Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told Reuters that Ottawa needs more time to consult with industry, unions, environmental groups and the provinces to sort out what mechanism it will use to cap and then cut oil and gas emissions.
“On the oil and gas cap, there are still a lot of discussions in terms of how do we do it from a structural point of view, what kind of vehicle do we use,” Guilbeault said from Toronto, adding that options include creating a cap-and-trade system for the industry.
“The ERP (Emissions Reduction Plan) will not say how we’ll do the oil and gas cap, because we’re consulting and we don’t know how we will do it.”
Guilbeault is the first Liberal minister to rule out including the oil and gas cap in this spring’s plan, although he has previously said work on it may extend beyond 2022.
A government official said it had never necessarily targeted spring to clarify how the oil…
