It’s not yet clear what assumptions were fed into this report, although it’s a very safe bet that they align with the oil and gas industry’s interests — and were perhaps even informed by their funding. Either way, the theoretical job losses are a useful bargaining chip for both industry and the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan in their ongoing efforts to slow-roll federal climate policy and delay the imposition of any meaningful new regulations.
Those efforts include Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s ongoing refusal to even entertain the idea of a net-zero electricity grid by 2035, or an emissions cap on Alberta’s oil and gas sector. Scott Moe went even further, suggesting Guilbeault’s call to phase out unabated fossil fuels — that is, those not paired with carbon capture technology — amounts to a declaration of war. “If it wasn’t clear before, it is now,” the Saskatchewan premier.
in building the Trans Mountain expansion pipeline. But what is becoming abundantly clear is that industry and its political champions aren’t actually serious about building carbon capture projects.