Alberta Tories Pledge to Improve Environmental Performance in the Oil Sands

Dawn Walton, Globe and Mail, Feb. 04, 2010--Facing a projected $4.3-billion deficit and slumping popularity in the polls, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach used today's Throne Speech to signal his government's attempt to get control of the province's finances and finally placate the grouchy energy sector.

After years of much-maligned spending increases, the Progressive Conservatives are now promising to be “back in the black in three years” – a goal that will no doubt involve cuts by newly minted Finance Minister Ted Morton when he delivers his first provincial budget Feb. 9.

“Government must live within its means,” Lieutenant-Governor Norman Kwong read from the Throne Speech, which kicked off a session of the Alberta Legislature, “We must and will carefully manage spending, with a focus on key priorities such as health, educations and supports for vulnerable Albertans.”

The Stelmach government holds an overwhelming majority in the legislature, but it has taken a beating from the oil and gas industry and the upstart right-wing Wildrose Alliance Party – which has surged into the lead in a recent poll and wooed two Tories to cross the floor last month – over its changes to the way the energy sector pays royalties.

The province is currently reviewing the regime and the Throne Speech indicated the government's first order of business was to introduce the Alberta Competitiveness Act, which is designed to make the jurisdiction more attractive.

“To do this, we must minimize the cost of doing business here, including the cost of regulation,” the Throne Speech stated.
Government House Leader Dave Hancock told reporters that “our focus this spring is on the fiscal situation in Alberta and how we can make sure that Alberta comes out of the worldwide recession with strength.”

The province also plans to work with Ottawa, which over the weekend announced that it will cut greenhouse gas emissions in concert with the approach taken by the United States, on the climate change issue. While Alberta's oil sands are an economic engine in the country, they have also been perceived as the environmental bad boy at the centre of the debate.

“We will act to improve environmental performance in the oil sands,” the speech noted and vowed to further invest in technology and eliminate tailings ponds. In 2008, the oil sands became an international embarrassment when 1,600 ducks died after landing in tailings pond belonging to Syncrude Canada Ltd. The company has pleaded not guilty to federal and provincial charges and is scheduled to go to trial in March.

Overall, the speech lacked specifics, but it pledged to improve education, social program, research and innovation as well as wait times and access to the health care system.

This fall, the province said it will introduce a new health act that will outline principles for the “development of legislation, policy and program delivery changes across the system.”

Health care has always been a thorny issue in Alberta, particularly under former premier Ralph Klein who advocated for more private care, but the province's health care spending is among the highest in the country per capita, something the Tories are anxious to rein in.