Saskatchewan’s Fossil Oligarchy

Can our children eat coal? Can they drink oil and gas? According to Scott Moe and the Saskatchewan Party, the answer is “yes!”

The province of Saskatchewan has recently announced their egregious decision to continue and rebuild the province’s fleet of coal-fired power plants, in direct opposition to federal coal phase-out regulations which began in the Harper era.¹,² This decision to continue investing in coal power is reminiscent of “Blockbuster Video doubling down on building new VHS-rental stores in an era of Netflix…. It is a waste of Saskatchewan ratepayers’ and taxpayers’ money,” wrote Brett Dolter, a professor of economics at the University of Regina.³

The Province has framed this choice as a necessity. They argue coal is secure, certain, reliable, and affordable, stating we are “blessed” with its abundance; while noting the intermittency and unreliability of renewables. As is customary of the Sask Party, these statements are half-truths and are based on policy decisions they have taken to please their financial and ideological backers.

First and foremost, let us examine the concerted effort by the Sask Party to discredit renewables in Saskatchewan. Renewables are the fastest growing and cheapest investments in electricity and energy options currently available, while fossil fuel prices continue to rise and coal is widely being phased out and eliminated.⁴, ⁵, ⁶ From 2019 to 2024 renewables have grown tremendously, exceeding projections both in cost-effectiveness and the rate of implementation.⁷, ⁸, ⁹ Renewables present our province with “massive, untapped wind and solar resources that can and should be harnessed to provide the affordable, clean, scalable electricity needed.”¹⁰

The cost of propping up legacy power

Fossil fuels such as coal are increasing in costs –which are passed on to ratepayers and consumers, making coal’s “affordability” a fabrication.¹¹, ¹² Even with billions of dollars in infrastructure and subsidies,¹³ coal, oil and gas still fall flat in contrast to renewable electricity.

Intermittency issues, often touted as the achilles’ heel of renewable energy sources, are alleviated by appropriate investment in renewable energy storage and infrastructure– the very things the provincial government has failed to invest in even as these investment opportunities, such as an east-west electricity grid, are being advocated nationwide.¹⁴ An east-west grid would bring household savings, be cheaper than pipeline investments, and complement renewables.¹⁵, ¹⁶ To draw a familiar parallel for the reactionaries of our province: imagine if we extracted oil and gas but never developed the infrastructure to store or move it.

The Sask Party is sadistically digging us deeper into crisis by once again elevating the profits of the few off of the backs of the many.

Many people who argue that solar and wind are failures in our cold climate are either unaware or refuse to acknowledge that wind and solar power are entirely capable of performing well in the cold, especially with appropriate winterization, investment, development, and storage.¹⁷, ¹⁸, ¹⁹, ²⁰ By contrast, gas plants, which struggle in extreme temperatures,²¹, ²², ²³ have kept their place in the public imagination as infallible providers in our climate.

In a telling example, Alberta’s January 2024’s electrical grid emergency was not simply the fault of renewables, as politicians were quick to argue, but mainly resulted from the failure of two of its gas power plants during the coldest night much of the province had seen in 50 years.²⁴ While both the Alberta and Saskatchewan governments tried to pin the blame on renewables, they conveniently directed attention away from their own refusal to invest in and champion expanded renewable capacity, storage options, and national grid connections – investments that are crucial to preventing that kind of grid emergency in the future.

Instead, Saskatchewan under Moe has opted to continue investing in an energy source that pollutes our air, land, and water, accelerates the climate and environmental crises, and harms our economy by giving false promises to the hardworking communities of Estevan (home to the coal-fired Boundary Dam and Shand Power Stations) and Coronach, (home to the coal-fired Poplar River Power Station). The coal workers in these communities have worked hard to provide electricity to Saskatchewan and put food on their tables; however, the Province has chosen to destabilize their future by propping up an energy source that is currently being shut down globally,²⁵ while underfunding and delaying just transition initiativesfor years, even with existing frameworks in place.²⁶, ²⁷, ²⁸

Carbon Capture: lies, damned lies, and a gross misuse of public funds

In addition to doubling down on coal, the Province is continuing to invest in unreliable, unproven and ineffective carbon capture technology,²⁹ such as at the (coal-fired) Boundary Dam Power Station. The government touts the success of Boundary Dam carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS), claiming – falsely³⁰ – that it captures the promised 90% of emissions. In reality, Boundary Dam has only captured on average 57% over 10 years, an abysmal figure.³¹ Imagine the amount of renewable energy, grid upgrades and connections, and storage options could have been invested in and developed instead of banking on a singular billion dollar project.³²

While the government boasts about “Unit #3 CCS” at the Boundary Dam Power Station
powering up to 100,000 homes,³³ the Seven Stars Energy Project, a collaboration between the Six Nations Energy Development LP and Enbridge can power the exact same amount of homes for an anticipated “hundreds of millions” – far below the billion-plus cost of adding carbon capture tech to existing fossil-fuel power stations.³⁴, ³⁵, ³⁶ This project is a North Star for where we should be heading: they partner with First Nation and Métis governments to advance economic reconciliation, they reduce emissions critical to mitigating climate change, and they provide electricity to thousands of homes with lesser costs.

Business as usual: capital funding climate change

Ultimately, we have to ask: why does Saskatchewan’s provincial government choose to advance fossil fuels as we head into another hot, dry summer facing a full-blown climate crisis?

To answer that, we must follow the money. Political donations play a powerful role in Saskatchewan’s politics, and 6.7 million in corporate donations have been given to the Sask Party since 2018.³⁷ The largest donors are some of Saskatchewan’s major elites, including the Semple family, founder of Brandt Industries.³⁸ Brandt Industries have burrowed their way into a multitude of government contracts and have rewarded the Sask Party by providing them with tens of thousands in individual and corporate donations.³⁹ It comes as no shock that “Gavin and Shaun Semple have also long been advocates for the expansion of oil and gas pipelines, with Brandt providing equipment and services to pipeline construction.”⁴⁰

But the Semples are just one example of fossil cash being pumped to the Sask Party. Grant Greenslade, owner of three fossil fuel energy companies and an oil and gas consulting business (not to mention a member of SaskEnergy’s board of directors⁴¹), also donated $5,000 to the Sask Party in 2024.⁴² The list of reactionaries and their payments goes on: openly misogynist evangelicals, a conspiracy theorist, and an agricultural monopoly landlord, Robert Andjelic, whose 225,000 acres of land would make a feudal lord blush and who donated over twenty thousand alone.⁴³ The Sask Party had a choice when farmers protested these corporate land purchases but opted to respond to these protests with
“We’re just seeing evolution in time… that just seems to be what’s happening.”⁴⁴

So much for sticking up for the hardworking people of our province.

These wealthy individuals understand that they are complicit in the denial of climate change when using their wealth to persuade the Sask Party. The discrepancy in influence is evident, their voice comes in the form of donations, we have only our votes. They can afford to sink thousands to shape policy to their advantage while you and I rarely have much left over after we’ve paid rent, groceries and bills.

The financial and ideological network exposed

In addition, our elections are heavily influenced by covert information and ad campaigns. These campaigns are funded by fossil fuel advocates with connections to the industry, proliferated on social media by so-called “grassroots” groups, and regurgitated by the Sask Party’s communications team.⁴⁵ CBC Saskatchewan and the Investigative Journalism Foundation brought to light the network of influence used by wealthy and powerful actors to manipulate the public’s opinion on fossil fuels, climate change and the economy:

“According to its website, the Energy United campaign was created by a federally-registered non-profit called the Maple Leaf Institute (MLI)…it’s led by a team with strong links to oilsands advocacy group the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and the Saskatchewan Party.

The [Maple Leaf] institute’s four directors are Tim Harold McMillan, Cole David Schulz, Samantha Yaholnitsky and Dale Richardson.

Before… Schulz was the vice president of communications at CAPP. He was the chief of staff to McMillan when he was minister of energy in Saskatchewan and was a special advisor to McMillan when he was president of CAPP.

McMillan was the president and CEO of CAPP from 2015 to 2022. Before joining CAPP, McMillan was a minister of energy and resources and minister of rural and remote health in Saskatchewan.

Jarret Coels, campaign director for the Energy United campaign, was the manager of strategic communications for CAPP between 2019 and 2023. He worked in the Saskatchewan government between 2010 and 2019”⁴⁶

These financial and ideological connections lead us to a concerted campaign that director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Simon Enoch has noted “mirrors the Saskatchewan government’s talking points pretty closely. We’ve heard the exact same arguments from this government time and again.”

While disinformation and misinformation spearheaded and funded by powerful fossil fuel corporations comes as no surprise, it has managed to successfully warp public perception, influencing election outcomes and solidifying the Sask Party’s grip on power. This dynamic is strengthened by financial backing from provincial elites, whose donations enable them to effectively dictate government policy – permitting them to continue their monopolization of land and energy while lining their pockets and devaluing all working people of this province.

We are the people who do the work, the labour, stewardship and care, that make this province and nation function.

The result: energy, economic and climate policy that cripples the future of our economy, our workers, and the environment on which we all depend. The decision to accelerate coal-fired power in the wake of catastrophic forest fires and a decade-long drought⁴⁷ is the latest and most egregious example of this. Pursuing the most toxic, polluting fuel source⁴⁸ is an insult to Indigenous and northern communities and farmers across our province who are suffering immediate and devastating impacts from global heating – will the government still have the gall to say to these people that coal power is in fact a “blessing”?

The insult extends to all residents and workers in Estevan and Coronach. There are plentiful opportunities that can be created outside of the coal economy for these communities in the form of sustainable jobs that can provide long-term sustainable employment.

Proof of this is the former coal community of Collie, Australia.⁴⁹, ⁵⁰ Crucial to the success of their transition is that their regional government actually invested in a sustainable transition for Collie. Where the Sask Party continues to offer Estevan and Coronach a dead end road while cutting off alternative routes, Collie shows how community-led transformation of the economy in partnership with a responsive and responsible government can revitalize communities and provide a safe and secure future for their existence. The workers of these communities should not be ashamed or guilty for the work they have done, they can take pride in providing us with energy through their hard work – however, the provincial government must take the steps to ensure that their hard work and, the pride they take in it, can be utilized to build a clean future and economy.

The power to challenge and change

With the federal government’s position of fast tracking projects of national significance, Moe and the Sask Party should be taking the lead in developing the energy of today, not of 200 years ago. This means investing in, and building out, solar, wind and storage options, as well as a West to East Pan-Canadian grid that can connect our nation. It also means furthering these projects with First Nations and Métis communities and investing in sustainable and just transitions for our coal reliant communities. Instead we have a fossil oligarchy, enthusiastically barking for coal and the unabated extraction of fossil fuels, which of course means free reign for the industry and their financiers to run rampant, operating our homeland as a fiefdom.

The evidence is loud and clear: the Sask Party and their reactionary corporate barons are more than happy to jeopardize the future of this province, along with its people, food, water, and air, for greed.
They are sadistically digging us deeper into crisis by once again elevating the profits of the few off of the backs of the many. They are creating a world where the climatic and environmental damage will be directed explicitly at us in the form of forest fires, droughts, and heat domes – not to mention the economic costs of such a world, including inflation.⁵¹

However, let us remember that Saskatchewan does have the power to change. What brings us together is that we are not them, we are not sadistic or greedy, we are the people who do the work, the labour, stewardship and care, that make this province and nation function. Enough is enough – we must organize together, in solidarity, to oppose this decision and act now before these fossil autocrats and their wealthy backers destroy our environment and future – our next generation depends on it.

J. Arregui is an Indigenous Climate Organizer located on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-extend-coal-fired-power-plants-1.7564935
2. https://www.pembina.org/blog/2023-year-alberta-says-goodbye-coal
3. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-extend-coal-fired-power-plants-1.7564935
4. https://theconversation.com/renewables-are-cheaper-than-ever-yet-fossil-fuel-use-is-still-growing-heres-why-213428
5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2024/09/26/81-of-new-renewables-produce-cheaper-energy-than-fossil-fuels/
6. Note the The Conservation article clearly notes that Asia is the highest growing market for coal, however this is due to the tripling of electricity consumption since the 2000s – the Province points fingers at Asia and China specifically; however, we are not a continent of over 4.8 billion people and are a province in a G7 country. Not to mention that countries such as India and China are the top developers and investors in renewables.
7. https://renewablesassociation.ca/news-release-canrea-marks-fifth-anniversary-with-special-industry-data-report/
8. https://www.iea.org/energy-system/renewables
9. https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-ieas-renewables-forecast-grows-76-in-two-years-after-largest-ever-revision/
10. https://renewablesassociation.ca/news-release-canrea-marks-fifth-anniversary-with-special-industry-data-report/
11. https://www.fastcompany.com/91347414/coal-power-keeps-getting-more-expensive-and-that-means-higher-electricity-bills-for-americans
12. https://energyinnovation.org/report/coal-power-28-percent-more-expensive-in-2024-than-in-2021/
13. https://environmentaldefence.ca/the-running-list-of-federal-fossil-fuel-subsidies-in-canada-in-2024/
14. https://davidsuzuki.org/press/call-to-build-canadas-east-west-electricity-grid-with-renewable-energy/
15. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2025/07/04/news/national-power-grid-nation-building-trump-clean-economy
16. https://macleans.ca/economy/forget-america-build-an-east-west-power-grid/
17. https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/dashboard/renewable-energy-generation/
18. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/03/coldest-times-wind-energy-production-heats
19. https://natural-resources.canada.ca/energy-sources/renewable-energy/wind-energy-cold-climates
20. https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/safeguarding-your-research/guidelines-and-tools-implement-research-security/emerging-technology-trend-cards/energy-generation-and-storage-cold-climates
21. https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-premier-blames-renewables-after-cold-snap-idled-gas-plants-trigger-grid-emergency/
22. https://www.theenergymix.com/gas-plants-have-a-reliability-problem-in-extreme-weather-scientists-warn/
23. https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/2041778/as-extreme-cold-strains-albertas-electricity-grid-ottawas-green-energy-plans-face-renewed-criticism
24. https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-premier-blames-renewables-after-cold-snap-idled-gas-plants-trigger-grid-emergency/
25. https://discoverestevan.com/articles/coal-workers-thrilled-with-provinces-renewed-commitment-to-coal-plants
26. https://www.sasktoday.ca/southeast/local-business/estevan-chamber-calls-for-provincial-action-launches-letter-campaign-4132908
27. https://www.sasktoday.ca/southeast/estevan-mercury/estevan-coronach-to-share-10-million-in-provincial-coal-transition-funding-9560600
28. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/task-force-just-transition/final-report/section-7.html
29. https://watershedsentinel.ca/article/the-carbon-capture-hypeline/
30. https://ieefa.org/resources/carbon-capture-boundary-dam-3-still-underperforming-failure
31. https://ieefa.org/resources/carbon-capture-boundary-dam-3-still-underperforming-failure
32. https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2018/rncan-nrcan/m159/M159-10-2013-eng.pdf
33. https://www.saskpower.com/our-power-future/infrastructure-projects/carbon-capture-and-storage/boundary-dam-carbon-capture-project
34. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/plans-to-build-partially-indigenous-owned-wind-farm-in-sask-advance-1.7245124
35. https://www.theenergymix.com/first-nations-devco-signs-on-with-enbridge-for-200-mw-saskatchewan-wind-project/
36. Note Enbridge and the Sask Party have put forward financing to assist and advance this project – broken clocks can be right twice a day.
37. https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-donors-to-scott-moes-saskatchewan-party/
38. https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-donors-to-scott-moes-saskatchewan-party/
39. https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-donors-to-scott-moes-saskatchewan-party/
40. https://breachmedia.ca/in-saskatchewan-poilievre-allies-with-tycoons-who-treat-province-like-fiefdom/
41. https://www.saskenergy.com/about-us/our-company/board-directors/grant-greenslade
42. https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-donors-to-scott-moes-saskatchewan-party/
43. https://breachmedia.ca/corporate-landlords-financiers-ceos-are-top-donors-to-scott-moes-saskatchewan-party/
44. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/farmers-researchers-worry-investor-bought-land-1.6664976
45. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/ijf-energy-united-social-media-carbon-tax-advertising-1.7392808
46. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/ijf-energy-united-social-media-carbon-tax-advertising-1.7392808
47. https://www.cjme.com/2025/06/17/this-is-different-southwest-sask-famers-call-for-help-after-nearly-a-decade-of-drought/
48. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666759220300500
49. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2025/03/19/this-australian-coal-community-is-co-designing-its-own-green-future/
50. https://www.ihrb.org/resources/collies-just-transition-a-blueprint-for-the-worlds-eight-million-coal-workers
51. https://www.un.org/en/desa/prices-warming-planet-inflationary-effects-climate-change