Smith clashes with MPs over climate change, renews calls to scrap “bad laws”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith used a fiery appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainability on Thursday to defend her province’s energy record.

Source: Facebook (Danielle Smith)

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith used a fiery appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainability on Thursday to defend her province’s energy record, challenge federal climate policy, and call for the repeal of what she described as Ottawa’s “bad laws.”

Appearing by video conference, Smith told MPs that Alberta is committed to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, but said the federal government’s 2030 targets are “unrealistic” and risk destabilizing Canada’s power grid.

“Our plan is centered around a 2050 target, which is what we signed on to internationally,” Smith said.

She gave an example of why she felt 2030 was an unrealistic goal.

“I can tell you the cost. We almost had an experience of that in January of 2024, at 5:00 at night, when the sun went down and there was no solar, and it was -30. And so we had to turn down the wind turbines because they had mechanical failure after -30,” said Smith. “We had to do an emergency call out to our people to turn off their lights while they were doing dinner and homework with their kids at night to avoid having our power grid fail.”

She tried to continue providing examples, such as the thousands of people that died in Texas when a similar failure occurred, but was repeatedly cut off by the meeting’s other speakers.

She cited Alberta’s record in phasing out coal power ahead of schedule, reducing methane emissions three years early, and cutting oilsands emissions intensity by 25 per cent per barrel since 2013.

Smith warned that Ottawa’s Clean Electricity Regulations, emissions cap, and other policies would drive up energy costs and force investment out of the country.

While people often label natural resources as a limited resource, Smith highlighted Alberta’s vast resource endowment and said it positions both the province and Canada to be global energy leaders.

“Alberta’s endowment of natural resources is great, greater than many of the G7 countries, even if you combine some of them,” she said. “We just finished a review of the province’s resources, and our reserves now amount to 1.8 trillion barrels of oil, of which 167 billion are recoverable with today’s technology. And we have 1.3 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, of which 144 trillion cubic feet is recoverable.”

“These regulations and draft policies have resulted in economic stagnation of one of the single greatest acts of self-harm in Canada’s economic history,” she said. “In the last 120 days, Canadian-based companies have announced more than $20 billion in capital investment in the United States.”

The premier again urged the federal government to scrap legislation, including Bill C-69, Bill C-48, and the Clean Electricity Regulations, arguing they have blocked growth in Alberta’s energy sector and jeopardized national economic security.

“We need the federal government to do the right thing and eliminate these bad laws. And although I’m pleased that we’ve seen progress on the pause to the gas car ban and the removal of the consumer carbon tax, there is still much more to do. Our country’s economic viability is hanging in the balance.”

Smith also pressed for new pipelines to reach global markets, saying Alberta is “ready to double oil production” if Ottawa clears regulatory barriers.

She cited regulatory burden and uncertainty resulting in the cancellation or delay of the Northern Gateway pipeline, the Keystone XL pipeline, and the Energy East pipeline.

“If all of those had been constructed, we would be generating 2.5 million barrels a day of additional production,” she said. “At today’s prices, that would be $55 billion worth of GDP. Governments take about 40 per cent of that. And the provincial levels of government, the federal government they they get about they split about equally. So anywhere from 10 to $15 billion a year of additional tax revenue for the federal government, and about the same for Alberta.”

Tensions flared when Bloc Québécois MP Patrick Bonin repeatedly pressed Smith to acknowledge that climate change is human-caused. After several exchanges, she conceded that human activity contributes to global warming but declined to say it is the main cause.

“I don’t know the answer to that. I’m not a scientist. But we do know that we need to get to carbon neutral by 2050, and we have a plan to do that,” she said.

Smith countered that Alberta’s industry “is concerned about the impact that they are having on emissions,” pointing to the province’s support for carbon capture, utilization and storage as key to achieving its 2050 goal.

“We’ve already sequestered 14 megatons of CO₂,” Smith said. “Direct air capture allows for us to take CO₂ directly from the atmosphere and be able to safely sequester it underground in, in that pore space.”

Smith maintained that Alberta will continue advancing carbon-reduction technologies but would not jeopardize reliability to meet Ottawa’s earlier deadlines.

“No one’s talking about not taking action,” she said. “What we’re talking about is whether a 2030 target is realistic or a 2050 target is realistic.”