Trudeau backs calls for national energy plan
Grit leadership hopeful wants all provinces at the table
Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau said Monday he’s in favour of a pan-Canadian energy strategy to develop the country’s resources.
The Papineau MP joked with a Calgary crowd he “won’t use the words national, energy or program” — referring to the reviled National Energy Program of his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
But Trudeau said Alberta Premier Alison Redford was on the right track with her call for a Canadian energy strategy that would involve provinces co-operating in areas such as research and development, regulation and the opening of new markets.
And he castigated the federal Conservative government for having no involvement in the process.
“What we’ve seen is a federal government that is only willing to engage one-onone with various premiers, not willing to sit down to actually hash out the shared areas of responsibility, the kinds of challenges various regions are facing, establish a sense of where we’re going as a country, ” he told a group of over 150 gathered at Hotel Arts.
Trudeau said the first step would be for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to convene a First Ministers meeting to discuss energy issues over the next decade.
While Redford has pitched the Canadian energy strategy as a means to facilitate new pipelines to bring Alberta oilsands product to tidewater — and international markets — Trudeau has come out in opposition to Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline to the British Columbia coast.
He told reporters he has not yet taken a position on Kinder Morgan’s planned expansion of its existing Trans-Mountain line to Vancouver.
But Trudeau expressed interest in the possibilities of shipping bitumen to refineries in Eastern Canada, proposals which have gained increas- ing political momentum as of late.
This was Trudeau’s first visit to the province since his controversial remarks about Alberta from 2010 surfaced during last fall’s Calgary Centre byelection.
He told reporters he did not think the comments — which saw him raising concerns about Albertans in control of the country’s social agenda — had played a deciding role in the byelection, which saw Liberal Harvey Locke lose narrowly to Tory Joan Crockatt.
While Trudeau is the frontrunner in the Grit race, there are actually nine candidates seeking to lead the party that governed Canada for much of the 20th century.
Candidate David Bertschi, who also held a meet-andgreet at Hotel Arts Monday evening, told the Herald he’s finding support as he drives across the country.
“They’re telling me they want experience, they want someone who listens and understands the issues and lives in the real world, frankly,” said Bertschi, an Ottawa lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for the party in the 2011 federal election.
“I’m not tied to the establishment, I know them, I understand them, but I don’t agree with them. If you want to rebuild and restart and reconnect, you have to come with fresh ideas. I’m not handcuffed, I’m not beholden.”
While Calgary has been hostile territory for the federal Liberals for decades, Mount Royal University policy studies professor Lori Williams said the Calgary Centre byelection was a catalyst for the various leadership campaigns’ interest in the city as a source of potential voters.
For the first time, Liberals are allowing Canadians to register as “supporters” to vote in the leadership race’s preferential ballot without having to buy a party membership.
And the Liberal vote on April 14 will see every federal riding given equal weight in the tally, with each assigned 100 points.
“(Trudeau) has to try to position himself as somebody who does value Alberta and Albertans and wants to represent them, but also — as all of them have to do — start building towards a Liberal party that can represent people from across the country and maybe win seats in every province,” she said.