Notley spreads word about climate change
Premier wants to be on same page as students regarding green energy
In her first speech in Alberta since unveiling a new climate change plan, Premier Rachel Notley rallied support for the scheme on Wednesday among more than 1,000 high school students who peppered her with questions about a green energy future.
Students crammed into the gym at Queen Elizabeth High School in north Edmonton to hear the premier’s sales pitch for a plan that will introduce a carbon tax on all Albertans and phase out coal plants by 2030. A student from Queen Elizabeth was previously scheduled to attend the UN climate change conference in Paris next month to present a white paper on the topic developed as part of a global student initiative. The trip was cancelled after the attacks in the French capital. Notley has agreed to take the paper to the international meeting and met with several students personally involved with the project.
“Our province will be one of the world’s most progressive, environmentally responsible, energy producers. We will get it done, by working together, by making better choices and by building a cleaner future. I thank you — all of you — for being leaders with me,” Notley said, tearing up as she finished her formal remarks to the crowd.
But the rest of the speech honed in on the same themes her government has emphasized since the plan’s release: that money collected through carbon taxes will be re-invested in Alberta; that renewable energy sources will largely replace coal power; that the plan will try to balance the need for action on climate change with economic realities.
Notley said a previous generation of students brought awareness of recycling home to their parents and that this generation will do the same for climate change. She pledged to speak to Education Minister David Eggen about boosting climate change education in the provincial curriculum.
The new climate change plan will also prompt schools and households to learn more about energy efficiency, she said.
“Our energy efficiency programs will be a huge mechanism and platform to reach out to members of the public to find ways that homeowners, community groups, schools, and other groups can come together to make proposals on what they can do to be more energy efficient and how the energy efficiency fund can help them do that,” Notley told the crowd.
In a later news conference, Notley said Albertans will learn more specifics about rebate programs before the next provincial budget is tabled in the spring.
Students asked Notley about the possibilities for jobs in the future green energy sector, consultations with First Nations, the technology needed for more renewable energy generation, and how to shift attitudes about climate change.