Grit leader flatters Alberta, criticizes Tories

COMMENT: Ignatieff's stand on the tar sands ensures that climate change won't be the locus of debate in the next election. It'll be only the Greens, Bloc, and NDP making an issue of it, futilely.

By Renata D'Aliesio
Calgary Herald
July 5, 2009

CALGARY - Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff touted Saturday the economic virtues and national reach of Alberta's oilsands, urging Canadians to take pride in the mammoth industrial development, which has touched off international environmental opposition.

Speaking at a party fundraiser Stampede breakfast in Calgary, Ignatieff said financial ripples from the oilsands can be felt throughout the country - from East Coast workers flying to Alberta for jobs to a northern Ontario factory making pipes for the oilpatch in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

He also said Canada's "centre of economic gravity" will shift west to Calgary within his lifetime.

"The one instinct I've had from the beginning about the industry at the heart of this economy is this is a national industry - a national industry in which all Canadians should take pride," Ignatieff told about 600 Grit supporters at the Calgary Zoo.

"The Liberal Party of Canada must never, ever, ever run against that industry or against Alberta."

Ignatieff acknowledged several environmental and social challenges may be thwarting a national embrace of the oilsands.

The massive development is a significant producer of greenhouse gases and toxic waste ponds.

Mount Royal College political scientist Duane Bratt noted Ignatieff's continuing overtures to Alberta and the oilpatch are a "clear repudiation" of the policy plank former leader Stephane Dion put forward for the October 2008 federal election: the Green Shift carbon tax plan.

"The bigger question that I would have for Ignatieff is that's fine, saying that in Calgary. Let's see you say it in Montreal. Let's see you say it in Toronto," Bratt said.

While Ignatieff's oilsands stance has earned a smattering of praise from the Stelmach Conservatives, winning even a single seat in Alberta will be a difficult challenge for the Liberals - but not impossible, Bratt suggested.

The party was shut out in the last campaign, as the Stephen Harper Conservatives won all but one of the province's 28 federal ridings. The last time a Grit was elected in Calgary was in 1968.

Though Ignatieff urged supporters to prepare for the next election, shared his vision of Canada on its 150th birthday in 2017 and accused the prime minister of taking Alberta voters for granted, he wouldn't speculate on when the next election may come.

In taking aim at the Conservatives' climate change record, Ignatieff said delays and a lack of clarity have created uncertainty for investors and producers. He said the Liberals favour carbon trading and hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions, but didn't offer more detail.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice rejected Ignatieff's assertion that the Conservative government is faltering on climate change.

Canada is in talks with the United States about developing cleaner energy from coal-fired power plants and the oilsands. Prentice said he plans to unveil all of Canada's climate change plans before the United Nations next climate change conference in December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Detailed regulations will follow in 2010, he added.

"We're not waiting for the Americans just to be perfectly clear," Prentice said at his Stampede breakfast Saturday. "The Canadian policies will be policies that reflect Canada's national interest."

Prentice also dismissed claims that the Conservatives take Albertans' support for granted.

"We don't take any vote in this province for granted. Not one single vote. We work hard and that's why we're so strong on the ground."

Calgary Herald

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