As voices of dissent in the fight to get oil to tidewater make their way to Ottawa, Cochrane politicians weigh in on the pipeline standstill that has a choke hold on the Alberta economy.
Pipeline protests have been popping up across the province with recent headlines turning to a pro-pipeline convoy fundraising to truck its way to Parliament Hill sometime in mid-February. The Convoy to Ottawa GoFundMe page has raised over $35,000 of its $250,000 goal by yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon.
And while no pipeline rally is planned as of yet in Cochrane, provincial politicians have both confirmed they would attend a peaceful pipeline rally – preferably initiated at the grassroots, not political, level.
"We're really frustrated with Ottawa ... the aid package they announced is a good start but it's tone deaf ... it's not fixing the pipeline bottleneck that's happening," said Banff-Cochrane NDP MLA Cam Westhead, referring to the $1.6 billion energy aid package announced by the feds last month that has been scoffed at by critics.
"I think Alberta has done everything right. Our producers really are the most environmentally responsible in the world," he said, adding that the NDP's Climate Change Plan has demonstrated the province's commitment to sustainable energy practices.
Pete Guthrie, the UCP nominee for the new riding of Airdrie-Cochrane, disagrees with Westhead's statement that the NDP have put their best foot forward with respect to the energy sector as a whole.
"When you look at these rallies, they're called pipeline rallies but they're really about peoples' disdain for the Alberta and Ottawa governments," said Guthrie, a businessman with a mixed background in engineering and agricultural.
Guthrie is awaiting official declaration of who he will run against in the looming provincial election – as both the NDP and Alberta Party have confirmed they will have candidates selected by the month's end. So far, former Cochranite Steve Durrell, who now lives in Strathmore, is the only one to put his name in the NDP hat for the coming nomination.
Guthrie said the message sent by the NDP has been anything but supportive of the energy sector – pointing to the "crippling" carbon tax, rising taxation and the creation of investor uncertainty in the industry created by added regulations.
He said that Premier Rachel Notley's recent messaging, which pledged the NDP's pipeline support is disingenuous – as it contradicts her earlier moves, such as assigning anti-oil activists like Tzeporah Berman to oil sands development groups and criticizing earlier decisions such as Brian Topp, NDP chief of staff who stepped down in 2016, who was criticized by the conservatives as being an "anti-oil extremist."
Guthrie said he is also worried that a recent decision to purchase 7,000 rail cars to transport 120,000 barrels of oil per day will take another year to come to fruition and could impact how other commodities, like lumber and grain, are shipped – as there are only so many rail cars.
Westhead said the NDP have been listening to the oil sands and that Notley's government has been doing what they can to send the message to Ottawa, including announcing the curtailment of production by 8.7 per cent last month.
He also said that he hopes to see further changes to Bill C-69 – the pipeline bill that is viewed as problematic by the NDP and Official Opposition UCP as it looks to change how pipelines are assessed and approved in Canada.
"People want certainty and they want to know energy projects have a pathway," said Westhead.
