Federal Environment Minister Guilbeault Asks Alberta Counterpart To Correct Column On Emissions Reduction

Earlier this week, an Alberta newspaper published an article by Nixon describing the new federal plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as “crazy”. In a letter sent Friday, Guilbeault said Nixon had misread a graph and misrepresented it. “I want to correct the record of what this plan does and does not do,” he wrote. The first sentence of Nixon’s column, published on Saturday, read “Alberta will not accept production cuts in the crazy climate plan released by the Liberal Coalition-NDP”. He supports this by referring to numbers drawn from the federal document. He writes that they are proving that the federal plan is an effort to reduce oil and gas production and economic activity in Alberta that will destroy the quality of life in the province. That’s not what the numbers say, Guilbeault wrote. The reductions, Nixon points out, refer to differences in projected output with and without the emission reduction plan. The design actually allows the oilpatch to increase production, he said. “Oil production could increase by about one million barrels a day and emissions will remain in line with Canada’s 2030 target for 40 to 45 percent reductions from 2005. The plan focuses on reducing emissions. “ Guilbeault points out that the direction is shared by industry groups such as the Oilsands Pathways Alliance, a coalition of major oil and gas producers. “Informed public debates cannot take place when the fundamental events are completely mischaracterized by public officials,” he wrote. “I respectfully ask that you correct the public record.” In an e-mail to CBC on Friday, Nixon doubled the content of his column. “If Minister Gilbo wants to back down on the production cuts made by his insane climate plan … he will have to remove it and put oil and gas production ceilings disguised as emission ceilings. A reduction in production. below projected growth is still a cut, “Nixon said. He said the Alberta government would not “accept a plan that would undermine the natural resource guarantees that former Prime Minister Peter Lougheed fought hard to win for the benefit of all Albertans”.

title: “Federal Environment Minister Guilbeault Asks Alberta Counterpart To Correct Column On Emissions Reduction " ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-18” author: “Suzanne Williams”

Earlier this week, an Alberta newspaper published an article by Nixon describing the new federal plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as “crazy”. In a letter sent Friday, Guilbeault said Nixon had misread a graph and misrepresented it. “I want to correct the record of what this plan does and does not do,” he wrote. The first sentence of Nixon’s column, published on Saturday, read “Alberta will not accept production cuts in the crazy climate plan released by the Liberal Coalition-NDP”. He supports this by referring to numbers drawn from the federal document. He writes that they are proving that the federal plan is an effort to reduce oil and gas production and economic activity in Alberta that will destroy the quality of life in the province. That’s not what the numbers say, Guilbeault wrote. The reductions, Nixon points out, refer to differences in projected output with and without the emission reduction plan. The design actually allows the oilpatch to increase production, he said. “Oil production could increase by about one million barrels a day and emissions will remain in line with Canada’s 2030 target for 40 to 45 percent reductions from 2005. The plan focuses on reducing emissions. “ Guilbeault points out that the direction is shared by industry groups such as the Oilsands Pathways Alliance, a coalition of major oil and gas producers. “Informed public debates cannot take place when the fundamental events are completely mischaracterized by public officials,” he wrote. “I respectfully ask that you correct the public record.” In an e-mail to CBC on Friday, Nixon doubled the content of his column. “If Minister Gilbo wants to back down on the production cuts made by his insane climate plan … he will have to remove it and put oil and gas production ceilings disguised as emission ceilings. A reduction in production. below projected growth is still a cut, “Nixon said. He said the Alberta government would not “accept a plan that would undermine the natural resource guarantees that former Prime Minister Peter Lougheed fought hard to win for the benefit of all Albertans”.