NDP critic Aleana Young asks if the Saskatchewan First Act constitutional? Is it window dressing?
REGINA – Is the Saskatchewan First Act window dressing? Is it unconstitutional?
These are questions NDP Regina University MLA Aleana Young is asking. She’s critic for both Energy and Resources and SaskPower. Both of those areas are key considerations specifically listed within the Saskatchewan First Act.
That act was introduced by introduced by Minister of Justice and Attorney General Bronwyn Eyre on Nov. 1, with the intention of “reasserting” Saskatchewan’s jurisdiction on resources, environmental regulation, power production and fertilizer usage. It’s the Saskatchewan Party government’s response to what it believes has been overreach by the federal government into nine different areas, all in the name of climate change.
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“So let’s take let’s take the power thing first of all,” Eyre said, noting the proposed Clean Electricity Standard, if adopted in its current form, would mean no fossil fueled power generation in this province by 2035.
According to SaskPower’s Where Your Power Comes From website, on any given day, coal and natural gas combined provide 65 to 84 per cent of the power in Saskatchewan. On Nov. 6, it was 77 per cent.
Eyre said, “That’s a federal policy which we hope will never see the light of day, but which is moving along. We will freeze in the dark. And we know that. Saskatoon (is) powered by the Queen Elizabeth, a national gas-powered power station. The entire City of Saskatoon (would be) in huge trouble.”
SaskPower literally doubling down on wind and solar, despite days like Oct. 3 when wind produced 7% capacity
SaskPower is on track to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 50 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030. In the process, the amount of non-emitting electricity in Saskatchewan’s generation mix will increase from approximately 35 per cent today to between 40 and 50 per cent, the press release said.
But that’s nameplate capacity – the theoretical amount facilities can put out in ideal conditions. The reality has proven to be far from that. Wind and solar typically produce nothing near nameplate capacity, and coal and natural gas combined make up 65 to 84 per cent of Saskatchewan power production on any given day.
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