Today the Sask. Party laid the blame for their lack of planning at the feet of the federal plan to cap pollution from coal-fired power plants starting in 2019.
How could they possibly be ready for changes that are coming into effect in less than two years?
Maybe more than 5 years would have been more reasonable?
Well, it was back in 2012, that federal Conservative Environment Minister Peter Kent announced these regulations and the Conservative federal government’s plan. It was clear then that many coal-fired electricity stations in Saskatchewan would be affected.
Even though the writing was on the wall, the Sask. Party chose not to take effective action to address the looming deadline by, for example, working toward their own stated goal of 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030. Instead, they dumped $1.5 billion (said another way, that’s one thousand five hundred million dollars) into their Carbon Capture and Sequestration boondoggle at BD3 and delayed and delayed coming up with any real plan for Sask Power’s coal fired plants.
The Sask. Party needs to stop blaming the current federal government for five-year-old Conservative policies, accept responsibility for their own actions (or lack thereof) and get to work ensuring that Saskatchewan is ready for the changes that we all know are coming.