Clean Electricity Standard unrealistic for Sask

Clean Electricity Standard unrealistic and impossible for Saskatchewan, says premier.

By Brian Zinchuk

REGINA – On May 2, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe drew a line in the sand, or perhaps prairie topsoil, on federal climate change initiatives, which, if brought to fruition, would mean an end to up to 86 per cent of the power production in Saskatchewan by 2035.

In delivering the keynote address to the 30th Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, Moe categorically said the proposed federal Clean Electricity Standard, expected to be implemented this year, was “unrealistic, and impossible.”

Premier Scott Moe presenting the keynote address at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference on May 2 in Regina. Photo by Norm Sacuta

“Soaring rhetoric cannot change the laws of thermodynamics; never has been able to, and it certainly would never will be able to. So this target is zero net-zero by 2035, it doesn’t contemplate the eventualities of not having enough baseload power, not only in Saskatchewan grid, but in many other provinces across the nation.” Moe said.

“I want to be very clear about this in Saskatchewan, we will not attempt the impossible when it comes to power production. We’re not going to risk plunging our homes, our schools, our hospitals, our businesses, that are operating and creating wealth in our communities into a cold and dark evening because of the ideological winds up another level of government.”

“We’re not going to put the security of the energy system that we have here in jeopardy and we will not increase power costs unnecessarily for our industries, our businesses and our families in this province, to the point where they are completely unaffordable. Saskatchewan requires reliable, affordable electricity. It is required to be available and available on demand. And under this government’s watch, that most certainly will be the case for years in the future,” Moe said.

This policy stance, if carried out, is sure to come to loggerheads with the federal government, and have profound implications for Estevan, Coronach, Saskatoon, North Battleford, Swift Current, Moose Jaw, and Lanigan, in particular, but the entire province in general.

Here is a part of Moe’s speech:

Welcome this morning. It’s a great honor for me to join you here this morning on what is the 30th edition of the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference. Thirty years and still going strong. I’ll be married 30 years this year. So I understand precisely just how long that is. And how rewarding that that is.

But congratulations to all of the organizers and sponsors, not just at this year’s event, but all of the organizers and sponsors that have ensured the success of this conference for three decades. Literally attracting people from across the continent for what I think is an ever so crucial conversation, always has been a crucial conversation, but even more important today about oil and gas and energy, and so much more. And this year, I will see there’s plenty for us to talk about in this room, and in this part of the world.

There’s yes oil and gas. But there’s also critical minerals. There’s hydrogen. There’s uranium. There’s geothermal. There’s carbon capture, and storage. And of course, there’s going to be discussion about many other key factors that we see occurring around the world. There’s geopolitical concerns that we see playing out. And in other areas of the world, there’s government policy concerns that we see, at times, playing out in, in our part of the world, and on our continent.

So I want to just begin by welcoming everyone, to what we believe is the greatest province, the province of Saskatchewan. We particularly want to welcome those that have traveled internationally. Those from south to the 49th parallel, from the United States. I had the opportunity to be in Washington, DC, last week. I was engaging on what is our most valuable and valuable trade partnership with the with the United States of America. So welcome to each of you.  And I hope you enjoy your visit to our province. We appreciate you as people travel more often into our province and come up here. And we certainly are appreciative of that.

Support energy

Folks, in the time I have this morning, I want to discuss a few things, some of the actions that we’ve taken in government to support the growth in the energy sector as a as a whole, with a focus, yes, on international engaged engagement, what we’re doing to ensure that our province continues to be to be a place where there’s a supportive environment for this industry into the future. And then I want to talk a little bit about protecting that environment, that environment of opportunity that we have in Saskatchewan, and more broadly across the continent that we share. I want to talk a little bit about protecting it from unrealistic policies, ideological policies, versus policies that are much more based in reality. Policies that, quite frankly, at times are threatening the energy security and continental energy security that that you were part of building.

Ladies and gentlemen, this province, our province of Saskatchewan, we have, as Heather said, the food, the fuel and the fertilizer to provide energy security and food security to the world. We have the ideas. We have the innovations and we will certainly have the people right here. We have so much of what the world needs today.

In particular, today, when you see some of the unrest in other areas, and you’re seeing that play out in the economic indicators, here, in Saskatchewan. We are forecast to lead all provinces and economic growth not just this year, but next year and likely years into the future. Real GDP numbers released yesterday: largest increase in the nation of Canada was the province of Saskatchewan 5.7% well above the 3.6% average of our nation, our unemployment rate also more than the national average. Our population in this province today is growing faster than it has in over a century. More people are coming to Saskatchewan because there are opportunities here,  shared opportunities.

We have, today, more than 80 projects that have been committed to in the private sector over the course of the last year to total investments about $32 billion of direct investment in those 80 projects. Activity in our energy sector is picking up – $2.8 billion in capital investment last year, forecast to be $3.4 billion this year. And quite frankly, even higher than that.

We see investments in in the critical minerals and rare earth sector. We see in the north, northern parts of our province, continued investments in the uranium industry with the reopening of the MacArthur River Mine and the Key Lake Mill. And we see Cameco, that is operating both of those mills, that is signing long-term uranium supply contracts around the world, most notably and most recently with country Ukraine.

Our mining industry, our energy industry, our forestry industry, our construction sector are all hiring people. And this year our exports are up 44%, again, the highest rate of growth in the country of Canada.