Four Alberta groups to receive federal coal-transition funding
Nine communities and organizations in Alberta and Saskatchewan will receive a combined $4.5 million to fund projects to aid in the transition away from coal-fired electricity, the federal government announced Friday morning in Nisku.
The announcement is the latest in the Trudeau government’s goal to phase out coal power by 2030 in accordance with their Paris Agreement pledges to mitigate the effects of global warming.
“We know that climate change is real. We know that climate change (is impacting) communities in different ways,” said federal Minister of National Resources Amarjeet Sohi at the announcement.
“It’s a fundamental responsibility of the government to support those workers and families.”
The Alberta communities and organizations receiving funding are the Cactus Corridor Economic Development Corporation, Leduc County, the Community Futures Network of Alberta and Parkland County.
Each recipient is given funding for a different project related to transitioning from coal. For example, Parkland County’s $2.2 million will go toward developing a plan to align land use, municipal services and infrastructure investments between the municipalities of Parkland County, Stony Plain and Spruce Grove.
Leduc County mayor Tanni Doblanko welcomed the funding, saying it will help ease the impact of phasing out their coal plant, which “directly and indirectly employs approximately 450 people.” She says the phase-out will result in an estimated $20-million hit to the county’s GDP each year.
“That’s why it’s so important that we find new ways to generate a new municipal income, which this money will help us to do,” she said.
Doblanko also pointed to other developments in Leduc County, including their soon-to-open Amazon fulfilment centre, as other ways the municipal district is bracing for a future without coal.
The money comes from the fiveyear, $35-million Canada Coal Transition Initiative fund, which began in 2018.
According to the Government of Canada, in 2015, coal-fired units generated 11 per cent of the country’s energy but were responsible for 78 per cent of the energy sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.