Across the world, countries are signing long-term agreements (some through 2050) to ensure reliable supplies of natural gas for their countries.
But the Trudeau government is determined to push forward with their ideologically based expensive electricity regulations that will ban this sustainable fuel from generating reliable power in Canada.
When Canada was first developing its power system well over 100 years ago, provinces made decisions based on available resources and geography. British Columbia and Quebec were fortunate to have the topography to develop hydroelectric power. While provinces like Alberta, and Saskatchewan relied on their abundant natural resources, like coal and natural gas, to produce electricity.
Canada has already committed to phasing out coal-fired power by 2030 and has made significant progress towards the goal. Interestingly, most progress came not from switching from coal to renewables, but from coal to natural gas (the United States has also seen dramatic decreases in their emissions by switching from coal to natural gas over the past five years).
The commitment to shutdown coal generated power hit the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick hard. But these new regulations pack a much nastier punch.
The government maintains Canadian’s household energy bills will only increase by $35 - $64 per year by 2040 if the regulations are adopted. A projection that would be laughable if its implications were not so dire.
I don’t know about you, but my family’s power bill has increased by a greater amount since just last year.
Saskatchewan’s provincial power company, SaskPower, predicts Saskatchewan’s power rates will need to at least double to meet these expensive new mandates. Given the poor history of governments meddling in power systems (Texas, Ontario, California, Germany), I imagine SaskPower’s projections will be much more accurate than the feds.
