Kenney says UCP is looking to re-ignite Alberta’s economy
KENNEY MAKES FIRST VISIT TO LETHBRIDGE AS PARTY LEADER
United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney visited Lethbridge for the first time since being elected to the legislature in December, and he brought a message of change with him for the province.
“Lethbridge folks, they just want common-sense government,” said Kenney, in an exclusive and wideranging interview with The Herald on Wednesday. “They understand we can’t support public services, including the university, college and health care, as much as we would like to unless there is a thriving, dynamic, private-sector economy. That’s going to be our focus — re-igniting that economy.”
Kenney acknowledged the highstakes negotiations going on right now in terms of NAFTA, and its possible implications for the southern Alberta agriculture and agri-food economy, should the border suddenly be closed to Canadian tariff-free trade.
“I think we should be playing a very active role with the federal government in a strategy to maintain market access to the United States,” said Kenney. “This is existential for the southern Alberta economy. The huge agricultural exports that are tariff free under NAFTA are threatened by the Trump administration renegotiating it.
“Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau has decided to hitch his wagon to Mexico’s trade agenda.
“When Donald Trump gets up in the morning and thinks about NAFTA, he is thinking about Mexico, not Canada. We should put Canada’s economic interests ahead of Mexico’s. We can have good trade relations with Mexico, that’s great. But let’s not jeopardize our tariff-free access for this whole region by becoming collateral damage in a Trump administration attack on the Mexican trade deficit.”
Kenney cited the recent Spitz plant closure announcement in Bow Island as being the first ripple in the water as the newly lowered American corporate and income tax regime starts to suck agricultural and other investment out of Canada, and the need to change policy direction in Alberta to fight against these forceful riptides.
“When you are running a business and you have a major investment, and you are looking at losing tariff-free access to your major product, that changes your thinking,” he said, “and that may have been one of the factors in Spitz closing their Bow Island facility. “But look, we have seen tens of billions of dollars in oil and gas already leave Alberta to go to the United States, due to lighter regulatory touch in the United States and lower tax rates. The U.S. has just introduced massive tax cuts in corporate and income tax leading to billions of dollars in investment going to the United States, and we here in Alberta are going in the opposite direction. We have to be more competitive. There is no other major energy producer in the world that has inflicted upon itself a carbon tax, and seems so incapable of getting its products to market. We have the world’s third-largest oil reserves, and our (current) policy seems to be unable to bring that product to market globally.”
Kenney said he hoped those in Lethbridge would hear his call for change when the next provincial election rolls around in 2019.
“We will be placing a strong emphasis on Lethbridge,” Kenney confirmed. “It’s the heart of southern Alberta, and these are two ridings we want to see at the table of the next government. We are not taking anything for granted. We will be working very hard, and Lethbridge is one of the places we will be focusing on.”