Notley to push climate strategy on first trip to Washington
CALGARY In what is almost a rite of passage for Alberta premiers, Rachel Notley will head to Washington, D.C. next week in her first official visit to the United States capital since taking office.
And while the Keystone XL pipeline — a preoccupation of her Tory predecessors — is no longer on the agenda, a big part of the NDP premier’s task will centre on defending Alberta’s environmental reputation.
The official itinerary and cost of the trip won’t be released until meetings are finalized next week, but Notley will leave next Wednesday and return Friday, said her press secretary, Cheryl Oates.
Oates said the mission will be focused on economic diversification and the government’s ambitious climate leadership plan, which includes a carbon tax coming in 2017, an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired electricity and a cap on oilsands emissions.
“We feel like we’ve made incredible strides and that plan we put forward erases any doubt about our environmental record,” she said.
“That said, not everyone knows the details of that plan and so it’s important for us to get out there and talk about it.”
Progressive Conservative premiers such as Alison Redford and Jim Prentice used their Washington D.C. visits to tout Alberta’s carbon levy on large emitters — which is being doubled by the NDP — as they lobbied for the Keystone pipeline.
That project won’t be on the table this time however.
Keystone is intended to ship Alberta oilsands crude to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico but it aroused major opposition from American environmentalists because of the significant carbon emissions related to oilsands production.
The NDP government meanwhile opposed the pipeline because they believed it would detract from refining and upgrading opportunities in the province. Last fall, President Barack Obama announced he would not issue a permit for the pipeline, though its proponent — Calgarybased TransCanada Corp. — has said it may bring the project forward again under a new administration.
David Manning, who served as Alberta’s representative to Washington under Redford, said Keystone ultimately was a “tremendous distraction.”
Even without Keystone, Alberta has massive economic interests in the U.S. — the province’s largest trading partner — and needs to ensure it is not viewed as an environmental pariah, he said.
Manning said Notley is a “great messenger” for the idea of reconciling environmental action with a vibrant resource economy and should find a receptive audience in many Washington circles.
“She — I’m assuming, I don’t know this — will connect with a number of Democrats and speak to those who do not have a full appreciation of Alberta’s efforts,” said Manning.
Notley is also slated to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday night after she addresses the federal Liberal cabinet as it opens a three-day retreat in Kananaskis. While Notley was opposed to Keystone, her NDP government is pushing for the Energy East and Trans Mountain pipelines in Canada to move forward so Alberta can access new markets.