Notley vows to stand up for pipeline at teachers’ conference
EDMONTON Premier Rachel Notley will speak at an Alberta Teachers’ Association conference next month to counter what she calls “misinformation” about the Trans Mountain pipeline and the province’s oil and gas sector.
Notley’s move is in response to the ATA booking controversial environmental activist Tzeporah Berman as a keynote speaker.
Notley told the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association meeting in Red Deer Thursday she doesn’t have a problem with Berman speaking at the conference — after all, “it’s a free country,” she said. But she won’t let Berman’s arguments go unanswered.
“In coffee shops, in union halls, in church basements, I will always stand up for Alberta. In the case of the ATA convention ... I will go myself to make the case for Alberta and our industry, to counter misinformation, and assure that the whole story is told,” she said to applause.
Berman is an environmental studies adjunct professor at York University and a former Greenpeace director. Known for once comparing the oilsands to the fictional wasteland of Mordor, she was let go from Alberta’s oilsands advisory committee in 2017.
For years the official Opposition used Berman’s appointment to the oilsands committee as a political cudgel against the NDP, but Notley said speaking at the conference isn’t about disassociating her party from Berman ahead of the 2019 election.
“Because this is getting the attention it is, it is absolutely an excellent opportunity for me to make the case, on behalf of the people of Alberta, about why (the pipeline) is a good thing,” she told media following her AUMA speech.
The October conference at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch is for social studies, Indigenous education, and environmental and outdoor education teachers.
ATA president Greg Jeffery is excited about the additions to the program.
“This will be an incredible opportunity for teachers to dig deep into one of the most critical issues facing Alberta at this time,” he said in a statement.
“Teachers, as smart and thoughtful professionals, will be able to hear a range of perspectives and use that discussion to help inform the conversations that occur in their classrooms around these critical issues.”