Hello Chestermere! It has been an eventful week. The Legislature is back in session and we have hit the ground running. The Government and NDP backbenchers have been taking every opportunity to attack our new Leader, Jason Kenney, rather than respond to legitimate questions about their policies. The scripted “questions” from the NDP backbenchers and the scripted “answers” attacking Mr. Kenney are not just pathetic, they are a complete waste of taxpayers’ money. I note the Premier has yet to call a by-election in Calgary-Lougheed. Should Mr. Kenney be honoured by the voters in Calgary-Lougheed with their trust the NDP would have to face him in the Legislature. It is harder to make baseless attacks to someone’s face though and perhaps that explains her reluctance.
Here is a small update. The government is refusing to stand up for pipelines. Social license is a joke, and has not bought us any pipelines. The government keeps touting that they have had 2 pipelines approved, yet they forget to mention that 2 have also been lost. Those pipelines are Energy East and Northern Gateway. The National Energy Board is no longer an arms length organization that looks at the technical aspects of the pipelines and the disturbance along pipeline builds, but is now a creature of the government that is unraveling pipeline approvals that should have been good to go as a result of previous government work on seeking approvals. We have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to our natural resources. We should be producing more not less, and certainly I do not understand why we are importing oil from other countries when we could be self-sufficient. The notion of including upstream and downstream emissions in pipeline approvals only shows the governments willingness to keep our oil uncompetitive, and out of the global market. I note they don’t apply the same standards to the auto industry in Ontario or Quebec cement plants.
Cody Battershill of Oil Respect summed it up best when he stated that if the NDP Government put as much passion into attracting investment into oil and gas as they do into attracting Amazon, we would be in a completely different place. We would have seen 14,000 jobs with Energy East, and billions in upstream investments. Instead we see suspended investments, impending regulations, and Canadian owned products being sold at a discount to our biggest competitors for lack of alternatives. The Premier has (finally) stood up for Kinder Morgan saying she will fight for Alberta’s energy sector. Let us hope that this means shovels in the ground rather than more lip service. Albertans should pat themselves on the back for this. Your voice has made a difference and continues to inspire us to hold the NDP Government accountable. While we fight for Canada’s largest single economic contributor we see mendacious Mike Hudema (activist and author of “An Action a Day Keeps Capitalism Away”, one of the Alberta Environment Minister’s favourite books. She wrote the preface.) jumping into the fight again. Municipal governments in BC along with the NDP Government in B.C (remember: same Party as our Premier. They don’t have separate parties.) are delaying approvals at huge cost. Karen Mahon, who was hired by the Premier to be on the Oil Sands Advisory Group, was one of the people arrested this past Saturday protesting Kinder-Morgan. I think the good people of Alberta should be asking why our government hired this activist, and paid her with our tax dollars? What did she add to the Oil Sands Advisory Group? Who knows? The report has still not been released!
This month is Family Violence prevention month. As the new Shadow Minister for Children’s Services, as well as Status Of Women, this helps to shine light into the dark world of domestic violence and inspires us to help those in distress. I encourage you to wear your purple ribbons along with your poppies this month to help end the violence.
As we ponder our own peace, our blessings, our families, faith, our communities, and our lives and as we head towards Remembrance Day, I would like to send my deepest sympathies to those who lost their lives in the
mass shooting in Texas. 26 lives, men women and children are all of a sudden gone, in the blink of an eye. I know I gave extra hugs and kisses to my family today, and I looked into their faces knowing that for the moment we are blessed beyond belief, and I for one am not going to take that for granted. We look forward to seeing you at the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in Chestermere on Saturday at 10 am. As always we love to hear from you.
