Sunday, a surprise announcement came from Teck Frontier that they were pulling their already controversial application for their oil-sands mine. This announcement comes on the heels of 4 Alberta MPs releasing the 13 page “Buffalo Declaration”, outlining a series of issues Alberta has with the rest of Canada, culminating in a threat of seeking independence. It also continues a string of energy project “loses” (both perceived and otherwise) for Alberta. Jason Kenney was quick to blame the Trudeau government for its failures to not approve the project quickly enough, or end the Wet’suwet’en blockades in a timely manner, hurting investor confidence. Kenney is voicing his concern that Alberta is in trouble. The irony, of course, is that Kenney is right, investor confidence in Alberta is low, and Alberta is in trouble, but it’s Kenney’s own doing.

In the statement Teck released outlining its reasoning for the project being canceled, they cited both global markets changing, and investors/consumers being more environmentally conscious. This is, of course, all common knowledge, there has been a global push for green energy in the past several years. Consumers are being more environmentally aware, and are looking for more fuel-efficient vehicles or appliances. Investors are now looking to green technologies as sources of opportunity.

Unserious Climate Policy

The main reason Teck gave, however, was the “lack of a framework that reconciles resource development and climate change” and later went on to say that “the promise of Canada’s potential will not be realized until governments can reach an agreement on how climate policy considerations will be addressed…”. The company basically told the federal and provincial governments that they need to “figure it the f&^k out” otherwise they (and others) will not be going forward with energy projects. Kenney’s climate policy has been lackluster at best, and it’s obvious that the combination of carbon tax only on heavy emitters, yelling “ETHICAL OIL”, and spending $30 million on an energy war room to fight “foreign influence in Alberta’s energy sector” (I wish I was kidding) is not serious enough of a climate policy to attract the investment needed in Alberta.

Since the federal carbon tax was implemented, something that Teck Frontier strongly supported in its letter, conservative-led provinces have fought it tooth and nail. Saskatchewan and Ontario, having lost their respective constitutional challenges, will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court of Canada in March. Alberta recently won a 4-1 decision in the Alberta Court of Appeals in which the carbon tax was declared unconstitutional, and is now calling for the federal carbon tax to no longer apply to Alberta

Industry Actually Wants Climate Action

With the Teck Frontier announcement, it’s become clear that Alberta urgently needs to get serious about climate policy and its even more clear there is a Grand Canyon of a divide between the Alberta business community, and the Alberta Government.

Shortly after Jason Kenney celebrated the carbon tax victory in the Alberta Court of Appeals, the Calgary Chamber of Commerce released a statement calling for “real decisive action” on climate change. This should tell you something is off with the government’s stance.

Energy companies want these policies, most importantly the carbon tax, in place, not only because it helps their projects pass the regulatory stage, but because it helps sell the project to the public; it gives them a “social license” (and stability from a budget and regulatory standpoint). Conservatives’ attempts to hamstring climate policy to “help” investor confidence in energy projects is exactly what has caused investor confidence to plummet.

The Whole Economy is at Stake

Alberta’s economy is energy driven to be sure, but a lack of energy projects being approved and built has broader implications than just harming the energy sector. Alberta, and Calgary specifically, are having an extremely difficult time attracting young talented workers. This is of course, somewhat expected, Alberta’s economy isn’t what it used to be 8 years ago when oil was over $100 a barrel. But, the recession and slow recovery over the past 3 years has impacted the labor force, and what’s happening now is more than just a slow-growing economy.

Young skilled workers are leaving Alberta for greener pastures. With places that have a vibrant and diverse culture like Toronto or Vancouver being high on the list. Anecdotally, something I have seen more over the past couple of months is people I graduated with looking to move away from Alberta for political reasons. Often they talk of moving to places like British Columbia. Alberta is very much at risk for a brain drain, as people become more disgruntled with the government/economy and leave. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t considering my options at this point.

This would make it that much harder to attract investment for Alberta’s budding tech industry, which already faces an uncertain future as a result of the government eliminating tax credits for local tech companies. The tax credits they might be able to live without, the lack of skilled labor though would be a deal-breaker. In addition, recent decisions by the government regarding doctor pay and healthcare cuts will cause a number of nurses to be laid off. This will exacerbate an already strained and inefficient healthcare system plagued with longer than average wait times.

A Choice

Alberta is at a crossroads, and standing squarely in the middle of that crossroads is climate policy. If Alberta doesn’t get serious about climate policy, the energy projects she built her economy around will dry up, the investment in other industries like tech will be harder to come by, talent will flee to greener pastures and Alberta will be left in the dust by the rest of Canada, desperately yelling “ethical oil” at anyone unfortunate enough to just be passing through on the Trans Canada.