REGINA, SK --The Saskatchewan government called for the prime minister to hold a first ministers' meeting before ratifying the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
"We cannot accept unilateral action that has the potential to seriously impact our economy and Saskatchewan jobs," Industry and Resources Minister Eldon Lautermilch said in a statement released Wednesday. "Inadequate dialogue with Canadians and the lack of a long-term plan diminishes the sincerity of our national commitment in meeting the serious challenge of climate change."
The federal government is set to present its Kyoto plan to the provinces at a meeting in Halifax on Monday.
But the Saskatchewan government said in a report released Wednesday that Ottawa needs to consider several issues before ratifying the plan.
Those issues include credits for Canada's clean energy exports, compensation for those adversely affected to an unfair degree and any federal revenues from climate change taxes or initiatives returned to the province from which it was collected.
The report also suggests the federal plan should avoid relying on the purchase of international emission credits.
"Ottawa must be willing to look to other measures so that Canada's climate change plan will actually improve the environment," the report says.
"Saskatchewan is committed to taking action on climate change. But we are not willing to have our residents and industries pay a price disproportionate to that paid by other Canadians."
The Saskatchewan report suggests incentives for wind power, ethanol, biodiesel and other renewable energy sources.
It also calls for the federal government to make ethanol-blended gasoline mandatory, something that Saskatchewan has already taken steps towards.
The Kyoto Protocol calls for carbon dioxide emissions to be reduced to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
The federal government promised in its throne speech earlier this week to bring forward a resolution on the issue of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol by the end of the year - stopping short of a promise to actually ratify by the year's end.
Saskatchewan's neighbours are split on Kyoto. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and his government have come out against the plan, which they say will take jobs away from his oil-rich province.
Manitoba, however, with its rich supply of so-called "clean" hydroelectricity, heartily endorses the plan and released its strategy on Tuesday.
Manitoba says it can cut emissions by up to 18 per cent from 1990 levels by 2010, or three times the amount required by Kyoto in 2012.
A federal government study suggests the Kyoto protocol could be enforced with only slight economic costs, no loss of existing jobs, and no disproportionate impact on Alberta.
The economy would grow by about 16 per cent by 2010 with Kyoto implementation, compared to 18 per cent under a business-as-usual scenario, according to economic modelling made public last week.
The economy would produce 1.26 million new jobs by 2010 with Kyoto, as opposed to 1.32 million under the status quo - about 60,000 fewer jobs over eight years.
John Wright, president of Saskatchewan's Crown-owned electrical utility, has said ratification of the treaty could cost SaskPower between $50 million and $250 million per year which would have to be passed onto the consumer.
Every $50-million hit to SaskPower's bottom line would be equivalent to an across-the-board five-per-cent rate hike for consumers, he has said.
As a result, SaskPower may have to spend up to $3 billion to replace its fleet of aging coal-fired generating stations.
The opposition Saskatchewan Party has called on the provincial government to recall the legislature this fall to debate the impact of the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by the federal government.
Source Line : Source: CP
