on big oil less than one-year before a national election while polling just over 20%. 

“It’s like a bad renter that’s burning the furniture on the way out,” Smith said of Trudeau.

“Knowing that they are headed to defeat, they are trying to do as much damage as possible,” she said, adding “the only way to achieve these unrealistic targets is to shut in our production.”

She also called Environment’s Minister Steven Guilbeault a hypocrite for being fine with China’s plan to fully cut their 15-fold-higher carbon emissions by 2060, ten years after he’s demanding Canada get to net-zero.  

Cap-and-trade

The hard cap on emissions would be implemented through a cap-and-trade system. According to the Liberals’ drafted regulations, by 2030, the oil and gas sector will be required to reduce its emissions by 35% below 2019 levels. This cap would increase until reaching net zero by 2050.

In their announcement on Monday, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the cap will “decarbonize Canada’s oil and gas sector.” 

“For both the economy and the environment, we must act today, and we are,” Minister Wilkinson told reporters.

Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, who was also present—and mostly raging against Premier Smith—said it’s “a cap on emissions, not production, full stop.” 

In a related news release, the Liberals stated that, from 2019 to 2022, oil and gas companies have reaped a “tenfold” increase in profits. 

Over the past few weeks, Smith’s United Conservative Party have been boldly running ad campaigns in other Canadian provinces, with billboard trucks calling to “scrap the cap.”