Steven Guilbeault, Federal Environment Minister, has written to his Alberta counterpart to address the errors he believes Jason Nixon made. recent newspaper column.
An Alberta newspaper published an opinion piece by Nixon earlier this week. He called the federal plan to reduce greenhouse gases emissions “insane”
Guilbeault, in a Friday letter, claims Nixon misread a graph, and got his facts wrong.
He writes, “I want the record to be corrected on what this plan does or does not do.”
Nixon’s column published the first sentence on Saturday. It read: “Alberta will refuse to accept production cuts under the insane climate plan released today by the Liberal/NDP coalition.”
He backs up his assertions with references to numbers taken from the federal document. He says they prove that the federal plan is an attempt reduce oil and natural gas production and economic activity within Alberta. This would result in a decrease in quality of life.
Guilbeault stated that the numbers don’t support this assertion.
Nixon refers to the difference in projected production without and with the emissions reduction plan. He said that the plan allows the oilpatch increase its output.
“Oil production could increase by approximately one million barrels per hour and emissions would remain in line with Canada’s 2030 goal to reduce emissions by 40 to 45 percent relative to 2005. The plan aims to reduce emissions.
Guilbeault explains that industry groups like the Oilsands Pathways Alliance (a coalition of major oilands producers) share the same direction.
“Informed public deliberations cannot take place when fundamental facts have been completely mischaracterized and interpreted by public officials,” he wrote. “I respectfully ask that you correct the public record.”
Nixon doubled down on his column’s content in an email statement to CBC.
Minister Guilbeault should not backtrack on the production cuts he has proposed as a climate plan. He should remove it and eliminate emission caps that are imposed on oil and gas production. Nixon stated that a production cut below the projected growth is still a cut.
He said that the Alberta government wouldn’t accept a plan that violates the natural resource protections that former premier Peter Lougheed worked hard for in order to benefit all Albertans.
