Notley rejecting Wildrose calls to fire oil sands advisory members

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is not giving into the Wildrose Party’s calls for the NDP to fire two members of the Oil Sands Advisory Group for anti-pipeline campaigning.

The party wants the group’s co-chair Tzeporah Berman gone for saying ‘decarbonization means managed decline’ in response to an economic analysis of the Keystone XL and Trans Mountain pipelines.

The official opposition also wants Karen Mahon removed for sending a fundraising email to fight the expansion of Trans Mountain, saying it will almost certainly lead to a devastating oil spill.

“People will disagree, but the way forward is to find common cause, not to develop silos and to develop your own echo chamber and then be really surprised when no one agrees with where you’re going,” Notley said Monday. “We’ve adopted a very distinctly different approach to managing these issues.”

Last Thursday, Notley said in the legislature that Mahon is on the board to discuss greenhouse gas emissions and opinions on pipelines don’t matter.

In the premier’s latest comments, she reiterated the government has been unapologetic and aggressive on getting a pipeline to tidewater, as well as having oil and gas stakeholders develop a cap on emissions.

She dismissed the optics of having a member so openly campaigning against a project the NDP wants.

“I don’t think that the optics are bad, I think the optics are inevitable and they are a path to progress,” she said.

This isn’t the first time Mahon’s comments have caught the ire of the Wildrose.

Last July, she compared Alberta’s oil sands to ‘Mordor’ and Wildrose Shadow Minister for Electricity & Renewables Don MacIntyre said Notley can’t keep ignoring radical comments.

“At a time when Albertans are hurting so badly, this parade of attacks on our province’s energy industry is unhelpful, hurtful and downright wrong,” he said in a release. “I’m calling on the Premier to show some leadership and direct these folks to the exit.”

MacIntyre also said the OSAG has lost credibility under Berman’s direction.

“This group isn’t just out to lunch on the facts about our energy industry, but its members, who are obviously being emboldened by Ms. Berman, are actively trying to block pipeline projects,” he stated.

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