Notley not happy with Suzuki honour

Premier Rachel Notley says she does not agree with the University of Alberta’s decision to grant an honorary degree to high-profile oilsands critic David Suzuki.

But she says the university is built on academic freedom and independence, and that must be respected.

“I’m not a big fan of this decision,” Notley said Wednesday, adding she attended the university. “If I’d been on the (university) senate, I wouldn’t personally have voted for it.

“It struck me as being a bit tone deaf, but academic independence, university independence is important. So they have made that decision, they will defend that decision and that’s the way it should work.”

Suzuki is to receive an honorary science degree on June 7, but the award has prompted a flood of complaints, along with critical public letters from the university’s deans of business and engineering.

One Calgary law firm announced it was cancelling its annual $100,000 funding commitment to the university’s law school.

Suzuki, a longtime environmentalist and host of “The Nature of Things” television show, has called for Alberta’s oilsands to be shut down. He has not responded publicly to the controversy. His foundation has said the honorary degree is not a blind endorsement of all Suzuki’s beliefs, but rather a tribute to his lifetime of work.

Notley avoided criticizing Suzuki directly, but said her government’s efforts to find a middle ground between economic progress and environmental sustainability are undermined when the debate becomes extreme.