Alberta Premier Danielle Smith claims she is prepared to employ for the first time her government’s sovereignty act in response to the federal government’s proposed clean electricity regulations, though the effect of doing so remains unclear.
Smith made the comments while speaking to reporters at a Thursday news conference, where she reiterated her previous statements the clean electricity regulations were “unconstitutional and irresponsible” and vowed they will not be implemented in Alberta.
The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act was the centrepiece of Smith’s successful campaign to become UCP leader and was introduced late last year.
It pledges to give Alberta the power to direct provincial agencies to act against federal laws it considers unconstitutional or harmful to Albertans, though questions remain about how it would work in practice, if at all.
“Hopefully, no one ever has to see it,” Smith said of the motion she claims to be working on. “Hopefully … we’re able to come to a peaceful resolution with our federal counterparts.”
The clean energy regulations remain in a draft phase and are not expected to be finalized until sometime next year pending the results of an ongoing 75-day consultation period.
In their current form, the clean electricity regulations would take effect in 2035, a target Alberta as well as New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have all argued comes too soon.
Smith’s UCP government also launched an $8-million multi-platform cross-Canada advertising campaign Thursday in opposition to the clean electricity regulations, calling them a “reckless and costly plan.”
Alberta has sought to delay the clean electricity regulations by 15 years, arguing 2050 is a more realistic target.
The regulations would establish performance standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel–generated electricity, in an effort at decarbonization.
They permit for some use of fossil fuels, including natural gas, to generate power at peak demand times or as a backup to non-emitting power sources.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department estimates the regulations would remove more than 340 megatonnes of greenhouse gasses between 2024 and 2050, and would result in Canadians spending 12 per cent less on electricity.
“This is a huge economic opportunity that we do not want to miss,” he stated in an email to Postmedia.
Earlier Thursday, the operator of the arm’s-length agency responsible for Alberta’s electric system claimed the clean electricity regulations could leave parts of the province without power if those rules come into effect in 2035 as planned. But, it also declined to publish details of the supply and demand modelling and assumptions that went into its projections.
Speaking with reporters Thursday, Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) president and CEO Mike Law said that the clean electricity regulations as currently proposed puts a disproportionate strain on Alberta and its electricity grid compared to other provinces, who have greater existing access to low-emission power sources.
“It is not minor shifts that are required,” he said. “It’s a recognition that we are in a very different position as a province than the vast majority of the country.”
More than 84 per cent of electricity in Canadian power grids is generated from non-emitting sources like hydro, nuclear and wind.
Without a cleaner source of generation to fall back on, Law claimed Alberta could face power shortages.
“Our analysis and engineering assessment is that there will not be sufficient supply within the province post-2035 to meet the demands of the province,” he said.
While acknowledging Alberta needs all sources of power generation, Law said AESO is skeptical renewables could significantly close that gap before the clean electricity regulations are slated to come into effect.
“We need to have dispatchable technologies that can meet the demands of the province when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.”
Guilbeault stated he is “fully aligned” with AESO on balancing decarbonization with affordability and reliability, and encouraged the agency to provide feedback through the ongoing consultation.
University of Calgary energy economist Blake Shaffer doesn’t dispute that it will be challenging for Alberta to meet the current version of the clean electricity regulations but said it could be made more palatable with some small modifications.
“I see changes to make it such that you get the benefits of the certainty (the clean electricity regulations) provides without it binding an operation and raising costs and risking reliability too frequently.”
He was surprised at the political tone taken by the system operator, something he said threatens the perception of the agency’s independence.
“The AESO is about maintaining reliability and saying, ‘This is how we will respond to this challenge,’” he said, noting its use of the term ‘blackout’ echoed the premier’s political message delivered later the same morning.
“That sounded like a government press release.”
Both Guilbeault and Shaffer called on AESO to publish its analysis.
In early August, the Alberta government paused all approvals in the province’s renewable energy industry in response to what it said were rural and environmental concerns.
Law did not answer two questions asking if AESO requested the six-month moratorium.
Opposition energy and climate critic Nagwan Al-Guneid acknowledged the clean electricity regulations need to be improved, but also that the 2035 goal is increasingly becoming the norm across the continent and in Europe.
“There are many concrete steps the government could be taking today,” she said, suggesting as examples ending the moratorium on renewables, and building stronger power-sharing interties with neighbouring jurisdictions.
“The world is trying to figure this out while this government is thinking in the past. There are solutions.”
Of the sovereignty act, Al-Guneid said its potential introduction was “concerning.”
“It adds another layer of uncertainty.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
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Yuri Kageyama is on X:
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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