AB Today – Daily Report December 12, 2019
Quotation of the day
“To those who make such biased, slanted and prejudicial statements about Alberta’s energy sector — you’ve been put on notice. This type of activity is going to stop now.”
Energy Minister Sonya Savage warns publications, such as National Geographic, that the province’s energy war room has launched.
Today in AB
Premier watch Premier Jason Kenney attended the launch of the Canadian Energy Centre, the government-funded energy war room, at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary.
Meanwhile, Kenney revealed that on Tuesday he asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for cabinet approval of the Teck Resources Frontier Mine project.
War room officially launches to ‘tell the truth’ about energy industry The Canadian Energy Centre, a.k.a the provincial government’s so-called energy war room, officially launched Wednesday at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Apart from a website with a few pro-energy, news-style articles, the launch included few new details about the future operations of the taxpayer-funded initiative, which was set up as a private corporation.
Articles on the site include a profile of a dad angry with a charitable organization he alleged promoted misleading information about the fossil fuel industry in schools, a piece on prosthetic limbs being made from petrochemicals and a feature on using Canadian energy to fight climate change.
In addition to web articles, which are written by war room staff (although few carry bylines), the corporation will also have a social media presence.
The CEC will house three units:
● A “rapid response unit,” which will respond quickly to misinformation spread on social media; ● An “energy literacy unit,” which will create original content to “elevate the general understanding of Alberta's energy sector”; and ● A “data and research unit,” which will collect and analyze data to present "factual evidence for investors, researchers and policy makers."
The three units will produce publicity campaigns, including TV advertisements and social media posts, designed to woo investors in domestic and international markets.
The war room is funded by $20 million from the province’s industrial carbon tax and $10 million from the government's advertising fund.
The CEC’s CEO Tom Olsen, who was appointed in October with a $194,000 annual salary, said the war room’s activities will be “respectful” and “fact-based.”
That was a different message than the one delivered by Premier Jason Kenney when he announced the war room months ago, when he dubbed it part of the UCP’s fight back strategy.
“The energy war room will have a mandate to operate much more nimbly and much more quickly, with a higher risk tolerance, quite frankly, than is normally the case for government communication,” Kenney said in June.
The CEC’s data and research branch will also conduct original, peer-reviewed studies, spokesperson Grady Semmens told AB Today.
He also ruled out the CEC providing any input into education curriculum development.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley slammed Wednesday’s CEC news conference as an “incompentant” display with few details of the secret operation. She described CEC as a $30-million slush fund, and a “cloak and dagger” campaign that gives the premier a secret sandbox to play in.
“Jason Kenney is not 007,” Notley said, adding, “We don't need a bat cave.”
For her part, Energy Minister Sonya Savage says Alberta’s energy industry has been damaged by a “deceitful” campaign by oil interests from around the world that aims to landlock Alberta’s oilsands.
“I called out the widely respected National Geographic for an atrocious story they published,” Savage said. “The story included outrageous claims, including claims that there were as many as 175 oilsands mining projects in Alberta. It’s outrageous and it was inaccurate and an unverified claim published in an international publication.” (The magazine has issued a correction.)
Savage said these inaccurate claims are “going to stop now,” but did not specify how that might come to fruition.
As a non-governmental corporation, the CEC is not subject to requests under Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which the government said could have led to leaked campaign plans.
For more on who is working for the war room, check out the appointments and employments section below.
Today’s events
December 12 at noon — Calgary Health Minister Tyler Shandro will make an announcement on the expansion of the use of biosimilar drugs over biologics at the McDougall Centre.
December 12 at 7 p.m. — Banff Agriculture and Forestry Minister Devin Dreeshen will speak at the Prairie Cereals Summit at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.
Topics of conversation
● While Premier Jason Kenney calls on the federal cabinet to approve the Teck Resources Frontier Mine project, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is accusing Kenney’s government of sabotaging the project by not addressing the nation’s concerns.
○ Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam, who was in Ottawa for Kenney’s speech to the Canadian Club on Monday, said he is concerned a new mine would destroy fish, bison and caribou habitat. ○ Kenney told CBC: “Chief Adam has given his conditional support to the Teck Resources oilsands mine because he sees it as an opportunity to move his people from poverty to prosperity.”
● Cenovus announced it plans to invest $1.3 to $1.5 billion next year in response to the province’s plan to ease oil production curtailments ○ The company said it will take advantage of the province’s special production allowances that lift the cap on new drilling if companies take on additional crude-by-rail capacity. ○ Cenovus added it is planning high-return projects at its Foster Creek and Christina Lake operations for the second half of the year, depending on improved market access.
● Kevin Uebelein, CEO of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), wrote an op-ed in the Edmonton Journal claiming there has been no political interference in AIMCo’s activities, following the UCP’s move to integrate other public sector pensions under its umbrella. ○ “Accusations that AIMCo does not exercise absolute investment independence are wrong,” Ubelein wrote. “To suggest that recent moves by the Alberta government to broaden and solidify AIMCo’s scope of clients is motivated by a desire by government to control those investments is also wrong.” ○ The government moved the management of others pensions to AIMCo because of its scale and long-term stability, he wrote. ○ The move to remove pension management from the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund to AIMCo in the budget drew ire from retired and current teachers who said they were not asked for performance data to justify the move. ○ While AIMCo will manage the pension, high-level strategic direction will be provided by the government.
● The government is firing back after Wattpad chose to locate its headquarters in Halifax rather than Calgary over Wexit fears and cuts to tax credits for tech companies. ○ Justin Brattinga, press secretary for Economic Development Minister Tanya Fir, told The Logic: “It is clear that Wattpad was looking for government handouts in order to establish an office. We are making Alberta the best place to invest through the creation of broad-based supports, not cutting corporate welfare cheques to companies.”
● Alberta has the highest number of cannabis retail outlets in the country with 176 of Canada’s 407 stores, as of July.
○ Seventy per cent of Albertans live within 10 kilometres of a retail pot shop, with half of all Albertans living within three kilometres of one. ○ Albertans spent an average of $45 per capita on non-medical retail cannabis in the first 11 months of legalized cannabis. Alberta was the runner-up for overall sales at $195 million, second to Ontario’s $216 million. ○ On average, Canadians spent $24 per capita on non-medical cannabis in the first 11 months of legalization and 45 per cent of Canadians live within 10 kilometres of a retail store.
● Kristopher Wells, associate professor and Canada research chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth at MacEwan University in Edmonton, is calling on the federal government to advance LGBTQ rights. ○ Wells says Ottawa needs to lead by introducing a conversion therapy ban, reversing the ban on blood and tissue donation, and improving funding and access to gender-affirming health care. ○ “The battle for LGBTQ equality is far from over, and as Alberta has seen with the election of Jason Kenney, progress is never linear and hard-earned rights and protections can be rapidly reversed,” Wells said.
● A school dance in Blackfalds was cancelled and RCMP laid charges under the Education Act following social media threats from a parent over a lesson plan. ○ According to the school district, the parent was angered after a Grade 4 class was shown two videos — one from the government and one from Greenpeace — and students were asked how Alberta should manage the demands of oil development, wind and solar power, agriculture and recreation. ○ The social media posts escalated to the point the school decided to cancel the dance and contact the police, who levied a $1,000 fine on a parent for interfering with the proceedings of a school, the Globe reports.
● Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was named by Time magazine as its annual person of the year. ○ Earlier in 2019, Thunberg spoke on the steps of the Alberta legislature to a crowd of several thousand, as members of Premier Jason Kenney’s communications staff placed “I love Canadian oil and gas” signs in the window, facing outwards to the grounds. ○ Thunberg, who at 16 years old is the youngest person to be chosen by the magazine since it inaugurated the tradition in 1927, spoke at a UN climate conference in Madrid on Wednesday, and called on world leaders to stop using "creative PR" to avoid taking action on climate change.
● Edmonton mayor Don Iveson read a letter from Transportation Minister Ric McIver at a city council meeting on Wednesday. In it, McIver offers reassurances that the termination
clause in Edmonton’s LRT project funding will not be enacted — unless the provincial government determined that a significant change to the project’s scope would require the UCP to step in to defend taxpayers. ○ In the letter, McIver said he would work and consult with the city before using the termination clause, which was introduced in the government’s Bill 20, Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act.
News briefs — Non-governmental
NDP writes another letter to the ethics commissioner over Lorne Gibson’s firing NDP Leader Rachel Notley and NDP Democracy and Ethics critic Heather Sweet announced they sent a 22-page letter to the Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler asking for a more thorough investigation into any breaches of conflict of interest law resulting from the ouster of Lorne Gibson.
The letter names specific UCP MLAs who the NDP believes may have been in conflict of interest by debating Bill 22, the legislation that fired Gibson, who was investigating allegations of fraud in the UCP leadership race.
“MLAs and Cabinet Ministers have a duty to conduct themselves in the best interests of Albertans,” Notley said. “The Conflict of Interest Act clearly prohibits members using their powers to influence or seek to influence decisions that would affect their private interests.”
Notley added her party is seeking further legal advice and is exploring a potential legal change — or hoping another organization will pick up the fight.
The party wrote to the ethics commissioner last month during debate on the bill, but Trussler said she would not have sufficient time to respond in detail to each complaint by the time it would have been passed in the house.
Ben Calf Robe has funding cut under UCP budget NDP Indigenous Relations critic Richard Feehan and NDP Education critic Sarah Hoffman were at the Ben Calf Robe Society in Edmonton on Wednesday to reveal $360,000 in provincial funding has been cut from the Indigenous family education organization, meaning four people will lose their jobs.
The funding had been used for the Awasis education program at Prince Charles School and the Papoose and Parent program, a family resource program.
“We were told these programs don’t fit with the government’s new framework,” said Claudette DeWitt, executive director of Ben Calf Robe Society, in the NDP’s news release. “This is definitely going to impact families, students, teachers, the whole school, and the workers.”
Appointments and employments
Canadian Energy Centre ● The Canadian Energy Centre officially launched on Tuesday, including an announcement of its first hirings. The following people have been hired by the war room: ○ As previously announced, Tom Olsen, will be the CEC’s CEO and managing director. Olsen was previously a communications advisor to former Progressive Conservative premier Ed Stelmach. Before that he was a journalist, columnist and editor for the Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, Calgary Sun and CBC radio. ○ Former National Post columnist Claudia Cattaneo will be the executive director of content. She was hired by the government in August to develop a strategic plan for the war room. ○ Mark Milke, who wrote the UCP’s election platform and is a former Fraser Institute fellow, will be the executive director of research. ○ Grady Semmens, a former Calgary Herald reporter who more recently worked in corporate communications at the University of Calgary, TC Energy and Cenovus Energy, will be the director of content and external relations. ○ University of Calgary MBA candidate Gregory John will be the Indigenous content producer. John says as a citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta he understands Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives. ○ Sophie Gaussiran-Racine is a content producer and researcher who has worked in Japan, the Netherlands and France. ○ Shawn Logan is a senior content producer, most recently working at the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun newsroom. He has also worked for the Edmonton Sun and Metro Calgary.