It’s been 40 years, almost to the day, since the National Energy Program was announced in the House of Commons and yet those three words still evoke strong sentiments in Alberta.
Kenney says while the times have changed and there’s no single mega policy like the NEP that has devastated Alberta, the current federal Liberal government under Justin Trudeau — Pierre Trudeau’s eldest son — has damaged Alberta’s economy. This has occurred through a series of policies and decisions — including the cancellation of the Northern Gateway pipeline even after it had been approved, signalling to global investors that Canada was no longer a safe place to invest. Capital fled Alberta and with it, high paying jobs.
“Then came the killing of Energy East pipeline; the tanker ban targeting only our resources — C-48;the huge investor uncertainty and the invasion of our authority under Bill C-69, the ‘no more pipelines law’. Whether it’s the pending clean fuel standards that would add $3 or $4 to the cost of producing a barrel of Alberta oil, that makes us less competitive; whether it’s the pending ratification of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, which many read as granting any one small, tiny group a veto power over development; whether it’s all of the talk about legislating net zero carbon emissions without a plan for a future for the oil and gas sector; all of this stuff together has made the price decline far more impactful than it otherwise would have been,” says Kenney.
No comments:
Post a Comment