Province to seek $62M in federal climate cash

Deadline to apply passes but Moe says Saskatchewan still entitled to funding

The federal government is definitively saying Saskatchewan is not eligible to apply for the $62 million in climate change funding allocated for the province unless it signs the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

Wednesday marked the deadline for the province to sign on to that agreement, and it did not do so.

But Premier Scott Moe remains adamant Saskatchewan — the lone province not yet signed on to the framework due to its opposition to a carbon tax — will still apply for the $62 million from out of the federal government’s Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund.

Moe said Tuesday the province is “expecting to be approved for that” because “we’re part of the nation of Canada, we’re eligible to apply.”

On Wednesday, Environment Dustin Duncan’s office said in a statement, “we will be applying to the Low Carbon Economy (Leadership) Fund.”

Federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna said the province is eligible to apply — all the government has to do is “show they are serious about climate action and sign on to our climate change plan.”

Moe has continued to staunchly oppose putting a federally imposed price on carbon emissions.

The $62 million earmarked for Saskatchewan will be rolled into the federal Low Carbon Economy Challenge Fund.

McKenna said on Wednesday that Saskatchewan “needs this money.”

“If Saskatchewan isn’t going to be serious about climate action and isn’t going to be serious about working with other provinces and territories and the federal government, then we are going to be supporting initiatives right now,” she said.

Money under that envelope is available to municipalities, First Nations, provinces and businesses with innovative ideas to reduce carbon emissions.