Jason Kenney has made his first trip to the Grande Prairie region since being elected leader of the United Conservative Party. It’s where he first started his campaign for leadership of now defunct Alberta PC Party in July 2016, and a Conservative stronghold with two UCP MLAs.
The opposition leader says he’s spent his time so far meeting with rural municipalities, business leaders, and community groups. He also met with party members at a town hall Tuesday night, where he says the biggest response he got was to his promise to repeal the carbon tax if elected premier.
“People understand that in this resource economy of northwest Alberta with oil and gas, with forestry, with agriculture, that the carbon tax really punishes those industries and punishes consumers without helping the environment.”
Kenney argues that instead of raising taxes to make up for a drop in revenue, the government should be focused on improving the economy, which could include lowering taxes and improving investment. He adds the other main issue being brought to his attention is the perception that the British Columbia and federal governments are bottlenecking Alberta’s resources.
“The federal government could stop this trade war today if they really wanted to. Under the constitution, the federal government simply needs to make a declaration through parliament that the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion is in the national interest… it just overrides any pretense by British Columbia that they can stop this pipeline.”
When it comes to actions premier Rachel Notley has taken so far, Kenney says he supports them, other than not granting his request for an emergency debate in legislature. He suggests that if needed, the province could go further by putting a toll on the natural gas B.C. flows through Alberta to access the U.S.
“Why would we allow them to block our oil exports while allowing them to export their gas toll free. There has to be equality of treatment here.”
As could be expected based on the road conditions this month, Highway 40 is also a contentious issue among local UCP members. Kenney says he hears their concerns, and recognizes this region’s contributions to the provincial economy.
“You need the economic infrastructure to move people and goods and any government is going to have to prioritize projects like that in terms of infrastructure.”
Part of his time in the region was spent with potential candidates for the 2019 provincial election. Kenney says the party will likely select who will run in the latter part of this year.
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