WEYBURN - The federal Liberals have to know they are causing major problems when provinces point out that their ideological goals are simply unrealistic and unachievable, but being stubbornly committed to hurt the West, they are continuing on their destructive pathway.
In conjunction with their open hostility to the energy industry in Saskatchewan and Alberta, they have moved on to make things even worse (if that were possible) by declaring that electricity production across Canada has to be “net-zero” by the year 2035, with coal-powered generation to be phased out by 2030.
The response by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe was to point out the sheer futility of this goal set by Ottawa.
“You can see the impossible position our province of Saskatchewan and SaskPower have been put in as the federal government continues to move forward with policies that are quite simply not based in reality,” he told media recently.
The head of SaskPower added that achieving net-zero emissions for the electricity system is not possible, given present circumstances.
The electricity grid currently uses power generated by natural gas plants (40 per cent) and coal-fired plants (25 per cent) to produce the 5,437 megawatts currently needed in Saskatchewan.
It’s estimated that since the province will continue growing, it will need some 7,000 megawatts of power production by 2035, when the Liberals seem to think we should all be net-zero.
The fact is, which Trudeau and his left-wing environmentalist government seems unable to grasp, is that we have actual need of fossil fuels right now, and we will be needing for many years to come. There is a process underway to make everything “green” and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, but it takes time.
They also want all electric cars and trucks sooner than later, but again, it’s completely unrealistic. The infrastructure is not there to support it, the technology is not there, and it’s simply not affordable for most people to buy all-electric vehicles yet.
The goals of the Liberals are not achievable for the power grid, and it would be completely unreasonable and irresponsible to insist on a goal that cannot realistically be achieved with the technology and infrastructure we have. Modular nuclear plants are on the horizon – but they’re years off from being installed or viable. So what does an irresponsible Liberal government do? They are going to tie in money for grants and funding to abiding by their unrealistic goals. There’s a word for that kind of coercion, and the government needs to think twice before threatening that against her citizens.
