The Sask. tribunal’s report “is hard to take seriously,” Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault’s office said.
An economic assessment tribunal’s report claiming Saskatchewan would suffer massive harm under proposed federal regulations is “wildly out of sync” with the benefits of a cleaner electrical grid, the office of the federal environment minister says.
The report claimed Saskatchewan’s economic growth under the proposed federal regulations would slow by at least $7.1 billion and the province would lose at least 4,200 jobs. The report also said the value of exports from the province would be reduced by $8.1 billion.
The report from the tribunal “is hard to take seriously,” the office of Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault said on Wednesday.
The office said Saskatchewan launched the tribunal “with an underlying ideological agenda to build a political fight with the Government of Canada,” noting the assertion from Justice Minister and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre that the tribunal “has an exclusive role to ‘analyze and quantify the dollar figure harm of federal policies.’ ”
According to the federal environment minister’s office, the report considered an outdated draft version of the clean electricity regulations, failed to acknowledge significant additional flexibilities that were proposed, and didn’t take into account the regulations not yet being finalized.
“It is not surprising that these incorrect conclusions were reached,” the office of Environment Minister Guilbeault said in a statement.
“The results of this report are wildly out of sync with all the benefits we know come with building out a cleaner grid. Saskatchewan is ideally situated to be a leader in these economic opportunities. Saskatchewan has huge opportunities to reap in transitioning its grid to clean energy, including through the development of carbon capture and storage technology, small modular nuclear reactors, and renewable energy.”
According to the environment minister’s office, the Saskatchewan tribunal excluded $40 billion from the federal government to help provinces build a cleaner grid, and ignores millions of dollars the federal government has already invested to upgrade Saskatchewan’s grids, including $74 million to develop small modular reactors, $174 million to upgrade the E.B. Campbell Hydroelectric Station and more.
“We are creating many flexibilities to ensure a smooth transition of existing grid infrastructure across Canada, including in Saskatchewan. The United States is doing the exact same thing with their own electricity sector,” the environment minister’s office said.
“Building a cleaner grid will not only help to create tens of thousands of jobs in the province of Saskatchewan, but also support more affordable electricity rates for Saskatchewanians over the long term.”
The panel was convened in 2023 to examine the economic costs of the federal government’s proposed clean electricity regulations, which plan to limit allowed emissions to an annual average of 30 tonnes of carbon per gigawatt hours a year.
The province has repeatedly said it’s not feasible for Saskatchewan to meet the federal government’s proposed net-zero targets by 2035, suggesting 2050 as a Saskatchewan goal instead.
The environment minister’s office on Wednesday said everywhere in Canada is searching for ways to expand the production of electricity in response to a growing economy and population, and also in a desire for households and businesses to transition away from fossil fuels toward electricity.
The environment minister’s office flatly disputed that claim.
“The Supreme Court has recognized the federal government’s role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions,” the office said.
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