The House

'Time to revisit' nuclear power: Brad Wall

After signing a major deal to sell uranium to India, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall argues that nuclear energy could help Canada reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.

It's time.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says nuclear energy could hold the key in helping certain parts of Canada reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. "For parts of the country that are heavily reliant on coal, I think it should be part of the baseload discussion," Wall told host Evan Solomon.

"The bottom line is: if we want to do something about baseload GHG which are principally coming from coal, the renewables aren't quite there yet to replace that in a way that's cost effective  especially for developing economies. But uranium obviously is. I think it's time to revisit the issue," Wall said.

During his official visit to Canada to this, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a deal to buy more than 3,000 tons of Saskatchewan uranium over the next five years to fuel his country's power reactors.

Narendra Modi meets with Stephen Harper

10 years ago
Duration 31:19
Indian prime minister was welcomed to Parliament Hill with full military honours

Ottawa's role in reducing emissions

Earlier this week, Brad Wall talked about his province's efforts to capture and store carbon dioxide at a climate change summit in Quebec City. 

He says the federal government has been an active partner in that file and that Ottawa needs to collaborate with the provinces on innovative approaches to climate change.

"The federal government invested a quarter of a billion dollars in our carbon capture project in Saskatchewan, so they were meaningful partners. If we are going to find technological solutions to baseload electricity in our country, but also in places like China and India and other places around the world that are still using coal, we need the federal government to be part of that, like they were in our project. That's what I hope they continue to do," he said.