PREMIER SHOULD LEARN IN ALBERTA Premier Brian Gallant and Energy Minister Donald Arseneault will travel to Alberta next week to get a first-hand look at the centre of Canada’s energy industry.While he is there,Mr.Gallant intends to promote the benefits of the Energy East pipeline to bring Alberta crude to Saint John for refining and export.Energy East has started to face opposition from environmentalists in Quebec and the natural gas lobby in Ontario. This is a wise first out-of-province trip for the new premier. In many ways, Alberta has blazed the trail on responsible natural resource development, a game plan the premier would be well-advised to borrow. We hope, however, Mr. Gallant’s visits to the Athabasca oil fields, his meeting with Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and discussions with officials from TransCanada Pipelines are more than a series of photo opportunities. The premier and his new Liberal government have so far sent mixed signals on natural resource development. While he has endorsed Energy East and the construction jobs and export opportunities it entails, Mr. Gallant has not budged from his determination to place a moratorium on shale gas development. While the pipeline has tangible benefits for New Brunswick, the economic development opportunity attached to harvesting our shale gas is much larger and can put our province on the road to ‘have’ status. New Brunswick stands to gain billions in direct investment, jobs and royalties through the safe extraction of shale gas by hydraulic fracturing.It is our golden ticket to economic prosperity and the new government must not fumble this opportunity. Many other jurisdictions,including Saskatchewan and Alberta, have safely fracked gas for decades. Their provincial economies are booming, unemployment is low and their budgets in much better shape than New Brunswick’s. We find it ironic Mr. Gallant used these words to describe our history with oil:“This is an industry we understand and we’ve been regulating for many years. It’s one we know how to mitigate the risks and make sure we benefit as much as possible.” We suspect the new premier will hear these same words from his Alberta hosts when they speak of shale gas. We suggest the premier and Mr. Arseneault add one more visit to their Alberta itinerary. Visit some of the hundreds of working shale gas wells, see how they operate within environmental regulations, how they produce revenue and wealth. A little bit of education may go a long way to convincing the Liberal government it should rethink its moratorium. While he’s out west, Mr. Gallant may also better understand how the industry he has turned his back on at home is generating the cash to pay for transfer payments that support his province. Some harsh lessons for early in his mandate, but every day of delay on shale gas is a day wasted on the road to turning around New Brunswick’s economy.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 10:21:52 +0000
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