Did the feds just blink on natural gas-fired power generation?

Jonathan Wilkinson near Kipling. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

The Clean Electricity Standard discussion paper, released a little over a year ago, says, “A Canada-wide CES will complement carbon pricing by requiring the phase-out of all conventional fossil fuel electricity generation.”

And “Regulations to limit fossil fuel generation must be decisive and swift enough to prevent locking in new fossil fuel infrastructure that will persist beyond 2035.”

Also “As natural gas currently plays a critical role in the electricity sector by providing fast-response power, exploration of the continued operation of natural gas assets in special circumstances may be needed. This includes providing flexibility to essential uses of natural gas, such as for emergency events, back-up power to complement variable renewables, and potentially supplying power during seasonal peaks of demand.”

But I asked federal Minister of Natural Resources about this twice between Wednesday and Thursday, and got a different response. He appeared to be open to the continued usage of natural gas power generation, as long as it was coupled with carbon capture. This is a huge deal for Saskatchewan and Alberta, but means expensive CCUS schemes. It could also have national unity implications. Steven Guilbeault even threatened Scott Moe with jail time.

He even said coal with CCUS would be allowed.

Did the feds just blink?

And note: the morning of Wednesday, Alberta’s 3618 megawatts of wind power was producing 3, less than one-tenth of one per cent.

38 Replies to “Did the feds just blink on natural gas-fired power generation?”

  1. L – Did the Feds(Lib/NDP Axis of Ev..) blink or is it a ruse to get them
    through the upcoming federal election?

    Evil and cunning, this blend of Cult. Marxism/Fascism is as well disguised
    as the wolf in Red Riding Hood. Hoodwink the naive and a 2020-22,
    a 3 year test of C.C.P. style dictatorship worked like mass hypnosis.

    But inflation, supply chain disruption, reduced manufacturing,
    loss of small/medium sized businesses. The growing realization
    this is a gov’t. policy, a deliberate increase in the cost of: transportation, food and shelter via lowered energy production=higher cost, mortgage rate/payments doubling, and demand for shelter is pushed up by
    mass migration rates impossible to keep up with, causing the same with the shortage of family physicians…

    You’re worried about the economy now, calculate how you survive
    a Depression. Western Civilization’s political elite has chosen to
    de-industrialize, to impoverish it’s citizens. Will populist revolts
    seize the helm of the ships of state, before or after the *iceberg?

    To be continued… Living through history is more like riding a
    runaway train than reading or watching a film about it later.

    *(or we’ve struck a “small” iceberg and are taking on water now)

  2. Agree Larry – like the enemy calling for a ceasefire – so they can resupply and reload…
    I’ll get excited when the opposition or Danielle Smith (or industry) – with the multitudes of evidence in hand – that AGW/Climate change is a fraud. Full stop.

  3. Wrong Question,just as Larry says above.
    They did not blink.
    They lied without blink or self reflection.
    Nothing these people says means anything.
    They are liars and deceivers by choice.
    Lie Ber All.

  4. The Real questions are
    1. This plan has little chance to be fully implemented, given the improbability of the Climate Fascists still being in power in the 2035 era.
    2. Will Pepe (or his successor) /CPC, completely abandon/rewrite/eliminate the Climate Fascist agenda? There’s a lot of work to do, to achieve that. And a lot of useful idiots to deal with to eliminate these regressive regulations.
    The Mediots
    The Climate fascists (Greentards, Lib/Lefty nutters, THE MEDIA, Foreigners, Know Nothing Celebs)

  5. The urban Eloi (Canadian voters) are so energy ignorant and CAGW cool-aid numbed down that their frozen bodies will need to be piled on roadside like cordwood before the survivors will be stimulated into wondering why.

  6. That is impressive Brian. I didn’t think anything could get them to move, but you and your guys did. Way to get the job done out there.

  7. Liberals don’t blink…they lie. Believing what they tell you is your first mistake.

    1. Getting them to change the lie when they don’t want to is pretty good. Everything is visuals for them. That’s why they do things. It’s important to understand that they don’t really -believe- in Glowball Warmening and all this other whatnot. They -do- believe in looking good.

      Brian made them think they looked bad, made them change the story. If they start thinking “Just Transition” is making them look bad, they’ll drop it like a hot rock.

      Good job.

  8. Perhaps it has simply dawned on the Trudeau Liberals that they *can’t* shut down natgas plants in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Trudeau and his government often use bullying techniques to move their political agendas. When Alberta and Saskatchewan gave the feds an absolute “No!!” Trudeau was left with some unpalatable political options.

    Like getting into an ugly war of words with prairie provinces, following through on threats of criminal charges against premiers, try to somehow physically shut down an essential electrical supply, threatening to withhold transfer payments…all of which might turn our badly for national unity and worry voters in the rest of Canada. Worse, the Trudeau Liberal-NDP government will look impotent and weak if they insist on natgas plant closures and Alberta and Saskatchewan just ignore the feds. Other provinces and premiers might also find the courage to ignore and refuse to listen to federal government edicts, creating a political or constitutional crisis.

    Might be wiser for the Liberal-NDP party to back down from a fight they can’t win in order to save face and political influence.

    1. That is very much along the lines of what I’m thinking Mind if I use some of that for a column?

    2. Agreed, LC. Watching Winnipeg freeze in the dark will not make them any friends in Toronto, and it could be that somebody they listen to finally explained to them how electricity works.

      Maybe also explained that throwing Scott Moe in jail will get them more bouncy castles on the front lawn of Parliament. They’re terrified of those.

      1. From what I can see, the Trudeau government doesn’t understand how anything works, except influence peddling and jet setting around the world at the taxpayer’s expense. They also excel at breaking public trust in Canadian institutions.

  9. The maritime provinces seem to be waking up and are protesting the carbon tax. Prepare to pay more at the pump starting tomorrow

  10. Meh…it’s covert removal. Governments invariably use cost as a regulating factor. They over regulate (a not so veiled reality of the account above) such that there is no future in start-ups, and no confidence in established operations causing subsidized diversification.

    The weasel words above are found without really looking: “emergency”, “back-up” . Essentially, what this means is tight tight tight government oversite on the manufacturing and use of natural gas. Private businesses won’t be able to set the guidelines for use. The government will be pulling the strings and applying it when it is most politically beneficial.

    Only a braindead optimist could see this as anything else.

    1. That would be the federal government’s go-to play but I suspect there’s a few counter moves for provinces.

      First, Saskatchewan via saskenergy, saskpower and transgas control all the generation and distribution except for natgas production and the big corporate pipelines (Enbridge etc.). The Liberal-NDP feds would still be directly butting heads with the Saskatchewan government over natgas.

      Second, resource and energy corporations are partnering with native bands. The feds could have a public relations nightmare if they continually deny Canada’s most economically deprived communities of much needed jobs and profit sharing. Especially since aboriginal bands can play the “it was our land first, you’re colonial invaders” card.

  11. Did the feds just blink?

    Who GAF what the feds do/think? Carbon based fuel is a provincial jurisdiction. Tell ’em to FOAD.

  12. Showing up in western Canada is simply an inconvenience for our Marxist Liberals. They sigh, shrug and just get it overwith.

  13. Saskatchewan needs to ‘weaponize’ carbon capture. Threaten to release all the stored-up co2 if the Libs don’t change their policies.

    The Libs are just dumb enough that if they really believe co2 is evil, then they may bend a bit. /sarc off

  14. The legacy media in Canada will not report that last year the EU Parliament classified natural gas as green energy. So why is natural gas not considered green energy in Canada and the U.S.?

    “The European Parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of a proposal regarding labeling natural gas and nuclear power plants as climate-friendly investments.

    The European Commission released the proposal, formally called the EU taxonomy, in December as a list of economic activities that investors can label and market as green in the EU.

    A motion to block the proposal received 278 votes in favor and 328 against, while 33 lawmakers abstained.”

    https://www.dw.com/en/european-parliament-backs-listing-nuclear-energy-gas-as-green/a-62377411

  15. No, because they are demanding carbon capture and storage, which for mature plants is probably not economical.

    (let alone the additional energy that is being wasted to power carbon capture and storage)

  16. Trojan Horse type stuff

    The carbon dioxide lunatics are the enemy and will always be the enemy. A fairly important point to remember.

  17. I will simplify, as usual government morons are f****** up our country and our world. They really do want to kill us.

  18. Blink?.. Where politics meets math..

    Apparently the answer is burn everything down until your unrealistic expectations are the only unrealistic expectation left standing.. I have to say its not a good plan.. The day government nationalized energy production is the day we became Venezuela.. Run off all the men who know what they were doing and replace them with party hacks that produce at a greatly reduced rate..

    I’m sure the hacks are all happy with their shinny new jobs that they didn’t earn or even deserve.. Militant even..

    We did this.. Fighting the Gringo or Capitalism.. Saving the planet.. The reason has no impact on the sad outcome.. It is a given.. Experts are experts.. They cant exist in two camps.. A logic hole that can only be explained with politics.. Blink?

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