Provincial projects competing for climate funding
REGINA Federal cabinet minister and Regina-Wascana MP Ralph Goodale said Friday that Saskatchewan-based projects seeking money from Ottawa will be treated “very fairly” as the province competes with projects from across Canada.
The $62 million earmarked earlier this year for the Saskatchewan government to finance low-carbon projects has been rolled into the federal government’s Low Carbon Economy Challenge Fund, which is money for which project proponents from across the country will be competing.
In February, the provincial government ignored a deadline to sign on to Ottawa’s Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, prompting the federal government to definitively say Saskatchewan would not be able to receive the earmarked $62 million. Goodale said Friday there are probably 25 to 30 applications from Saskatchewan being adjudicated, in part, “to calculate how cost-effective they are.”
The province has submitted 11 applications. The remainder can come from a number of different parties, including municipalities, universities and private businesses.
He said Saskatchewan “basically chose not to come to the table” when the funding was first made available.
“We are determined to treat every province across the country in a fair and equitable fashion,” he said.
“There are a long list of applicants that have come in from Saskatchewan … they’re all being assessed in a fair-minded way, according to the same criteria, and I have every confidence that at the end of the day the amount of money flowing back from the Government of Canada into very worthy projects in Saskatchewan, will cost-effectively reduce greenhouse gases and help this province meet its energy objectives,” he said.
Saskatchewan Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said while the $62 million could technically come to Saskatchewan, it’s not earmarked specifically for the government, and he once again expressed frustration with the federal government imposing a carbon tax, or price on pollution, on the province.
“I’ve expressed some frustration, that all along the message from some has been that if you don’t accept a carbon tax, then you don’t have a plan for climate action, or you don’t believe climate action is necessary, and that certainly has never been our position,” Duncan said, noting a “significant amount of work” had gone into Saskatchewan’s climate change plan.
Starting in April, Saskatchewan will be subject to a carbon tax on natural gas and electricity production. It’s expected the cost — starting at roughly four cents a litre on gasoline — will be passed on to consumers.