Premier denies calling Keystone a threat during her east coast trip

Premier Rachel Notley says investors are confident about Alberta. She hasn’t heard a single word in Montreal, New York or Toronto about the fervent opposition attacks back home.

In an interview on Thursday, Notley also insisted she did not say the Keystone XL oil pipeline to the United States is a “threat to Alberta resource control.”

“No, I did not say that. I’m confused about where that would have come from, because I did not say that.”

The comment she denies was carried on the Business News Network.

“It may well be that somebody asked me about Keystone, and I said it makes us more dependent on one particular market.

“Also, because there’s a highly developed refining centre at the end of that pipeline, it makes the hope of building and maintaining our refining operations in Alberta, or updating them, a bit more challenging.

“But the quote ( about threat) is not true.”

Notley also responded to news that Rob Merrifield, the ousted Alberta trade advocate who blasted her on Wednesday, joined the lobbying firm Canadian Strategy Group the morning after his outburst.

“I’m very curious to see who it is he’ll be lobbying,” she said.

She disputed the claim by Merrifield, a former Harper MP sent to Washington last year by ex- premier Jim Prentice, that he was “stifled” by the NDP.

“It’s unfortunate that he felt that way. I would not characterize any relationship we had with him in that way.”

During her three- city tour, Notley has had meetings with the CEO of Quebec’s powerful Caisse de Depot, the CEO and chair of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a private equity firm, and also participated in forums organized by RBC and Bloomberg.

“What I’m hearing back, which is quite encouraging, is that investors continue to be very confident about Alberta as a place to do business.”

One major reason for the trip — although Notley doesn’t say it — is to allay fears about the NDP. She has faced questions about the royalty review and climate change plan.

When the government recently said no royalty changes would come until Jan. 1, 2017, some people got the idea that the details would be unknown until then.

Not so, Notley says. Details for 2017 are to be announced as soon as possible after the panel reports late this year, or early in 2016.

“It was never our intention to delay the process and delay our conclusions and delay our plans ( until 2017). So I’ve been able to assure investors what we mean, and to clarify that confusion.”

Whether royalties increase or not, there’s little doubt the new regime will include incentives for refining in Alberta.

“One of the planks with respect to the ( panel) mandate, was to look at the viability of encouraging or incenting additional upgrading or refining in Alberta,” she said. “So what we are doing is waiting to see what we get back from the panel.”

Notley said she spent a lot of time on the trip advocating for both the Energy East project and Kinder Morgan’s proposed expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which she feels are more amenable to upgrading than Keystone, which would move Alberta oil to the U. S. Gulf Coast.

“The current business model around Keystone assumes absolutely no refining or upgrading in Alberta. That’s why we’ve always been somewhat troubled by that plan.”

“The other thing is that Keystone takes us to a U. S. market, and what we need to do is look at other markets outside the U. S. That’s what those other pipelines do. So those are certainly my preferences.”

Asked if the government would actively impede Keystone if the U. S. approves it, she said, “there’s nothing I could do to stop it, just as I’m convinced there’s not much we could do to make it happen either.”

But she feels the government’s work on climate change, paradoxically, “could help the Keystone case ... although that’s not our objective.”

As for the uproar from the Alberta opposition about NDP goals and motives, Notley concluded: “I haven’t heard a single word out east or in the U. S. about anything the opposition has said. So I’m not terribly concerned about it.”

Keystone takes us to a U. S. market, and what we need to do is look at other markets outside the U. S.