Smith calls on NDP to get on board with renewable energy pause
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on August 23, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com Lethbridge East MLA Nathan Neudorf and Premier Danielle Smith continue to defend the government’s moratorium on renewable energy, and say a six-month pause in new green energy projects was not irresponsible and the NDP needs to get on board.“What’s irresponsible is the NDP siding with (federal) Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault against Alberta,” Smith said Tuesday during a news conference in Lethbridge.
“The reason why we have to have a pause is because they created so much uncertainty to bringing on natural gas, that no one’s bringing it on. The reason we’ve been able to bring on wind and solar is we have natural gas as a backup. They’re essentially making that illegal now.
“I would actually like the NDP to be responsible, stand with us in saying the 2035 emissions target is unreasonable, unacceptable, unconstitutional, unachievable, and stand with us working toward 2050.”
Smith said if the province can use natural gas as a backup, then it can bring on solar and wind power in a responsible manner.
“We cannot add solar and wind projects, which are intermittent, without knowing what’s going to happen when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. That would be irresponsible.”
Smith said she stays awake at night worrying about how the province is going to provide electrical power to Albertans in the middle of winter.
“We almost had our power grid fail seven times this past winter. We are being told by our regulators, we are being told by our generators, that we need to have baseload power being brought on, and rather than bickering on the sidelines, rather than being unreasonable, I think the NDP would do well to support us. They created this problem; they phased out coal early; they’re the ones who added billions of dollars in additional costs to the power grid; they’re the ones who didn’t have a plan for how we were going to be able to continue to have baseload power backup, and now they’re planning with Ottawa.”
Smith said the NDP is being irresponsible and needs to stand up for Alberta “for a change.”
Neudorf agreed and said the NDP’s interference with the coal industry didn’t accomplish anything.
“It’s unfortunate they stopped coal generation which was affordable, readily accessible; and then they did what? They didn’t solve any of the underlying problems,” Neudorf said.
“We need to get back to responsible government to make sure we address the entire system, the market, and how we generate power to make sure that we answer those questions not just today but for generations to come, so that we can have affordable, dependable and reliable energy. We need it in our everyday life, all the time, and it is responsible that we are facing that challenge head on.”
Neudorf and Smith also discussed challenges facing Alberta Health Services and acknowledged its poor response to local needs and its inability to address repeated, temporary closures of many emergency departments in southern Alberta.
“We find it unacceptable as the entity that’s paying the bills,” Smith said. “We’re charged with the task of making sure that people get the healthcare they want, when they need it.”
That’s why, Smith noted, the government is preparing for a major restructuring of Alberta Health Services.
“We’ve heard loud and clear people are frustrated. People know that we’re paying a lot of money for healthcare and the system isn’t performing as well as it should, so there’ll be more change to come, more local decision-making and more responsiveness from Alberta Health Services.”
On a less-controversial note, Neudorf touted the new Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre at Exhibition Park and said he believes the facility will be a boon to the local economy.
“I’m really excited about that,” he said. “It’s been a long time in the making, something like 20 years.”
Neudorf said he looks forward to the spinoff effects of the new $75-million facility, which will attract new events and businesses to the city and boost the economy.
“I am excited to see what kind of conferences, monster truck rallies, that we get here and how that will impact the whole city in terms of our hospitality, our hotels, our restaurants and the rest of the venues within Lethbridge.
“Our Japanese Gardens are locally renowned; we look forward to people hitting both venues, being very close to one another. We’ve got Fort Whoop-Up, we’ve got a lot of great sites around the city, as well. I think the more attraction we get here, the more numbers, I think there’ll be a lot of spinoffs the local economy will benefit from.” Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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