Notley takes climate vision to Bay Street
Any visit by an Alberta premier to Bay Street is sure to be laden with symbolism about oil and money, but as Rachel Notley arrived at the Hilton Toronto for an Empire Club lunch, there was a different vibe in the ballroom, among the freezing Eastern bastards on the first real fall day of the year.
After years of Tory rule in Edmonton and Ottawa, something felt different, a disturbance in the force that has made Alberta rich on a commodity that seems to be worth less by the day. You could see it in the emcee’s NDP-orange tie and hear it in the applause for environmentalism.
“We don’t change our government all that often in Alberta,” Notley said, and her change could hardly be greater, as she described how Alberta has no long-term future in fossil fuel, or as she put it, “a single product at a single price.”
“Canadians are of one mind on this issue. They expect their governments, all of their governments, to act decisively and responsibly on climate change. And so we are listening carefully to Albertans about this issue,” Notley said.
This was after lunch at a high table with Mohamed Dhanani, executive officer for the Aga Khan; Sarah Fulford, editor of Toronto Life magazine; Andrea Horwath, leader of the Ontario NDP; and other finance types and board members of the Empire Club.
“If we don’t get it right on this issue, the solution is going to be imposed upon us,” Notley continued. “We know that — sooner or later by others, by the federal government, by the markets, who will increasingly insist that energy products are mined and processed responsibly.”
If Alberta wants a working environmental policy that keeps capital in the province, “the time for us to act is now, which is what we will do.”
Alberta’s recovery from the recession brought on by the drop in oil prices has been slower than expected. Notley said she is reviewing the province’s energy royalty system, “so it fits its future energy industry, rather than its past.”
This strategic shift is likely to be visible in the budget she aims to table Oct. 26, after the federal election, but well before the next big UN conference on climate change in December in Paris.
Her vision comes with many qualifications, lest it sound like economic suicide for the only province that can claim zero net debt, mostly thanks to fossil fuels.
Alberta will remain a “healthy place for private investment under our government,” the premier said. “We know the energy industry is a foundation to our economy and will be for many years.”
The province’s oil and gas reserves will remain open to investment, under a competitive tax system. But as she put it, to hearty applause, “the only way to achieve those goals is to get it right on the environment.”
All this went over quite well in the heartland of Canadian capitalism.
Her vision of a post-oil Alberta has been derided on the campaign trial by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, an Albertan, as “a disaster.”
Notley herself was more optimistic. “The world still needs energy,” she said after lunch at a news conference.
“The issue of climate change is a key global problem that every community and every jurisdiction must help to address, especially energy producing jurisdictions like ours,” she said.