[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

There will be other projects that need approval in the future that will have significantly more impact (economically, environmentally, socially) than what amounts to twinning an existing line, and if this is such a tough thing to make happen, how are those projects ever going to be built?

They most likely won't be unless the political climate shifts dramatically.

I'm talking NEP shift in political climates.

This is what I was trying to get across with my post about Kenney. The unfortunate reality for many Albertans will be that federal liberals and provincial NDP is the single best combination they could have to get energy infrastructure off the ground.

Look at the row between Saskatchewan and the Feds right now regarding a carbon tax. Try to come up with a scenario where that kind of turmoil is beneficial to the Alberta oil and gas industry.

A carbon tax like the $3 billion pricing scheme unveiled by Alberta premier Rachel Notley on Sunday is a non-starter, according to Saskatchewan Finance Minister Kevin Doherty.

“We’re not imposing a carbon tax,” Doherty told the Regina Chamber of Commerce on Monday. “Now is not the time to impose another tax on the business community.”


Premier Brad Wall echoed Doherty at the first ministers’ meeting on Monday in Ottawa, telling reporters that while Canada needs to do better on its climate change record, it can’t forget the consequences for the economy.

“As we are meeting, there are literally tens of thousands of Canadians who have been laid off of their jobs in the (energy) sector, and there is the prospect for more difficult news if prices stay low,” he said.

“We need to work hard to ensure that we’re doing no further harm to an industry that is facing great difficulty,” Wall added.

It’s unclear whether the Sask. Party government’s position is ideological or pragmatic, but major energy industry players have voiced support for a broad-spectrum carbon levy in Alberta, Smith said.

“Does it have to be anti-economy to be pro-environment?” he said. “That seems (to be) how they’re painting it … but the Alberta government, I think, is saying the opposite.”

Economic vitality and environmental protection are not always mutually exclusive, according to the president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents companies in the oil and gas industries.

“If there’s a way to do things more efficiently, more effectively, it likely has less emissions and lower costs,” Tim McMillan said. “I think it should always be our goal to find win-win solutions.”

Every jurisdiction requires a different balance, meaning a solution that works in one province won’t necessarily succeed in another, and Saskatchewan has the track record and the credibility to achieve “real and meaningful improvements” while allowing its economy to remain strong, McMillan said.

University of Regina political science professor Jim Farney questions the provincial government’s position. While governments are typically wary of scaring away capital investment with tax hikes, most large companies can’t afford to abandon immobile natural resources, he noted.

“(A carbon tax) will be bad for some businesses, and those stories will come up,” Farney said. “(But) is it bad for economic growth on the whole, or is it the biggest factor for an economy like ours? Almost certainly not. It’s the price of oil, which we don’t control, and it’s the price of potash, which we don’t control.”

The Sask. Party’s commitment to avoiding new taxes leaves it out of step with Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec — all of which have implemented, or are planning to implement, carbon pricing — but investment in renewables is a climate policy stopgap, Farney added.

“Everybody else is doing it, so we’ve got to be seen to do something,” he added.

http://thestarphoenix.com/business/e...cy-expert-says

OTTAWA—Canada and Saskatchewan seem headed to a legal showdown over whether the federal government can force provinces to impose a carbon tax.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last fall he wants every province and territory to have a $10 a tonne price on carbon in place by 2018, rising to $50 a tonne by 2022. Trudeau said if they didn’t do it themselves, he would do it for them.

Saskatchewan Environment Minister Scott Moe told The Canadian Press on Thursday his province will never let that happen. A $50 a tonne carbon tax would amount to $2.5 billion in Saskatchewan, he said, and that’s a cost its export-based economy cannot bear.

“We’ll use everything in our disposal to not have that cost imposed on industries here in the province of Saskatchewan and that may include going to a court of law,” he said.

Eleven provinces and territories agreed to the carbon price plan in December, when they signed the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba did not.

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told The Canadian Press this week negotiations with the two have continued.

“We’re always having good discussions with them and, to be honest, they agree with most parts of the framework, so I’m optimistic,” she said.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ster-says.html

They've been battling about this for 3 years now. It has not been beneficial for Saskatchewan. They are now playing catchup with jurisdictions that have a Carbon Tax.

I spoke with someone a few weeks ago that was explaining to me how the Alberta carbon tax has helped increase diversification by attracting manufacturing to Alberta. The carbon tax has made the playing field level compared to BC, but with a lower cost of living and business start up costs like leasing and zoning for industrial use.

This industry was in tools and material assembly for mining, but this individual seemed to think it was across numerous industries that previously found it prohibitive to do business in Alberta.