EDMONTON — Premier Ed Stelmach says Alberta will help reignite oilsands development in the province, not limit growth as his new energy minister appeared to suggest a day earlier.
The premier took deliberate steps Friday to downplay the comments made Thursday by Ron Liepert, a day after Liepert was moved from the health portfolio to energy.
“This area (oilsands) creates a tremendous amount of wealth for the province of Alberta,” Stelmach told reporters. “There won’t be any policy change.”
Liepert told the Globe and Mail that Alberta’s cabinet should discuss the future pace and scale of oilsands development as delayed projects come back to life after the recession is over.
But shortly after Friday’s swearing-in ceremony for his new cabinet, Stelmach told reporters that the government needs to keep pace with oilsands development by building new infrastructure in the Fort McMurray region.
The province was caught off guard a few years ago when oilsands development reached a frantic pace, leaving the region short of skilled workers, housing and services, the premier said.
“The lesson we learned is to have the infrastructure in place to facilitate managed growth so we don’t have the same problems as in the past,” he said.
Liepert tried to clarify his position on whether there should be limits on oilsands development.
The energy minister stressed that he and Stelmach are on the same page.
“We need to have a discussion about our going-forward strategy in terms of ensuring that we don’t get into the same situation that we were in the past,” said Liepert. “Our infrastructure and the pressures on the communities couldn’t keep up with the development.”
Environmentalists have pushed for limits on growth in the region. Former Tory premier Peter Lougheed and others have also suggested that restrictions be placed on development.
Liepert said the energy industry learned a hard lesson during the oilsands boom — that a crush of projects drives up costs.
“Industry is thinking the same way because the development that took place over the past 10 years was difficult on them as well.”
The premier shuffled his cabinet earlier this week in an attempt to combat his government’s sagging popularity. The rival Wildrose Alliance has made strong gains as the provincial spending deficit ballooned during the recession.
Stelmach has tasked Ted Morton, a former leadership rival with a reputation as a fiscal hawk, with putting the government’s financial house in order.
The new finance minister says there will be “belt tightening” required to achieve his goal of eliminating a record deficit within three years.
“I’ve been a bogeyman for many years, so it doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I plan to make sure that the all-you-can-eat buffet is closed down.”
Groups are already rallying against cuts.
A newly formed coalition, Join Together Alberta, held a news conference Friday to announce 22 town hall meetings across the province where people can voice their concerns.
Replacing Liepert in health is Gene Zwozdesky, a former Liberal who is expected to bring a softer touch to the file. He promised Friday to get personally involved in some of the most contentious issues facing his ministry, including bed closure at Alberta Hospital, the province’s largest mental health facility.
“The Alberta Hospital issue is very much at the top of my radar,” he said. “I’m going to be directly involved ... as to how we manage some of the issues that perhaps had not gone the way we had hoped.”
Stelmach has said that one of his government’s main problems is communications, which he’s hoping will improve with the new cabinet.
But Zwozdesky says communications isn’t the only problem that his ministry is facing.
“The relationships of trust have to be worked on,” said the minister. “The issues of morale in the system have to be worked upon and those are some of the issues I’m going to address in a very hands-on way.”