University of Alberta Rhetoric and Reality: Albert ans and Their Oil Industry Under Peter Lougheed By Erik Lizée A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History and Classics ©Erik Lizée Spring 2010 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or OTHERWISE REPRODUCED IN ANY MATERIAL FORM WHATSOEVER WITHOUT THE AUTHOR'S PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION. Examining Committee Liza Piper, University of Alberta Paul Voisey, University of Alberta Ian Urquhart, University of Alberta For Mom and Dad Abstract The following thesis explores the development of oil and gas resources in the province of Alberta between 1971 and 1985. At its broadest, this thesis uses the interaction of government, capital, and citizenry surrounding the exploitation of a non‐ renewable energy resource to examine the social side of resource development. These three actors approached oil and gas resources with their own ideologies, tactics, and goals. The relationships, disagreements, and debates between and among these groups provide a glimpse into the social nature of resource development in Alberta. They illustrate competing understandings of resource development on the part of Alberta citizens, demonstrate cleavages between citizens and elected officials, and lay bare the politics of resource development in Alberta that marginalized, manipulated, and devalued the meaningful participation of its citizens. Acknowledgements This project would not have taken shape without the support, encouragement, and patience of a number of individuals and institutions. Graduate studies are by no means a lucrative money‐making endeavour, and thanks must be given to some generous benefactors. First and foremost, I would like to thank Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for their financial support. Similarly, the University of Alberta, the Department of History and Classics, the Government of Alberta, the Network in Canadian History of the Environment (NiCHE), as well as the Bank of Paul and Donna Lizée all supported this project financially, and for that, I thank them. I would also like to thank my employer—Alberta Environment—for allowing me to push the definition of “flexible work hours” in my bid to finish my graduate studies. Special thanks must go to my supervisor, Dr. Liza Piper, for her support of this project and her patience with this student. Dr. Piper encouraged me to broaden my thinking about resources, and has started me on an intellectual journey which will bear much fruit over the course of my professional and academic career. Similarly, to the members of my examining committee—Paul Vosiey, Ian Urquhart, and Frances Swyripa—your comments and feedback have no doubt created an improved final product. I would also like to thank Dr. Gerhard Ens, of the University of Alberta, for his friendship and support during my time in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta. To the staff of the Provincial Archives of Alberta, thank you for tolerating what‐ must‐have‐seemed‐to‐be my never‐ending presence. Thank you for your suggestions, your help, and the respite from research you provided. Also, I would like to thank the staff at the University of Alberta libraries for their support in this project. To Katie Pollock, thank you for everything. You made a challenging process much more bearable through your humour, your patience, and your support. Finally, to my family, thank you very much. I would not have completed my graduate studies without your encouragement and support (both financial and moral). Everything good and redeeming in me came from you, and for that I am ever‐grateful. I love you all very much. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: FAILURES OF DISCOURSE ............................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................... 1 INTERNATIONAL WRITING: THE DARK SIDE OF A POWERFUL RESOURCE .................................................. 8 ALBERTA: POWER, POLITICS, AND RESOURCES........................................................................................ 19 CHAPTER II: UNDEFINED INTERESTS AND MALLEABLE METAPHORS............................... 29 MANNING MOVES ON, STROM STUMBLES, AND LOUGHEED ASCENDS ..................................................... 29 THE DEBATE SURROUNDING GOVERNMENT SUPPORT FOR INDUSTRY, 1965-1971 .................................. 34 HOME OIL: METAPHORS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS............................................................................... 39 CHAPTER III: THE ROYALTY REVIEW - LIMITING DEBATE AND THE ABUSIVE RHETORIC OF CAPITAL....................................................................................................................... 47 FRAMING THE ISSUE AND DEMOCRACY IN ALBERTA................................................................................ 48 “RITUAL INCANTATIONS AND PROGNOSTICATIONS OF DOOM AND HORROR”.......................................... 59 CHAPTER IV: SYNCRUDE, THE DIVISIVE MEGAPROJECT AND ITS MEANING FOR ALBERTA................................................................................................................................................... 72 FRAGILE CAPITAL .................................................................................................................................... 73 COMPETING IDEOLOGIES: THE CIVIL SERVICE AND ELECTED OFFICIALS................................................. 81 OUTSIDE PRESSURE, CONVERGING INTERESTS, AND ALBERTA WORKERS ............................................... 89 THE (EDITORIALLY) DIVIDED PROVINCE.................................................................................................. 96 CHAPTER V: THE LODGEPOLE SOUR GAS BLOWOUT – THE GOLDEN EGG IS ACTUALLY FULL OF DANGEROUS HYDROGEN SULPHIDE ................................................... 101 CURBING GROWTH, THE SOUR GAS FIELDS OF ALBERTA....................................................................... 103 INTERPRETING THE BLOWOUT – GEOGRAPHY AND ECONOMICS ............................................................ 111 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................................... 124 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 129 Primary Sources ............................................................................................................................... 129 Secondary Sources............................................................................................................................ 130 List of Figures Figure 1 Peter Lougheed during the 1971 election..........................................................................30 Figure 2 Bill Dickie Memorandum .................................................................................................57 Figure 3 Oilweek Covers............................................................................................................63-64 Figure 4 Syncrude Promotional Material........................................................................................94 Figure 5 Drayton Valley Western Review......................................................................................117 Chapter 1: Failures of Discourse Introduction The following thesis explores the development of oil and gas resources in the province of Alberta between 1971 and 1985. It examines the interaction of capital, government, and citizenry as they co‐operated and contested non‐renewable resource development during a critical era of the province’s economic and industrial history. The analytical focus emphasizes the social side of oil and gas development, probing how Alberta’s citizens interacted with what were ‘their’ resources. This work is bracketed by two symbolic events in Alberta history—the first popular and celebrated, the second obscure and almost forgotten—but both representing a significant culmination of economic, political, and social (r)evolutions. The first event forms the common starting point of any discussion of contemporary Alberta: the seventeenth general election, held on 30 August 1971. It was on that day that the Social Credit dynasty, which had governed the province without interruption for almost four decades, came to an end at the hands of Peter Lougheed – a young upstart Calgary lawyer, and the renewed Progressive Conservative Party. In Alberta popular memory, the 1971 election represents the triumph of modernity over archaic conservatism, of populist vitality over stagnation, and of youthful ambition over aged inertia. The second event is much more nondescript, a moment of Alberta history that remains a minor