It’s been just over a year since the NDP was elected to a majority government under leader Rachel Notley. Ending decades of PC stewardship, Notley’s vision for Alberta is a much different place to live and thrive from both a business and personal perspective. At the end of May 2015, when Notley was sworn in as our 17th premier, the price of oil closed at approximately $60 USD/bbl. A year later, the price has been hovering around the $45 to $50 USD/bbl range for a while, with no immediate signs of significant movement for many months to come. Yet, several would still agree oil and gas has been, and for the foreseeable future will continue to be, the financial backbone for the wellbeing of this province.

It’s been a dramatic year riding on the heels of the royalty review, higher taxes (both personal and corporate), minimum wage increases, substantial public sector hiring’s, introduction of a new carbon tax, and massive new government debt just to name a few. All of which are heavily influenced by the Alberta Government’s Climate Leadership Plan! So, we put this question to our contributors for this issue of the PULSE. If you had an open letter to the premier, and her caucus, what advice and suggestions would you put forward to her NDP team to help the oil and gas industry?

We understood this might open the floodgate to a whole host of opinions, both good and bad. But, we wanted to know how their report card would read on the positive progress, or lack thereof, in the last year since Notley and the NDP came into power? Did our government get a passing or failing grade in what they have accomplished for our province thus far? We trust you will find the articles this month to be informative as usual, certainly entertaining, and even a bit controversial.

And, what would this debate be without me sticking my toes into this mucky water. Never have the contrasts between federal and provincial political ideologies been so evident than in the past few weeks. Just as our Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, herded her provincial counterparts into the OK Corral in Montreal, under what now appears to be false pretenses, her virtual signalling boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stood up in the House of Commons to announce his carbon price legislation. Simultaneously, at high noon in the OK Corral in Montreal, McKenna stood up and read the exact same statement. Thankfully, there was no physical bloodshed, but three of the provinces walked out of the carbon tax gun battle led by our strongest ally, the Province of Saskatchewan. You’ve got to give Trudeau and company a 10 out of 10 for style points for orchestrating such a well disguised and coordinated heavy-handed announcement!

Now, for all of you eco-activists out there, I am not advocating we ignore the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Who can? Believe it or not, I am with you on the GHG front. By contrast, what I object to is how we get there. No country can tax its way to prosperity nor can it tax its citizens and businesses into a clean economy. So as Mr. Trudeau sets his dirty pollution table, in the past week or so, the premiers of our two biggest oil producing provinces have also weighed in. Interestingly, believe it or not, there is unanimity of opinion on all three fronts for the need to reduce GHG emissions, but the buck stops there. Two legs of the stool are Trudeau and Notley, who balance and buoy respectively and have double-downed on the carbon tax and bigger government fronts, and the third leg of the stool belongs to our lone wolf Premier Brad Wall from Saskatchewan. His government’s plan is so dramatically different, refreshing, and in my view, bang on target. We need to fix the GHG problem where it emanates around the world with Canadian technology and innovation rather than taxing the people he works for into economic hardship. Dare I say he is a visionary amongst the ‘tax them to fix it’ social license crowd?

Once you have ‘ flipped’ through the pages of this months Oilfield PULSE I would encourage you to take an hour or so and watch all three videos. I have included links to each video for your easy reference. You likely have already formulated your own report card on Premier Rachael Notley’s performance over the past year. Will her latest video change your mind? Perhaps, on its own merit, you might be swayed by her positive feel good speech, which echoes many of the same ‘gosh shucks’ sentiments of Prime Minister Trudeau. Watch those two videos first! Then, sit back and let Premier Brad Wall throw a curve ball into your climate change beliefs and carbon tax fears. You won’t be disappointed!

It left me wondering. There has been a lot of talk lately about uniting the right in Alberta. Perhaps, we should shelve those lofty aspirations and start seriously thinking about uniting Saskatchewan and Alberta under the leadership and vision of Premier Brad Wall.