Redford vows to defend oilsands

 
Calgary Tories turned out en masse on Thursday night to celebrate last month’s election win, with Alison Redford promising a premier’s dinner audience she will not slow down in her defence of Alberta’s oilsands against both domestic and international critics.
Speaking to a hall filled with more than 1,800 MLAs, corporate leaders and party devotees, Redford said her government will maintain a business-friendly climate that allows Alberta enterprise to “flourish” while at the same time building new schools and keeping the public health-care system strong.
“We will strike the right balance between progressive and conservative,” the premier said.
But giving her first Calgary speech following the 12th consecutive majority win for the Tories last month, Redford got the loudest applause when she delved into familiar political territory for a long line of Alberta premiers: protecting the province’s interests against Ottawa.
This time Redford’s target was federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who said last weekend that because of the way natural resource sectors such as Alberta’s oilsands raise the value of the Canadian dollar, other parts of the country are paying a price.
Mulcair, who said he’s not against oilsands development per se, also discussed the need for the “internalization of the environmental costs” of oilsands and other natural resources development, and making the polluter pay.
“I expect that we’re probably in for a bit of a crazy summer,” Redford said before discussing Mulcair’s comments.
“I always think it’s better for people to comment once they have the information than before they do.”
The premier said she will spend her time expanding provincial markets while making the case to the United States that Alberta’s energy sector is the most “secure, responsible and environmentally conscious supplier, and always will be.”
The premier talked about her Canadian energy strategy, still broadly defined as having the provinces work together to take advantage of the country’s national resources, saying the country can manage the impact of major projects “to ensure that Canada remains beautiful.”
“And we’ll do it without compromising provincial sovereignty,” she said.
The Alberta PC party fundraiser was touted by organizers as the largest and most lucrative premier’s dinner ever held — even surpassing events held during the Klein days — with a sellout crowd paying $500 a piece for tickets.
Slickly produced videos featuring all of the 61 Progressive Conservative MLAs elected on April 23 were shown alongside another leader’s vignette with images of Redford speaking, meeting with supporters and riding horseback through the snow.
But among the crowd there was a subdued mood — one not of total victory but as Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk described it: “a collective sigh of relief.”
Many critics say the long-ruling Tory party dodged a bullet in the April election, with some voters at the last minute choosing the incumbent party rather an unknown quantity in the Wildrose.
The socially conservative beliefs of a few Wildrose party candidates and its official stance questioning the science of climate change is thought to have contributed significantly to support going to the PCs.
Prominent tax lawyer and longtime party fundraiser Brian Felesky said the party is going to have to work to prove itself over the next four years.
“A lot of people that came our way are tenuously in our camp,” he said. “So we’ve got the responsibility to glue them to the PC movement and show them that there’s change, and there is financial discipline, and there’s going to be a better Alberta. And they can stay with us.”
Speaking to reporters before the speech, Redford touched on a number of issues, including a possible change in her plans next month, saying she might leave the climate change summit in Rio to Environment Minister Diana McQueen, who represented Alberta at last year’s conference in South Africa.
The day after the Tory majority win last month, Redford said one of her first priorities would be to attend the international summit in Brazil in June to both put Alberta’s position forward and defend the oilsands.
Redford wouldn’t reveal more about what changed her thinking on the summit, saying only she would say more next week.
“I’m going to consider whether I’m going to go or whether Diana McQueen is going to go. And it might simply be logistics. There’s another opportunity that’s come up that might make more sense for me to be participating in,” the premier said.
Redford also said she spoke this week to federal Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird on climate change and Canada’s approach to the international issue.
“He and I have agreed to meet to discuss what we can continue to do together.”
Speaking of Redford’s comments on the environment, Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute said he’s glad the government has aspirations of improving Alberta’s environmental performance, and said he senses a change of tone from previous premiers. However, he noted Alberta still needs to do a better job of protecting wildlife, and preserving land and water.
“Alberta has a greenhouse gas management plan but it hasn’t been strengthened for a number of years,” Dyer said.
Redford also gave reporters more details on the 140 new family care clinics promised during the election, saying they will begin being established this year.
Family care clinics will be open longer — from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. — to take pressure off emergency rooms. Patients won’t always see a doctor, but the most relevant health practitioner. Under the new system, money will follow the patient, so clinics will get paid for the services they provide. Currently, primary care networks are paid based on the number of patients they have, even if the patients don’t use services.
Promised new schools, she said, are contemplated in next year’s provincial budget — which her government has forecast will put Alberta back in surplus territory.