January 23, 2019

AB Today – Daily Report January 23, 2019

Quotation of the day

“Alberta taxpayers should not have to pay to create jobs for themselves and boost our economy.”

Alberta Liberal Party Leader David Khan reacts to Premier Rachel Notley’s plan to sign a $440 million loan guarantee for a private bitumen upgrading project.

Today in AB

On the schedule

The Legislature will reconvene on March 18 for the government’s final throne speech before the spring election.

Province signs letter of intent for $440M loan guarantee on new $2 billion dilbit upgrader

The province signed a notice of intent to provide a $440 million loan guarantee towards a private bitumen upgrading project in Alberta’s industrial heartland, Premier Rachel Notley announced Wednesday.

The government is lending the cash to Calgary-based Value Creation Inc. as part of its “Made-in-Alberta” energy diversification program announced last December.

The proposed $2 billion facility, situated just east of Edmonton in Strathcona County, will upgrade diluted bitumen — aka dilbit — into a higher-value crude blend.

The company’s upgrading process has the potential to increase pipeline capacity by up to 30 per cent by reducing the amount of diluent required to make crude blend flow.

According to the government, the plant will use brand new technology that is expected reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent per barrel compared to current bitumen extraction processes.

Construction on the facility is underway; Value Creation Inc. expects the project to be operational by 2022.

The project is the first to get a piece of the government’s promised $1 billion in grants and loan guarantees for bitumen upgraders. Another $2 billion is on the table for other upgrader funding models.

Notley said more “Made-in-Alberta” projects will be announced soon.

Alberta Liberal Party slams government subsidies to industry

Not everyone is on board with Notley’s funding sprees. Responding to the announcement, Alberta Liberal Party Leader David Khan called the impacts of the project “entirely speculative” and accused the government of “gambling with taxpayers’ dollars to shamelessly promote its chances for re-election.”

Khan notes the project requires additional private sector financing, which has not yet been secured. “The company admits the project won’t be finally approved until the end of 2019 or early 2020 — if at all.”

“Every single Albertan is now on the hook for $110 per person with the $440 million loan guarantee by the NDP government for this project,” Khan said in a news release.

Today’s events

January 23 at 9:15 a.m. – Edmonton

The NDP’s legislative review committee will meet in the Alberta Legislature cabinet room.

January 23 at 10 a.m. – Calgary

Premier Rachel Notley will announce a new Indigenous Language Resources Centre at the central branch of the Calgary Public Library.

January 23 at 11:30 a.m. – Medicine Hat

Green Party of Alberta Leader Cheryle Chagnon-Greyeyes will host a meet-and-greet event at the Medicine Hat A&W.

Topics of conversation

● A new poll from Mainstreet Research shows Premier Rachel Notley is narrowing the popularity differential between Alberta party leaders. The spread between Notley’s approval rating and UCP Leader Jason Kenney’s approval rating has narrowed from 35 per cent in November to 19 per cent now — thanks to a jump in love for the premier. ● Notley’s net favourability rating is -12.4 per cent, while Kenney has a +6.6 per cent rating. ● Among decided voters the United Conservative Party still holds a strong lead. Kenney’s UCP has 52.3 per cent support; Notley’s NDP has 27.8 per cent; the Alberta Party led by Stephen Mandel has 7.7 per cent; and the Alberta Liberal Party led by David Khan has 6.1 per cent. ○ “The UCP is polling higher than Kenney’s favourability numbers again this month, while Notley is polling above the NDP this month,” Mainstreet president and CEO Quinto Maggi said in a news release. “This shows that Notley is clearly an asset to the NDP, while the same can’t be said for Kenney and the UCP.” ○ Mainstreet conducted the phone survey on January 15 and 16.

● Trans Mountain is willing to accept three conditions to mitigate risks to marine life, including southern resident killer whales, in order to gain approval from the National Energy Board for its pipeline expansion, the National Post reports. ○ The three marine life preservation strategies — which were included in Trans Mountain’s final submission to the NEB last week — include the creation of “no-go zones” for tankers, reduced night shipping and a commitment to using LNG as fuel for oil tankers. ○ Final written arguments had to be filed to the NEB Tuesday. The final report on the pipeline reconsideration is due on February 22.

● Former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall was a driving force behind one of Alberta’s newest Political Action Committees, the Buffalo Project.

○ Wall worked with a group of Calgary businessmen to help the right-wing PAC gain funders after he moved to Alberta for a job at a Calgary law firm last May, CBC reports.

● The yellow-vest convoy on Edmonton’s major ring road on Tuesday was smaller than expected, with dozens of semi trucks participating rather than the hundreds that were expected. ○ Organizers held the convoy to protest the lack of new pipelines and the UN migration pact, and to express general disdain for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. ○ Initially, the convoy headed the wrong way down the Anthony Henday Drive ring road in Edmonton.

● UCP Leader Jason Kenney took questions on CBC’s Alberta@Noon about the potential for UCP spending cuts, his party’s environmental plan and the controversy over his MP housing allowance. ○ During the radio program, Kenney promised to deliver a balanced budget by 2023 without making spending cuts, assuming the province manages a GDP growth of at least three per cent per year. ○ He repeated an earlier promise that the UCP will release its platform sooner than 17 days into the election — the benchmark is based on when the NDP released its election platform after the 2015 election call. ○ In response to a number of specific policy questions, Kenney said “stay tuned.”

● Premier Rachel Notley’s criticism of toll roads is ironic given her support of a carbon tax, Ecofiscal Commission executive director and economist Dale Beugin told CBC.

● The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers released its Alberta energy platform ahead of the spring election. ○ CAPP called on all parties to craft policy platforms that encourage growth in the oil and gas sector. ○ “Industry has been asking for effective policy changes to make Alberta more competitive,” said CAPP president and CEO Tim McMillan in a news release on Tuesday. “We want to attract global investment to the oil and natural gas sector, but to do so we need greater regulatory certainty along with fiscal and economic policies that allow us to compete globally.”

● The Freedom Conservative Party has upgraded its venue for this Saturday’s “Equality or Independence” rally with People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier, citing a large number of RSVPs for the sold-out event in Calgary. ○ The rally will be held in a ballroom at the Executive Royal Hotel instead of in the Bridgeland Riverside Community Hall.

News briefs - Non-governmental

NDP and UCP continue to face off on the issue of Kenney’s primary residence claims

The issue arose last weekend when Ottawa-based lawyer Kyle Morrow released documents showing Kenney claimed his primary residence to be in Calgary — in the basement of his mother’s retirement village bungalow — despite spending most of his time in Ottawa while serving as a federal cabinet minister.

Kenney denies any wrongdoing, saying he has been an Alberta resident for close to three decades.

On Tuesday, the Alberta NDP caucus released its own set of questions about Kenney’s Calgary residency claims, including whether Kenney:

● Provided a copy of his residential lease to parliament; ● Signed a residential agreement as required by the Alberta Supportive Living Accommodation Licensing Regulations; ● Informed the seniors’ living facility of his daily departure and arrivals, as required by all supportive living operators under Alberta law; and ● Declared in writing his living situation in Calgary to the Chief Financial Officer of the Canadian Parliament.

Kenney has also faced question about a $399 donation he made to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in 2016. Kenney says the payment was the cost of registration, not a donation.

On Tuesday, Premier Rachel Notley faced questions from the UCP about her own past political donations, leading the premier to admit she donated to the Alberta NDP while she and her husband Lou Arab lived in Victoria in the 1990s — but noted that at the time they still maintained a residence in Alberta and earned income in the province.

Alberta banned non-residential political donations in 1977.

Notley called on the House of Commons’ Board of Internal Economy to investigate Kenney’s expenses.

Speaking on CBC’s Alberta@Noon, Kenney said he is open to an investigation and is confident the board will find no wrongdoing.

The CBC quoted an anonymous former employee of the retirement community who said subletting was against the rules.

AB Today is written by Catherine Griwkowsky, reporting from Alberta's legislative press gallery.

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