Activists say Sask. First Act falls short on environmental regulation

Activists say environmental regulation can’t be left up to Saskatchewan’s government alone.

Peter Prebble, a board member with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES), said he and his group have significant concerns about the Saskatchewan First Act’s potential effects on the environment.

The Saskatchewan First Act, also known as Bill 88, broadly seeks to establish the provincial government’s autonomy and exclusive control over the province’s resources, separate from the Government of Canada.

Prebble said he and the SES are opposed to the act, which has passed its second reading but has not yet become law.

The act, Prebble said, asserts that the Saskatchewan government will have sole authority to set environmental standards and regulate greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector and other areas of non-renewable natural resource development, as well as in electricity generation, forestry and conservation in Saskatchewan.

“That is a major change from current tradition in Canada,” Prebble said.

While Saskatchewan is currently bound by environmental regulations and climate change targets set by the federal government, Prebble said asserting Saskatchewan’s independence could lead to weaker government regulations. The Saskatchewan government, he said, will not impose targets as ambitious as those issued by Ottawa.

The provincial government, Prebble said, is using the Saskatchewan First Act “as a vehicle in an attempt to block greenhouse gas emission policies that the Government of Canada is moving forward with,” Prebble said. “That’s of great concern to us.”

While the Saskatchewan government has put forward its own environmental policies, Prebble said they are not stringent enough to make the changes he feels are necessary to help curb climate change.

“While the Saskatchewan government may consider (federal targets) to be too ambitious, they’re not at all ambitious by global standards,” Prebble said.

The society’s board of directors made public a letter it sent to the Saskatchewan government in response to Bill 88. In the letter, the organization said legal, environmental, ethical and economic ramifications have not been considered in the act and its potential impacts on Saskatchewan’s environment.

Prebble said his organization received a response from the government, disagreeing with the SES’s position and explaining that the province has its own plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“We never questioned that … but it lacks ambition,” Prebble said. “It lacks so much ambition that Saskatchewan won’t come anywhere close to doing its fair share to meeting that national target.”

Prebble said the federal government has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas sector by 42 per cent below current levels. The Government of Saskatchewan has spoken out against those targets, he said, and is now seeking control over them through the new legislation.

“It’s very, very disappointing, especially in the context of the fact that Saskatchewan’s greenhouse gas emissions for our population size are three times the Canadian average,” Prebble said.

Prebble said he’s concerned the Saskatchewan First Act could block federal regulations, which he feels are doing more to protect the environment than Saskatchewan’s own regulations would.

“It’s really setting a terrible example for the global community,” Prebble said, calling for greater co-operation between Saskatchewan, other provinces and the federal government.

Bob Halliday, a vice-president with the SES, echoed Prebble’s comments, saying the act makes Saskatchewan part of the problem, rather than the solution, when it comes to climate change.

Halliday said there are sure to be growing costs as the province deals with a rising number of environmental problems and disasters.

Glenn Wright, a lawyer and board member with the SES, said it’s important to recognize Saskatchewan as a very productive province with substantive exports of food, fuel and fertilizer, which are disproportionate to its population of just over a million people.

However, Wright added, he believes the Saskatchewan First Act “erodes investor confidence,” and will lead to financial losses for the province.

“We put our economic future at risk if we do not focus on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” Wright said.

The act, Wright added, could create uncertainty in the province’s greenhouse gas emission policies, which he said could ultimately harm Saskatchewan’s citizens.

Wright called for the Government of Saskatchewan to think about what the world will need and want in a future without carbon emissions, and use that as a guide to chart a path for delivery of exports to the world. He also urged collaboration with the federal government.

Many major companies like BHP and Evraz have made commitments to reduce or achieve net-zero emissions, Wright added, saying that reducing environmental impacts is what will save money in the future.

“Saskatchewan has a huge opportunity to grow our economy while reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” Wright said.

He called for the removal of all references to greenhouse gas emissions from the Saskatchewan First Act.

Ultimately, Prebble said he fully expects the act will become law after passing its third reading. When this happens, he said the SES will continue to lobby the provincial government for better environmental targets.

In continuing to pursue Bill 88, Prebble said the Saskatchewan government is ignoring the warnings from the scientific community about the urgency of climate change.

Responding to the SES, the Government of Saskatchewan sent 650 CKOM a statement saying the province will “continue to assert its jurisdiction … enacting policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while protecting the economy and strengthening our resilience to climate change.”

The government referred to Saskatchewan’s climate change strategy, which it said employs “natural systems, regulatory mandates and technical innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Saskatchewan, the provincial government added, has reduced its methane emissions by 50 per cent and uses agricultural practices that are in line with the best practices cited by the federal sustainable agricultural strategy.

The government emphasized the province’s commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, and tracking and reporting progress along the way.

“If every nation on Earth regulated and produced oil and gas the way we do in Saskatchewan, energy-produced (greenhouse gasses) would instantly fall by one-quarter,” the government’s statement read.