“The oil sands are the fastest-growing source of emissions in Canada, so it’s hard to imagine a credible climate policy that doesn’t deal with that growth”, Pembina analyst Erin Flanagan said.
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The outgoing Keystone advocate said his boss, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, gave President Barack Obama “a blank check” to reject the pipeline by remaining silent amid opposition.
The New Democratic Party vowed to invest in education and health care – and increase taxes on corporations and wealthy Albertans. Ms. Notley’s speech to the Empire Club capped her first major interprovincial trip since she led the NDP to power in May. Notley also opposed controversial energy projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline.
It may sound like a contradiction in terms, but the Alberta Premier told a business luncheon in Toronto on Friday that ramping up oil sands production and tackling climate change can be done at the same time.
The premier said she was hesitant to weigh in, but did.
“I’m not the operator of the pipeline, so I’m going to let those people make their decisions about the path that they want to take, but ultimately I do believe that it is in the best interest of all Canadians that we find a way to get a pipeline to tidewater”, she said. A spokeswoman for Notley told Bloomberg the office is looking for a “professional diplomat” to replace Merrifield, “for reasons Mr. Merrifield just demonstrated”. “Well, I hope we will have learned a lesson of diversification by then”.
Notley addressed the Montreal Board of Trade on Monday.
She did argue, however, that revenues collected from polluters in Alberta should stay within the province.
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She noted that her government had convened a panel to “come up with recommendations for how we can develop a meaningful climate change strategy – not only to do our part with respect to that issue, but also to help support our industry when it’s trying to move into new markets so that there is an understanding that Alberta is doing its part”.
