Putting a price on carbon was a question we posed to then Prime Minister Stephen Harper when he paid Estevan a visit in 2008 to re-announce the federal contribution of $240 million for this province’s carbon capture project.
It is interesting to note our country’s first ministers are just now getting around to putting some meat on the carbon evaluation bones.
It is also interesting to note that there will not be a “one method will serve all,” route to take, since not all Canadian provinces were created equal.
We recall a casual conversation with Premier Brad Wall during one of the early visits to the unfinished Boundary Dam Unit 3 CO2 capture project site. At that time, our provincial first minister suggested that if a carbon tax were ever to be imposed, for whatever reason, he would prefer it to be a tax-and-invest model and most definitely a tax-and-invest in Saskatchewan model, using further research in carbon capture as the main beneficiary.
Who could argue with that?
Putting a firm price on carbon is still a work in progress, but there are now parameters from which the conversations and negotiations can flow.
We feel establishment of a cap-and-trade system creates a market in the carbon capture and evaluation game, but doesn’t do as much to reduce greenhouse gases quickly and efficiently.
By capturing CO2 and selling it, Saskatchewan has turned a negative aspect of the process into a positive since this province has the advantage of being home to oil wells that can use this gas to enhance their activities.
Naturally, the green purists will quickly point out the use of dirty gas to feed an environmentally dirty industry. Rightfully so, but until oil and gas are replaced with cleaner solutions, this is the world we must and should live in.
We also have to keep well in the forefront of our discussions and considerations that, on the global scope, Canada is a dandruff fleck on the shoulder of the global suit jacket.
We’re hardly in on the discussion, except when the celebrities and green advocates want to earn brownie points by picking on the low-hanging fruit. It’s low-hanging fruit because we’re willing to be transparent with our greenhouse gas battles and willing to acknowledge our faults and foibles, while seeking cleaner and greener solutions by exercising common sense and acceptable economic models.
Those of us in Saskatchewan realize we, along with Alberta, are the major suppliers of oil and coal and we’ve been willing to do the “dirty” drilling and mining for the benefit of the other provinces. Therefore, the others don’t need to righteously declare themselves better at the green game than us. They also have to eventually admit to the stark reality that they will run cars, trucks and trains (even in B.C. and Quebec) that will require gas to fuel them and will emit noxious substances, but at an ever-decreasing rate and volume. That’s also why different provinces will place different values on carbon dioxide and that’s why we applaud our first ministers who gathered in Vancouver last week to talk about this shared concern.
We were also pleased that our PM showed up at this ministerial conflab and was willing to listen and contribute. Even that minor gesture was a welcomed relief.
So, let the negotiations continue whether it be about clean coal, pipelines, oil and gas wells, solar panels, wind turbines, or geothermal generators. We need it all for the next few decades.
