By Canadian Press

Singh wants to end oil, gas subsidies, and fund renewable energy projects

Aug 23, 2021 | 9:35 AM

MONTREAL — An NDP government would eliminate subsidies for oil and gas companies, replacing them with direct funding for renewable energy projects, leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday.

Speaking to reporters on the campaign trail in Montreal, Singh said the NDP wants to end “no strings attached” subsidies to energy companies.

“What we’d like to do is invest directly into remediation of oil wells. We’d like to invest directly in retrofitting some of these oil wells into geothermal plants,” he said.

A February report from the International Institute for Sustainable Development shows Canada spent at least $1.9 billion in direct aid to the traditional energy sector last year, up from $600 million in 2019.

More than three-quarters of that — $1.5 billion — was to help companies restore abandoned oil wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Those abandoned wells are a significant source of methane emissions.

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Singh said the current approach doesn’t guarantee that public funds are used to help preserve jobs or protect the environment, describing the subsidies as “blank cheque.”

Speaking near where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in a large march against climate change in 2019, Singh said the Liberals had promised to end subsidies to oil and gas companies but had instead increased them, though he didn’t offer specific dollar amounts.

“We want to make sure that, instead of these vague promises or these broken promises, we are, we are committed to immediately ending those fossil fuel subsidies,” Singh said.

The NDP has said it is committed to reducing Canada’s green house gas emissions by more than half by 2030 if elected to form the government.

Singh also promised to spend $500 million on Indigenous-led conservation programs. He said many Indigenous communities face an “impossible decision” between creating good jobs and conserving their land.

“Without any resources, it’s a pretty impossible choice for indigenous communities to make. In a lot of communities, logging is the the only way to earn a good living,” Singh said.

“So what we want to do is create a fund so that Indigenous communities that choose to conserve their land have an opportunity to do that with resources and the tools to actually make that decision.”

Singh didn’t say what criteria would be used to decide or how projects would be funded through the program.

Last week, Green Leader Annamie Paul called for an end to the construction of new pipelines, fracking, and oil and gas exploration so Canada could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reshape the economy.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised in April that Canada would slash greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Canada is currently signed on to an international agreement to cut levels of the heat-trapping pollution by 30 per cent for that year, but joined other nations in ratcheting up its target to boost global efforts to fight climate change.

In June, the Liberal government said existing measures like its carbon pricing regime put Canada on track to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 36 per cent by 2030, but it has yet to detail how it will close the remaining gap.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press