PM’s smiles won’t cheer up Alberta

Is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau preparing to launch NEP 2.0, a repackaged, modern-day version of the disastrous National Energy Program that was inflicted on Albertans by his father in the 1980s?

At first blush, that sounds crazy. The toxic legacy of the NEP all but destroyed the Liberals in Alberta for decades. But it’s a new era, now that Trudeau junior is calling the shots. Indeed, most millennials wouldn’t have a clue what the NEP was anyway.

Sure, the circumstances today are vastly different now than they were 35 years ago. Oil prices are down, not up. There’s little incentive for the feds to go after Alberta’s (depleted) resource wealth, as Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s government did so zealously.

Still, Trudeau junior could wreak just as much havoc on Alberta’s energy industry by simply smiling vacantly, and doing nothing to support it. And he is doing little to dispel the unease that is growing quickly in Alberta. Consider his comments this week to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

With the oilpatch in a desperate fight for survival, Mr. Sunny Ways seemed only too happy to pile on. “My predecessor wanted you to know Canada for its resources,” Trudeau intoned, in his keynote address. “Well I want you to know Canada for its resourcefulness. Our natural resources are substantial … (yet Canada’s) growth and prosperity is not just a matter of what lies under our feet, but what lies between our ears.”

Got that? In his bid to “rebrand” Canada, Trudeau — a former drama teacher and selfdescribed computer “geek” who hasn’t set foot in Alberta since election day — apparently sees “resourcefulness” and “resources” as mutually exclusive terms.

For many, Trudeau’s Davos declaration means this: resources are out, high-tech is in. As if the highly skilled engineers and other professionals who built Canada’s energy industry are know-nothing nobs.

Look, I understand Trudeau’s desire to paint Canada with a fresh green brush. But he could do it in a far more constructive way. Here’s how Miro Cernetig, CEO of Catalytico, a Vancouver-based strategic branding agency, and a former China bureau chief with The Globe & Mail suggests that Canada’s “brand story” be framed:

“We are North America’s leaders in the implementation of carbon offsets and carbon taxes. In fact, B.C.’s carbon tax — which is revenue neutral — has been recognized around the world as a model for the future (and) Alberta has had carbon pricing for years,” says Cernetig, who specializes in country branding issues.

“Across Canada, we have set aside vast tracks of wilderness for future generations and we have one of the most tightly regulated resource sectors in the world. We are a green country. Canada proudly exports natural resources to help build the world. Everything we do, everything we sell, is done with a commitment by Canada to sustainability.”

Exactly. I think most Albertans could get behind that kind of message. Too bad Trudeau didn’t tell it in Davos.

Imagine if former prime minister Stephen Harper made disparaging comments about Ontario’s auto industry when it was clobbered in the wake of the 2008-09 recession? Instead, Harper’s government joined forces with the Ontario government by backing a $13.7 billion auto industry bailout package.

And what is Trudeau’s response to Alberta’s oilpatch woes? So far, he has only added to them. He imposed a tanker ban on B.C.’s north coast, effectively squashing Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway project. He has refused to support other key pipeline projects, despite vocal attacks on them by green zealots and political leaders in B.C. and Quebec.

After Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre pre-emptively trashed TransCanada’s proposed Energy East pipeline project this week, even before the project gets a fair hearing from federal regulators, Trudeau remained silent.

Oh, the Liberals have tossed a couple of sops Alberta’s way. There is talk of stepped-up infrastructure (read: city infrastructure) spending, for example.

But as for the biggest item on Alberta’s economic agenda — improved pipeline access to the east or west coasts — Trudeau is silent. While Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne sounded slightly more positive about prospects for the Energy East pipeline following her meeting with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley this week, Trudeau is still missing in action.

“It’s particularly critical right now (to get pipelines built) because the U.S. has lifted its ban on crude exports, so any investor knows that the U.S. will get a world price for its oil,” says Eurasia Group CEO Robert Johnston, who addressed the Alberta Industrial Heartland Association’s annual gathering Thursday.

“So investors will say, ‘Do I want to invest in North Dakota or Texas, where I can export my oil? Or Alberta, where I might be looking at a $20 or $30 differential?’ The good news is that it’s a solvable problem, with new leadership at both the provincial and federal levels,” he says.

“But it has got to come from Prime Minister Trudeau. It can’t come from any premier. The national leader has to say: ‘We’re going to get this done no matter what. Safely and responsibly, but we’re going to do it.’ “

Mr. Trudeau, the floor is yours.

We are North America’s leaders in the implementation of carbon offsets and carbon taxes.