The Liberal Party’s election platform if implemented would be another National Energy Program, according to Alberta’s homegrown Wildrose Alliance.
The party issued a statement last week weighing in on the federal campaign after the release of the Liberal platform that included a cap and trade program and a ban on oil tanker traffic on the west coast.
The Liberal platform calls to formalize the existing B.C. crude oil tanker moratorium. Fully opening the coast to tankers would heighten the risk of a major spill, the Liberal website says, and identifies Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait, and Queen Charlotte Sound where traffic would continue to be banned.
The Liberals also propose the Canadian Clean Energy Partnership Managing to manage the long-term transition to the low-carbon economy of the future.
“This is the NEP (National Energy Program) all over again,” said Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith in the press release. “The Liberal Party just can’t resist digging into Alberta’s pockets to buy votes in other parts of the country.”
The Liberals plan to go further than 25 per cent below 1990s levels for greenhouse gases under the cap and trade program, pledging to reduce greenhouse emissions to 80 per cent below 1990 level, according to the release.
Smith supports the “made-in-Alberta” fee of $15 for every tonne emitted over the reduction target, which is reinvested in local “green” technology.
Westlock-St. Paul candidate Rob Fox said industry has so far supported cap and trade, and that the oil tanker ban the Liberals support has been in place since the 1970s. The proposed northern oil pipeline would go through native lands, he said, adding that until negotiations are completed, “it’s a mute point.” Upgrading or twinning the pipeline to Vancouver that already exists makes a lot more economic sense, he said.
“Simply put, Ottawa cannot be entrusted with Alberta’s resource wealth and expected to act in our best interests. We must defend our energy sector against being used as a political punching bag by the Liberal Party of Canada,” said Wildrose MLA Paul Hinman, in the press release.
Fox defended the Liberal record and replied that the Liberals enhanced the development of the oilsands by allowing companies to write off capital costs at an accelerated rate. The oil industry supports the Canadian Clean Energy Partnership, he said. The program does not single out the oil industry, but sets a standard for every industry in every province, he said.
The Liberal’s opposition to the pipeline through northern B.C. is “very dangerous for our country,” said MP and candidate for Westlock-St. Paul, Brian Storseth.
“It’s typical Liberals in Ottawa trying to control everything and playing politics with our economy,” he said, adding that he was not sure it would be as devastating as the NEP but that it would inhibit the economy. Canada needs the northern pipeline to increase exports, he said.
“You’ve got to have more than one buyer if you want to get the best dollar for your value,” he said. “I think the Liberal policy on this is absolutely reckless.”
The Liberal Party strategy sounds “eerily similar to Trudeau’s National Energy Program,” said Shayne Saskiw, a Wildrose Alliance candidate for Lac La Biche – St. Paul – Two Hills.
Saskiw said as a provincial candidate he focuses mainly on provincial issues, but the odd time he feels compelled to weigh in on a national issue that would affect the province.
“As a provincial party and a provincial candidate, my job is to stand up for my constituents and for all of Albertans,” he said.
The NEP had the mentality to “forget the West and get the rest,” Saskiw said. The program proposed to nationalize oil resources, in conflict with Albertans’ belief that oil belongs to Albertans under the Constitution and the view that “the federal government should generally keep their hands off it,” he said. The NEP replaced the free market by fixing the price, he added.
“Although we are very generous people in Alberta and have complied with equalization payments for the last few decades I think this type of scheme would go way too far,” Saskiw said.
The carbon credit scheme is used to transfer wealth from Alberta to the rest of the country, he said, adding that the Liberal platform would result in tens of thousands of lost jobs across the country and disproportionately in Alberta if implemented, he said.
