Wyant says carbon tax is about wealth redistribution, not emissions

Regina – Gord Wyant, MLA for Saskatoon Northwest since 2010, was Saskatchewan’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General until he announced his intentions to run for the leadership of the Saskatchewan Party, and with it, the position of premier. The long-time Saskatoon lawyer spoke to Pipeline News in Regina on Oct. 5 regarding his energy policy.

Earlier that day, TransCanada announced it was cancelling the Energy East Pipeline project.

Wyant started out by saying, “As a province, we have to continue to support the oil and gas industry. It’s fundamental to our economy. And so, I think, in terms of policy, we need to continue to support the industry. I think it’s fair to say I’m not interested in any kind of royalty review. I think having some stability in the oil and gas sector is important, to ensure we continue to have the flow of revenue we need for the province. My perspective, I think, the policy the province has, currently, is the policy we continue to follow as the premier.”

“You saw what happened in Alberta when they started tampering with royalties. I think we have the Alberta government of the day to thank for some of the enhancements of development in this province. From my perspective, I don’t think anything needs to change in the industry, especially in that it’s just starting to recover. It would be the worst time to start thinking about those kinds of things, or to even speculate about thinking about a royalty review. Things are fine the way they are, and they support ongoing development in the industry,” Wyant said.

Could royalties go down? “They could be. I think what we need to do as a government, is ensure we set policy in Regina that is going to be productive as far as the industry is concerned. We certainly don’t want to see industry leave the province. We don’t want to see a reduction in the number of wells being drilled or the number of people working in this industry. We’ve already seen that.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out as far as reduction of royalties are concerned, but I think we have to take that all into context.”

In discussing the impact of the downturn, he said, “My son’s a geologist, and he’s not working. And so, a lot of this strikes home to many, many people in this province. I don’t think you can meet too many people, especially in the southern part of the province, that aren’t affected by the commodity price reductions. So it affects everyone.”

On pipelines, he said, “There’s no question about the fact pipelines are the safest way to move our commodity. I’m not sure how anyone from this province can speak against pipelines, when you compare the safety record of pipelines to the safety record of transporting it by rail. We need to get our commodities to market. We don’t have a port here, in this province, so we need to find the most efficient way of getting our products to market, and pipelines are that vehicle. So, in terms of our continued government support of pipeline development in this country, there’s not going to be any change in policy. This government will continue to advocate for the construction of pipelines, because we need to get our product to tidewater.”

Premier Brad Wall had done several trade missions in support of pipelines, and Wyant said he would do the same. “I would continue to work on ensuring we can secure export markets, not just for oil, but for other commodities as well.”

On Energy East, he said, “This is a sad day for Canada. It really is. When you start thinking of a confederation of provinces and territories, and you have these divisions among regions in this country, where one region in this country isn’t interested in seeing the success of another region of this country, I think it’s a very dark day for this country.”

He was quite angry about Montreal Mayor Dennis Coderre’s comments about, “What’s in it for us?”

Wyant said, “The fact of the matter is, the more successful the province of Saskatchewan is, the more successful the province of Alberta is, the more money there is for equalization. And at the end of the day, it’s Quebec that’s the big benefactor of equalization. So why a province or a mayor of a large Canadian city wouldn’t want to see a province like Saskatchewan be economically successful, by getting its product to market, it just baffles me. I don’t understand it at all, especially a guy who pumps millions of litres of sewage into the St. Lawrence, and he’s worried about our oil.”

“For the National Energy Board to change the rules about upstream and downstream carbon, it baffles me. I don’t understand it,” he added, wondering why an energy self-sufficient nation is importing oil.

“If they’re going to say ‘no’ to pipelines, when are they going to say ‘no’ to trains? They’re much more dangerous when it comes to the transportation of oil, so when are we going to start saying ‘no’ to trains? I gotta tell you, if environmentalists get their way, there’s going to be more and more and more regulation on the transport of oil across our rails. It’s going to be more and more expensive, and it’s going to have more and more impact on the economy of this province.”

When it comes to carbon capture, Wyant said he was minster responsible for SaskPower, but not when the decision was made to go ahead with the Boundary Dam Unit 3 Carbon Capture and Storage Project. “Carbon capture is part of the solution. We made some commitments at SaskPower to reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, and to go 50 per cent renewables in this province by 2030. So we have set some pretty aggressive timelines for ourselves.

“Carbon capture is part of this. We’ve got an industry in southeast Saskatchewan that is important to the economy of Saskatchewan in terms of coal and things. We’ve got some obligations, in terms of economy, in that part of the province. We’re having an international symposium, now, and we’ve got 16 countries touring that facility. Everybody around the world is looking at carbon capture as a method of storage.

“It was an expensive project, but at the end of the day, it’s all part of the solution in terms of reducing your carbon emissions.

“As far as the carbon tax is concerned, I was the attorney-general mounting the legal challenge to the carbon tax. I can tell you, from a constitutional perspective, we’ve got a pretty good legal case against the federal government. Between my ministry, and the Ministry of the Enviroment, I can tell you we’d have a very, very good case. If the federal government carbon tax is about emissions, I think this province has made some pretty good commitments in terms of carbon emissions. If it’s about the redistribution of wealth, and that’s exactly what it’s about, then that doesn’t play in this province. It will have a devastating effect on the economy, and we need to do what we can to stop it,” Wyant said.

In summation, he said, “The energy industry in this province is one of the lifebloods of Saskatchewan. We need to, as a government, make sure we have policies in place that not only ensure successful industry, but make sure safeguards are in place to make sure the public is protected as well.”