
‘Only fair’: McKenna on excluding Saskatchewan, Manitoba from $2B carbon fund
OTTAWA — Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been given until the end of December to sign on to the federal government’s national climate change agreement to avoid losing out on millions of dollars to help cut emissions.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna unveiled details Thursday of the Trudeau government’s promised $2-billion Low Carbon Economy Fund, to be spent in two streams over the next five years.
The first is a $600-million Low Carbon Economy Challenge for industry and public sector projects, to be launched this fall and doled out on a merit-based, project-by-project basis. Municipalities, provinces, territories, indigenous governments and organizations, businesses and not-for-profit organizations can all apply for funds, which will be prioritized for projects that provide the biggest emissions reductions for the lowest cost.
The second is a $1.4-billion Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund per capita fund for provinces and territories that have signed on to the Pan Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.