At the First Ministers summit, the meeting was the message

TransAlta Corp., the largest coal-fired power generator, said it was heartened by the gradual shift that it said would “ensure system reliability and price stability” for customers.

A gathering of first ministers – the first such meeting in almost seven years – is not expected to produce new national targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or any new concrete measures for achieving them.

“We need to show a renewed image of Canada to the world”, said Quebec premier Philippe Couillard.

That status has prompted fierce opposition from environmental groups to proposed pipelines that would allow the industry to access new markets, including the recently rejected Keystone XL pipeline, proposed by TransCanada Corp.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne echoed Clark, telling reporters Alberta’s announcement was “extremely important” and that it helps Canada “go now to Paris … with a very strong story to tell”.

What are the key components?

It’s interesting to note, though, that the province’s oil majors are, so far, seemingly on board with the policy, perhaps because it is aimed more squarely at the coal industry.

Moreover, Canada’s current climate commitments aren’t enough to change the tide. “The government of Alberta is going to stop being the problem and we are going to start being the solution”. “The actual threshold is something we will have more to say about in the coming weeks”.

The provincial government is promising its new carbon tax won’t hurt low-income Albertans, but details on how it intends to prevent their financial pain are still a work in progress.

For all the good intentions of the NDP’s climate plan, Alberta will remain dependent on petroleum production for jobs, revenues and economic activity for the foreseeable future. “In 2013, Alberta emitted 267 megatons of greenhouse gases, Under this plan, in 2030, after 15 years of this plan and $45B, the goverment has projected the province will have emitted 270 megatons”.

Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark said he’s broadly in favour of the strategy, but he wants to know how the billions will be spent and allocated.

The really, really big elephant in Alberta’s room is its lucrative but destructive and emissions- intensive tar sands industry. “People think twice about the Hummer instead of buying a Prius, for example”.

Gore congratulated Notley and encouraged this first step be followed by ” … continued bold action to transition away from fossil fuels”.

Policy experts including Warren Mabee similarly praised the move, but raised several questions about the implementation.

Those plans cover about 70 per cent of Canada’s population, but not Saskatchewan, where the mining and oil and gas sectors account for just over a fifth of Saskatchewan’s economy, and where Wall faces a spring election. “Will renewables be incentivized above and beyond the carbon levy (tax)?”

The premise of revenue neutrality is that every nickel you pay in carbon tax is offset by tax cuts elsewhere.

“Canadians have high expectations of themselves when it comes to protecting the environment and managing economic growth, and the world expects much of Canada”, said Lorraine Mitchelmore, President and Country Chair Shell Canada and EVP Heavy Oil for Shell.

The plan, released in Edmonton on Sunday, was created under the guidance of the Climate Change Advisory Panel and will see Alberta’s reliance on coal diminished and eventually phased out.