Brad Wall dishes on pipeline dispute
In his first interview since stepping down as Saskatchewan premier two weeks ago after a decade at the helm, Brad Wall spoke with Bill Kaufmann. Wall is scheduled to make his first public address March 12 in a question-and-answer session with entrepreneur
Q Why is your first public appearance in Calgary and not Regina or Saskatoon?
A The Calgary opportunity was the first and I’m interested in the topic. I’m also more comfortable staying out of the way of the new premier of Saskatchewan.
Q How do you explain your enduring popularity in Alberta?
A That first pollster must have kept calling my folks. Look, I had a great team around me and I also think Saskatchewan decided almost collectively the attitude had to change in the province, that it was OK to lead in certain economic strategies. We had some policy success.
The fastest-growing regions of the world needing food and energy landed right in our sweet spot and we thought we should aspire to something greater. We did massive tax reductions that benefited mostly the low and middle class. I hope a willingness to speak out for our province’s interests on the national and international context helped with that (popularity).
Q How do you think Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has handled the dispute with B.C. over the Trans Mountain pipeline?
A You have to use everything at your disposal if you’re the province of Alberta. We have an interest in Saskatchewan with the price differential, with the discount we’ve been selling our oil, for the most part to the Americans. When we can’t access tide water, it’s costing our country hundreds of millions, billions of dollars over the years.
You have to use every tool at your disposal because the position B.C. has taken is absurd. We have to decide whether we want to be a country or do we want a loose association of individuals, groups and regions that at any time can ignore the Constitution and jurisdictional issues and thwart the economic interests of another place. It’s very serious.
Q B.C. is citing provincial rights in its opposition to allowing more Alberta bitumen through its territory. Are there not parallels with Saskatchewan’s opposition to a federal imposition of a carbon tax?
A I don’t think so, though I’m not a constitutional lawyer. But you have the federal government’s approval of this thing (Trans Mountain), so, to us, it’s a different jurisdictional question and we’re going to find out in court who’s right on the carbon tax. We’ve come up with a climatechange plan to fill that space that’ll have real results that carbon tax levels will not.
Q Many in the energy industry support a carbon tax, as do governments around the world who are increasingly concerned about climate change. Are you on the wrong side of history on this?
A Australia had a carbon tax and they’ve gone the other way. The jurisdiction that’s had one the longest is the province of B.C. and they’ve seen their emissions go up in relation to GDP. It’s supposed to be absolute reductions, that’s what Paris is about. It hasn’t worked the way they were talking about.
The federal government’s own internal documents say for there to be any impact, it has to be at $200 a tonne — that would devastate economies. There’s this notion that all the oil companies support it; no they don’t. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is split.
Q Something else coming out of Saskatchewan is the BoushieStanley verdict, which has been
rife with racial overtones. Does this set back reconciliation with First Nations?
A I’m not going to comment on it. I sent out some public statements in August. I’ve got to be respectful of the fact Premier Moe is early in his term there. I’ve made statements on the temper and the tone of things you see on social media and those still stand.
Q You’ve had ideological disputes with Alberta’s NDP government, with Rachel Notley saying her choice to avoid austerity measures has recently been followed by economic forecasts putting her province in the lead. Any thoughts on that?
A She’s wrong about the growth forecast; the latest RBC report forecasts Saskatchewan to lead the country this year and next year, and the last set of job numbers were very strong. Remember what happened in the 1990s when all the chickens came home to roost, the measures that had to be taken by the NDP government in Saskatchewan and the Klein government in Alberta. If Alberta and other governments decide to ignore those lessons and plant money trees, well, God bless them.
Q Sometime down the road, do you think it’s possible you’d enter federal politics?
A I’m just done. I was elected in 1999 and had 17 years of political life; it’s the best job I’ll ever have, nothing else will ever come close to it. With all the social media, the shelf life of a politician is a little bit less. The 24/7 news cycle and the nature of the job makes it a little bit harder.