(LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s environment minister is threatening to punish Saskatchewan if it ignores a ban on coal.
On Wednesday, May 17, during the question period in the House of Commons, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault declared that violating environmental regulations banning the use of coal and gas-fired power after 2035 could result in criminal sanctions. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had stated that the province would continue to run their plants.
“What kind of penalties would Saskatchewan face if they don’t phase out coal?” asked a reporter.
“We have regulated the ban on coal through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act which is a criminal tool that the federal government has,” replied Guilbeault. “Not complying with this regulation would be a violation of Canada’s Criminal Code.”
“We want to have net aero, a carbon neutral grid by 2035,” said Guilbeault. “I can’t be more specific than that. We will be publishing soon the draft regulations on that.”
According to the Environmental Protection Act, corporations that violate the terms could face a maximum of $1-million-a-day fines, while individuals could face three years’ imprisonment.
During a Tuesday press conference, Moe said that completely outlawing coal and natural gas from power generation by 2035 is both expensive and impractical.
“The federal government’s standards for zero emission electrical generation by 2035 are unrealistic and unaffordable,” he said.
“They mean SaskPower rates would more than double, and we may not have enough generation to keep the lights on,” Moe continued. “I am not going to let that happen.”
“In order to keep rates affordable, existing assets including natural gas plants will be used until end of life,” he said, adding that Saskatchewan could reach net zero status by 2050.
This is not the first time that Moe has challenged environmental policies imposed by the Trudeau government. In 2022, he blasted Trudeau’s environmental policy goals, stating that a “fossil fuel phase-out by 2035″ is “going to make for an awfully cold house in Saskatoon on Jan. 1, 2036.” He added, “One needs to look no further than the European Union” to see the impacts of such policies.
“I would say for the rest of the world to observe and it’s on full display for the world to observe. The energy costs in the European Union over the last number of years due to enacting these solely environmental focus policies have been skyrocketing,” the politician said.
The Trudeau government’s current environmental goals – in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil-fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
Pushing back against federal interference in the energy sector, the government of Saskatchewan introduced the Saskatchewan First Act on November 1 to “confirm Saskatchewan’s autonomy and exclusive jurisdiction over its natural resources.”
Specifically, the new piece of legislation will amend the province’s constitution so that the province has “sovereign autonomy and asserts Saskatchewan’s exclusive legislative jurisdiction under the Constitution of Canada over a number of areas,” such as the “exploration for non-renewable natural resources.”
The Saskatchewan First Act will also allow the province to choose what fuel it wants to use to power its electrical grid, independent of the dictates of the federal government.
Alberta is also resisting the new regulations. Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith has applauded Moe’s Saskatchewan First Act and said that in Alberta her soon-to-be-released Sovereignty Act will likewise assert the province’s autonomy over its abundant natural resources and prevent federal government overreach.
While Trudeau’s plan has been pushed under the guise of “sustainability,” his intention to decrease nitrous oxide emissions by limiting the use of fertilizer has been criticized by farmers. They say this will reduce profits and could lead to food shortages.
Moreover, experts are warning that the Trudeau government’s new “clean fuel” regulations, which come into effect next year, will cost Canadian workers – many of whom are already struggling under decades-high inflation rates – an average $1,277 extra annually.