Federal leader visits, praises Notley
Jagmeet Singh cites benefits of action on climate change, praises Notley as ‘an incredible premier’
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh heaped praise on Premier Rachel Notley during his first official visit to Edmonton on Friday, but the two leaders failed to meet to discuss disagreements over pipeline projects considered vital to the provincial economy.
“I think Premier Notley is an incredible premier … Someone who I have personally always really respected and looked up to and continue to do so,” Singh told Postmedia following a tour of the Alternative Energy Centre at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
“Our schedules didn’t work out for a meeting this time around but I’m quite close with a lot of her team and I look forward to having a meeting in the future.”
Postmedia was the only media outlet to attend Singh’s availability Friday.
The new NDP leader has opposed the federally approved Trans Mountain pipeline to the West Coast as well as the recently shelved Energy East project.
Notley, who supports both projects, responded last month by characterizing Singh’s stance as “absolutely wrong” while suggesting his views were largely irrelevant to the debate anyway.
Asked Friday about the dispute, Singh did not directly address whether he and the premier had made any progress in bridging their differences. Instead, he applauded the Alberta government’s climate change initiatives and said Notley’s leadership was essential to help Canada achieve its targets for reducing carbon emissions.
However, as Notley has noted, the provincial climate change plan has been predicated, in part, on the idea that environmental action should generate the “social licence” for new pipelines — a concept also touted by the federal Liberals when they approved the Trans Mountain line.
Asked why Albertans should support a federal NDP that would offer no concessions on pipelines for the province’s environmental efforts, Singh mentioned other potential benefits of climate action, including greater sustainability and a diversified economy.
As well, he said his party must make clear that any decision to implement a major environmental transition has to be fair to affected workers.
“We believe in ensuring that workers are always supported and that opportunities for employment are top of mind,” Singh said. “We can’t talk about environmental issues or environmental justice without talking about economic justice.”
He said his beef is ultimately not with Notley, but rather with getting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fulfil a promise to overhaul the approval process for energy projects.
Singh said the provincial and federal NDP are sufficiently aligned on most policies — minimum wage increases, tuition freezes and investments in health care — to forge a great relationship.