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Carbon Emissions Reduction

Ms Blakeman: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2007 the government created a carbon tax of $15 per tonne for all major industrial emitters of greenhouse gas in Alberta. The Auditor General in the report for Environment says that the ministry’s statements do not verify the completeness of the reporting toward meeting emission intensity targets. My questions are to the Minister of Environment. Given that Budget ’08 estimated $155 million from the climate change fund yet the annual report only has $40 million, can the minister explain this $115 million difference? Thank you.

The Speaker: The hon. minister.

Mr. Renner: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, there are, actually, two reasons for it. First of all, the $155 million that the member refers to is for 18 months, and we’ve to date reported six months. So there was $40 million in the first six months of the program. After the 12-month period, which has now just ended, we anticipate that it’ll be around a hundred million.

The other reason, frankly, Mr. Speaker, is that it was at best an estimate. There’s no way of knowing exactly what the savings may have been, that industry may not have had to come into compliance. We also didn’t know what uptake there would be on the opportunities for emissions credits to be taken up.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Blakeman: Thank you. The $155 million figure appears on page 30 of your budget documents.

To the same minister: given that the Auditor General states that the ministry cannot verify amounts owing because it doesn’t have the systems in place to check who is meeting the targets and who isn’t and then collect the money that’s owed, can the minister not agree that that’s the real reason for the difference? You don’t have the systems in place to know how much money is out there.

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, clearly, that is not the case. This is an instance where it was necessary for us to as quickly as possible come forward with something that we knew was the right thing to do. There is and was a lot of work needed to be done to the compliance mechanisms. We have that work in place. Frankly, we felt that it was more appropriate that we get the legislation up and running and develop the details after the fact rather than wait for two or three years and do nothing in the meantime.

Ms Blakeman: To the same minister. Budget 2008 estimates for the next three years total $328 million in the climate change fund for new initiatives in emissions reduction. Can the minister tell us if this is still accurate, or will the new budget see a massive decrease in the Budget 2008 numbers?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, the numbers that are in the budget are reflective of projections for growth, that may or may not be seen as we all know that there have been a number of projects that have been put on hold. It also is dependent upon, as I mentioned earlier, the degree to which companies are able to acquire offsets, which would reduce the amount that they pay. It would also depend upon the actual results that they record at the end of the year. So I can’t predict whether or not the numbers that are in the budget will be achieved. It’s a three-year budget, and as everyone knows, forecasting any more than three months these days is extremely difficult. I can assure this member and I can assure all Albertans that the numbers that are reported are accurate, are audited, and are accountable.