New energy in Alberta politics trumping previous administration

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on May 22, 2019.

Call it confrontational but at least Premier Jason Kenney doesn’t want to build a wall like Donald Trump does.

Too many Albertans have cottages in British Columbia apparently.

However, judging by the actions of Kenney and Sonya Savage, minister of energy, and their visit to Senate of Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resource pertaining to C-69 or the “Impact Assessment ACT,” they caused some waves with their presentation.

Kenney who has a lot of experience in federal politics having served as a cabinet minister for Stephen Harper, knows a thing or two about Triple P: Political Posturing Plus. Like or dislike him or his policies understand he will not be pushed around.

Kenney has promised $30 million extra to base itself in the Public Affairs Bureau and it would be focused on being an “energy war room.” This war room is organized public relations which is to defuse the message that petroleum-bad; anything that is against that-bad.

If one is bemused by all of this and it sounds childish, consider this. Postmedia (Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Calgary and Edmonton Suns) Kenney’s former chief of staff Nick Koosbergen to lobby the government to be an active participant and official member of this $30-million war room.

Hmmmâ€¦ probably has nothing to do with the whopping $30 million budget. And the public says the news is skewed after Justin Trudeau said the federal government was providing $600 million for the news media.

But this is what it has come to. Governments knowing the importance of controlling the message. Independent news agencies are too difficult to handle. No longer can sports franchises, business or social groups count on “independent” agencies to deliver the message they want out.

Alberta’s energy sector is a prime example where environmental groups, who have had Alberta provincial funding slashed, will have a harder time showing the challenges of the oilsands and pipeline construction to the public.

Critics say repeatedly C-69 is a complicated and flawed piece of legislation which would further hurt the energy sector of the west by created more, pardon the pun, (Liberal) red tape.

But it is far more complicated than one of the social media memes showing the provincial governments in power pre-Justin Trudeau winning (Liberal and NDP governments in charge across Canada) and today when it seems to be right-wing conservative blue across the country except B.C. (NDP), Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Yukon (Liberal) and Quebec (Coalition Avenir QuÃ©bec). Northwest Territories and Nunavut are both considered “independent.”

Jason Kenney and Ontario’s Doug Ford are now following the Donald Trump method of flexing political muscles in showing they mean business with any special interest group which is standing in the way of them being able to carry out their agenda. In Kenney’s case, trying to undo all of Rachel Notley’s move away from petroleum based economy back to one where pipelines would be built, carbon taxes wiped out (May 30 apparently) and the push for the creation of jobs in the pre-NDP climate where the petroleum sector was fumbled and ignored.

No walls being built, but pipelines will be a start. Kenney isn’t afraid to push that and is willing to back it up with $30 million to make sure you as a member of the public understands.

(Ryan Dahlman is the managing editor of Prairie Post East and Prairie Post West)