Opinion

Trudeau isn’t Killing Investment in Alberta; Kenney is

On Tuesday, October 22, Husky Energy laid off ‘dozens‘ of staff in their Calgary office. The usual Kenney-media suspects have been silent. 

Rick Bell said nothing.  Danielle Smith said nothing to Alberta but did show up on John Gormley’s show in Saskatoon. To her credit, she said there was talk that it was related to the election but she hadn’t been able to verify it. When she did, according to my searches, she said nothing.

Sorry folks, but if it can’t be blamed on someone else, unemployment is no longer news in Alberta.    

Ever wonder where the pro-pipeline protests went? We still need a pipeline don’t we?

Who is banging the drums for unemployed oil and gas workers? No one. No protests, no demonstrations, no more support.

The layoffs had nothing to do with the election and everything to do with Jason Kenney’s desire to pick winners and losers in Alberta’s oil industry. By maintaining an anti-free-enterprise policy to help out the little guys trying to play in the big leagues, Kenney is telling everyone that Alberta is definitely not open for business.

Unlike conservative media, the large oil companies aren’t failing Albertans. They have money to invest and today, it’s not worth it to them. No, it’s not because of Trudeau; it’s because of Jason Kenney. 

Mr. Free-Enterprise himself, the same one who campaigned on NOT picking winners and losers has decided to back the would-be losers; the small companies who can’t compete with low oil prices. 

In August, Jason Kenney extended what *should-have-been* a wildly unpopular production curtailment – for free-enterprise types, that is. 

Last week, with no signs of being able to invest money in Alberta’s oil and gas industry, Husky did what it had to do – release employees. 

Husky said they would still continue with their investment plans in Saskatchewan, who, surprisingly enough, also has a federal Liberal government.

What Saskatchewan doesn’t have is a provincial government who is refusing investment through their own policy. 

The original curtailment, which was decried by some, and put in place originally by the NDP, was also intended to protect smaller producers. It had multi-Party support.

But I have some questions.

How long will Albertans reject investment to protect businesses that can’t manage in the current market?

How much longer will Albertans reject investment to protect conservative donors? 

This was not, and is not, a “Trudeau effect”.

This is the result of Jason Kenney’s policies and every single MLA in his caucus who isn’t standing up for Alberta’s potential. 

This post is an opinion by someone who actually supports free-enterprise. 

Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean

contact: [email protected], [email protected]

Twitter: @Mitchell_AB for all the commentary; @thisweekinAB for posts; @politicalRnD to guess “who tweeted that”?

 

 

3 replies »

  1. I don’t understand the comment that says Husky will continue its investment in Saskatchewan! And here’s where statement I don’t get , where it says and Saskatchewan has a Federal Liberal Government ??? They don’t have a single Liberal member now !

    • They have the same federal liberal government and are subject to the same policies as oil development in Alberta. What Saskatchewan doesn’t have is production curtailment.

    • The federal government is for the entire country. Kenney blames the feds for lack of investment, but Sask has investment occurring under the same federal government, Husky being one company doing so and very openly stating why they invest there now and not in Alberta. The fact that they have no LIB MPs doesn’t affect national policies.