Ottawa – Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland highlighted the federal CCUS investment tax credit at the Polaris Carbon Capture project. She said:
I would like to start by acknowledging that we are gathered here today on Treaty 6 Territory and Metis Nation of Alberta District 11. I do also want to take a moment to express our government’s support, and my personal support and heartache about the wildfires that have devastated Jasper and other parts of Alberta this summer.
I know that Jasper really is one of Alberta’s crown jewels, one of Canada’s crown jewels, so many of us have very special memories of moments in our lives in Jasper, in camping and hiking around there, and it has touched so many people.
I want to especially thank the first responders who are working so hard, who put their lives on the line to keep their neighbours safe. I would like us all to acknowledge Morgan Kitchen, the young firefighter who lost his life while battling the wildfires in Jasper. He served Albertans and Canadians with tremendous bravery, and his loss is deeply felt, and our hearts go out to his friends and family.
I am here today in Alberta’s industrial heartland, at the Scotford complex, to celebrate the new Polaris carbon capture, and the Atlas Carbon Storage project Hubs. I would like to thank Mark Plamondon who introduced me, I would like to thank Reeve David Diduck from Alberta’s Industrial Heartland Association, as well as Councillor Robert Parks of Strathcona County for being here with me today.
Most of all, I really want to start with a shoutout to some of the people standing behind the cameras, the amazing people here who are doing the work, building this cutting-edge, best in the world project. When we were touring Polaris, and seeing what is being built there, I met Kathy, she is a young chemical engineer, and I met Scott. He works with her. He started out as an operator and is now one of the leaders of this project, and Kathy said something that I thought was very true and very touching, that she is so proud to be working on a project which is leading the whole world.
And that’s true, she should be proud. I am proud of her, I am proud of everyone here who is working on this. You guys are really at the cutting-edge internationally. One of the people giving me the tour said, here we are not just talking about carbon capture, we are doing it. You have been doing it for 10 years, you are taking the next step now, this is tremendously important for Alberta and for Canada. I have met a lot of people here who know that, who are proud of the work they do every day, and I just want to start by saying we are all proud of you, we are grateful to you, and our country really needs to celebrate the work being done here.
Shell Scotford is one of North America’s most efficient and modern hydrocarbon processing sites. It supports thousands of good jobs in oil and gas, and petrochemicals. It also contributes to reducing Canada’s emissions.
The new Polaris project will capture approximately 650,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, and the locally elected officials and I talked about how we need to be translating that into the equivalent of the number of cars it takes off the road. This is a really big deal. It will capture those 650,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually from the Shell Scotford refinery and chemicals complex.
And the Atlas project, which is a partnership between Shell and ATCO EnPower, will permanently store this captured carbon underground. And I want to emphasize something here, which is we are incredibly lucky here in Alberta with our geological formations. We are fortunate to have probably the world’s best geological formations when it comes to storing captured carbon. That is a competitive advantage, which is hugely beneficial to Alberta, it is hugely beneficial to Canada, and it’s important for us to celebrate and recognize that too.
Operations for both projects are expected to begin towards the end of 2028. They are already building them now. Together, they will create up to 2,000 jobs and help Canada, our country, meet its net-zero targets.
I am really proud that these projects have been made possible financially by our government’s Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) investment tax credit. That credit received Royal Assent in June and it helps companies like Shell lower their emissions by offsetting the cost of implementing CCUS technology. This makes their products more competitive in global markets because our most important trading partners—including the US and the EU—are taking serious climate action.
Those tax credits are the foundation for the amazing work the people here at Shell are doing, the great jobs that we see right now building this historic project.
Shell knows how important this is because they have been a leader in this space for a decade—the Quest Carbon Capture and Storage facility has been safely capturing and storing carbon since 2015. And Scott and Kathy, who I told you about, Scott was one of the guys who got Quest off the ground, he is excited to be building Polaris. Kathy worked on Quest, and now she is building Polaris.
Our $93 billion suite of investment tax credits is a cornerstone of our government’s economic plan.
Our investment tax credits are already working to give businesses like Shell the certainty and the support they need to make historic investments in Canada that create great jobs while reducing our emissions at the same time. We are also supporting Canadian workers, and good-paying jobs in Canada, by linking many of our investment tax credits to labour requirements. That gives businesses and employers an incentive to pay a prevailing union wage and to create apprenticeship opportunities.
And we have the evidence to prove it. In this last year alone, Canada has welcomed investments by other major companies like Strathcona Resources, another CCUS project, Honda, and not too far from here, Dow. All of these projects will support thousands and thousands of good-paying jobs across Canada.
Earlier this year, four of our six investment tax credits were signed into law. This gives more certainty to companies that are investing to create well-paid jobs. And this will attract even more investment to Canada.
Yesterday, we had some really positive economic news that further supports investment in Canada, that further supports the Canadian economy.
Inflation in Canada in July fell to a 40-month low of 2.5 per cent. That is down from 2.7 per cent in June. Inflation has now been within the Bank of Canada’s target range for seven months in a row, and wages have outpaced inflation for the past 18 months.
Canada was the first G7 country to cut interest rates and the first G7 country to do so a second time.
Falling inflation, falling interest rates and today’s announcement are all proof points that Canada’s economy is strong and resilient.
These are all proof points that our government’s economic plan, our government’s fiscally responsible economic plan, is delivering for hardworking Albertans, for hardworking Canadians.
We are creating jobs for today, and jobs for tomorrow.
Now is the time to make major investments in Canada, in Alberta, to get big projects built like the amazing project that the people who are here with us are building right now.
So let me just say thanks again for your work. You are doing something remarkable, you are doing something historic. I am grateful to you, I am proud of you.