MLA Report Feb 11

‎Hello Chestermere,
It has definitely been an interesting week. We have witnessed the release of the Royalty Review, which in and of itself has caused‎ nothing but turmoil and distress for our energy industry ‎,friends and family,only to have the provincial government realize that we have indeed‎ been receiving our fair share. We are grateful to the Royalty Review panel for their steady hand at such a difficult time for our province. What does this drama cost us? We have billions in capital investment leaving our province and the loss of our technical expertise to other jurisdictions. Also our Prime Minister came to visit us. He came out here to host a “roundtable” in which Energy East did not appear in their prepared statements. The Energy East pipeline cannot be used as a political football and is a necessary piece of infrastructure that will not only unite us through prosperity but will also unite us to be self-sufficient in supplying the much needed resources to all corners of our country. He claimed that he wanted to hear about what Albertans need and to engage the energy sector. When asked if he would support Energy East, which “supports” all Canadians, he could only attack our previous Prime Minister. The Prime Minister went as far asto refuse to give support for Energy East even if it gets the approval of the National Energy Board. One can only assume that he must know more than they do or have more information to make such a sound decision in this matter.‎ It appears that our Premier is also more interested in building a relationship with a federal government who is not willing to support Albertans; perhaps she still views us as embarrassing…. She claims that the meeting was a success. How can she say that the meeting was a success‎….we received no support or commitments for the pipeline….so where is the success….please quantify our success. We as Albertans are suffering under such stress and have not received the support we need. It seems to be lost on both levels of Government that we are the engine of our country’s economy. We have been saddled with an unemployment rate, that for the first time in 27 years that is higher than the national average. We were fortunate enough to be able to attend, as guests of Ruth Kelly, the C-Suite Energy Executive awards last week. It empowers me on such a level that we as Albertans have such resilience and strength in such dire and difficult times. Congratulations to Alberta Oil magazine for their continuing support in extolling the strengths and virtues of our industry. We also were privileged to spend some one on one time with a very important fellow who reassured us with his lack of shadow that we are due for an early spring. Thank you to the folks at the Blue Grass Nursery in Balzac for hosting such a great event which was enjoyed by all ages. It was great to see so many members of the Balzac Business Association, Century Downs, Cross Iron Mills and our newest Rocky View Councilor Eric Lowther. I would like to take this opportunity to thank The Chestermere Anchor for this amazing opportunity to communicate to you every week. This is such a privilege for us at the MLA office and we thank you for your readership.