UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Premier Rachel Notley took a tour of the construction site of the Calgary Cancer Centre and provided a project update on monday.
Premier Rachel Notley urged the federal government on Monday “to step up” and help Alberta’s energy industry get its product to market.
As pressure mounts on the federal government to fast-track pipeline construction, Notley told a news conference in Calgary she’s disappointed the province hasn’t heard anything from Ottawa about interim programs to help move oil across the country.
“There’s no question that Albertans still need the federal government to step up and support the industry while we’re trying to get through this ridiculousness of having not enough capacity to get our oil and gas to market,” the premier said.
Notley announced in November that Alberta would buy trains to move an additional 120,000 barrels per day out of the province, starting late 2019. She had also asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to boost rail capacity to provide relief.
“We did get the federal government to buy the (Trans Mountain) pipeline. That’s not nothing,” she said. “There is a vested interest that they have now in getting this darn thing built and so we’re going to keep pushing.”
Asked if the Trudeau Liberals deserved another term with a federal election looming later this year, Notley said the issue didn’t come down to partisanship but rather to “anyone who’s in Ottawa understanding that all of Canada needs Alberta to be working if all of Canada’s going to work.”
“The fact of the matter is the previous (federal) government, which happened to be from a different political party, also didn’t get it done,” Notley said.
“Quite honestly, the considerations that have led to the ridiculousness that all Albertans are so frustrated with right now, it has been in the making for decades. What we need to do is start planning outside of media cycles and quite frankly even outside of election cycles to make the fundamental structural changes that are necessary to get these kinds of projects built. We’re in progress now but it’s not happening fast enough.”
Notley was speaking to media Monday after touring the construction site of the Calgary Cancer Centre.
Construction of the project, which broke ground in October 2017, is scheduled to finish in 2022, with the new centre opening the next year.
Notley said the centre will increase cancer care capacity in southern Alberta, featuring more than 100 patient exam rooms, 160 in-patient unit beds, and double the space for clinical trials compared to the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, which reached capacity in 2003.
“This is a project that had been promised for years, in fact decades, and it’s a project that is now getting done,” she said.
“It is a project that reflects our government’s commitment to providing people with the health care that they need when they need it and to ensure that access is given to all Albertans regardless of how much they earn or where they live because that’s what happens when you have a strong, vibrant public health system.”