Carbon capture on Tory agenda

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Despite its new cash-strapped reality, the Alberta government is pushing ahead with a $2-billion pledge to kick-start capturing and storing carbon emissions from coal power plants, heavy-oil upgraders and potentially the oilsands.

Government house leader Dave Han-cock said a bill setting up the fund is one of at least 26 pieces of legislation that will be introduced this month, after the legislature resumes today with a throne speech.

“It’s a clear signal to Albertans and to Canadians and others that we’re committed to the carbon-capture strategy . . . to the absolute reduction through carbon capture and storage of CO2,” said Hancock, who’s also education minister.

Other key bills include giving some Alberta colleges the option of becoming universities, pushing ahead with a new land-use strategy that divides the province into seven planning regions, and strengthening enforcement of rules that prohibit the government from paying certain lobbyists for advice.

Retirement savings will also be up for debate. Hancock said the province has been working for a while on legislation to safeguard registered retirement saving plans from creditors. At the moment, creditors can go after the cash in those plans even before an individual is allowed draw from them.

“If you have a pension plan that builds up, that’s not something somebody can seize or take away from you,”Hancock said. “What this does is put on the same basis the investments that an individual might make into an RRSP because if you don’t have a pension plan, if you’re creating your own pension plan, you should have the same kind of protection.”

Several other provinces already offer this safeguard for RRSPs.

Tuesday’s throne speech is expected to take a much different tone than last year’s, when the province and oilpatch were flush with money and labour short-ages were a pressing problem.

“The primary focus of this session will be on jobs,” Premier Ed Stelmach said last week. “It will be integrating energy, the economy, the environment.Pursuing the technologies that are necessary to ensure Alberta continues to be a leader in these areas.”

According to Statistics Canada, 5,700 jobs were lost in Alberta in January.