The Globe and Mail - 22.02.2020

A8 | NEWS OTHEGLOBEANDMAIL | SATURDAY,FEBRUARY22,

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney

says a 13-page manifesto from

four federal Conservative MPs

that calls for action to address the

roots of Western alienation re-

flects the genuine frustrations of

people in his province.

But Mr. Kenney declined to say

whether he supports the docu-

ment, known as the Buffalo Dec-

laration, adding that he is focused

on his owngovernment’s work to

secure a “fair deal” for Alberta.

The Buffalo Declaration, which

was posted online on Thursday,

was signed by Michelle Rempel

Garner and three other Conserva-

tive MPs from Alberta. It lays out

grievances about Alberta’s treat-

ment that date back to before it

was a province and lists more

than a dozen demands to address

them. The proposals range from

Senate reform – a long-standing

goal for Canadian conservatives –

to recognition that Alberta is “cul-

turally distinct.”

Ms. Rempel Garner, who has

not responded to interview re-

quests, is considering running for

the Conservative leadership. Re-

gardless of whether she runs, the

declaration will likely inject these

issues into the leadership race.

Mr. Kenney said he hadn’t read

the document in detail, though he

argued that it is rooted in a very

real sense of anger among Alber-

tans. “I think what the letter un-

derscores is the depth of frustra-

tion,” he said at an unrelated news

conference in Calgary.

“A lot of people are going to

come to the table with a lot of dif-

ferent ideas and a lot of commen-

tary. All of it underscores that the

frustration of this province is

deep and genuine.”

Many of the issues raised in the

document echo Mr. Kenney’s

complaints that Alberta has been

treated unfairly, particularly by

the current federal Liberal gov-

ernment that he says has puni-

shed the province’s resource in-

dustry. Many of his own demands,

including changes to equalization

and the repeal of environmental

legislation such as C-69, are re-

flected in the Buffalo Declaration.

It also calls for constitutional

changes to overhaul the Senate,

expanded free trade between

provinces and the creation of a

national energy corridor.

Mr. Kenney’s United Conserva-

tive Partygovernment came to

power last year on a campaign

that tapped into anger within Al-

berta, whose economy has suf-

fered under several years of low

oil prices. Last fall, he struck a

panel to examine a series of ideas

designed to give the province

more autonomy, such as by start-

ing its own pension plan, creating

a provincial police force and col-

lecting its own taxes.

The Premier saidthe govern-

ment would build on those

themes when the provincial legis-

lature resumes with a Throne

Speech next week. “Ourgovern-

ment was elected on a mandate to

fight for Alberta. That’s exactly

what we’re doing,” he said.

In addition to Ms. Rempel Gar-

ner, the other MPs who signed the

declaration are Blake Richards,

Arnold Viersen and Glen Motz.

Mr. Richards and Mr. Viersen de-

clined to comment, Mr. Motz de-

clined an interview request and

instead issued a statement that

said the ideas in the Buffalo Decla-

ration should be taken seriously

by anyone whowants togovern

Canada.

Candidates running for the

Conservative leadership weren’t

eager to engage with the ideas put

forward in the declaration. Erin

O’Toole issued a statement that

acknowledged real anger in Al-

berta, but did not comment on

the document. Peter MacKay’s

campaign did not respond to an

interview request and Marilyn

Gladu declined to comment.

Prime Minister Justin Tru-

deau’s office declined to com-

ment, as did Deputy Prime Minis-

ter Chrystia Freeland, who has

taken a lead role in relations with

Alberta, and Jim Carr, who was ap-

pointed as a special adviser on

Western issues.

Manifesto

reflect s‘depth

offrustration

inAlberta,’

Kenneysays

JAMESKELLERCALGARY

TheBuffaloDeclaration,

whichwasposted

onlineonThursday,was

signedbyMichelle

RempelGarnerand

threeotherConservative

MPsfromAlberta.

Alberta has offered to bring its oil sands
emissions cap into force, but says doing so
will only be a priority if Ottawa approves
the proposed Frontier oil sands mine.
The provincialgovernment made the
bid Friday to ensure it has done everything
it can to influence the federal cabinet’s de-
cision on the mine from Teck Resources
Ltd.
Provincial Environment Minister Jason
Nixon said he made the pitch to his federal
counterpart, Jonathan Wilkinson, in a
phone call Friday. The offer comes just
days before cabinet will decide whether to
approve, reject or delay a decision on the
proposed mine, which would add 4.
megatonnes annually of greenhouse gas
emissions but be an economic boon for the
sector.
The mine has landed thefederalgovern-
ment in the crosshairs of proponents and
opponents alike. Supporters say Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision on the
mine will be a key test of his commitment

to Alberta and national unity, while detrac-

tors say it will be a measure of his sincerity

in tackling climate change.

“We are prepared to regulate on the oil

sands cap which is what the ask is,” Mr.

Nixon said Friday. Alberta agreed to the

cap in conjunction with Ottawa’s approval

of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion

in 2016. While the legislature passed the

bill creating the cap,the provincialgovern-

ment never regulated it.

Mr. Wilkinson didn’t make the regulat-

ed cap a condition of Frontier’s approval,

but said he had concerns about it in rela-

tion to the project and its emissions, Mr.

Nixon said.

But in a statement, Mr. Wilkinson made

it clear Ottawa views the enforcement of

the cap as a previous commitment from

Alberta.

“When the Trans Mountain Expansion

pipeline project was approved by our gov-

ernment, it was understood that Alberta

would implement its 100 million tonne

cap on oil sands emissions,” Mr. Wilkinson

said in an e-mailed statement.

“Cabinet is considering the Teck Fron-

tier project based on its merits and will

make a decision by the end of this month.

It will take into account all circumstances

and information available, as required by

the law.”

The federal cabinet is facing mounting

pressure from Liberal colleagues to reject

the project. A joint federal-provincial regu-

latory review panel found the mine is in Al-

berta’s public interest, but warned it would

have “significant adverse” environmental

effects on the environment. That finding

pushed the final decision to the federal

cabinet.

The “yes” or “no” decision could have

an impact reaching far beyond this partic-

ular project.

On Friday, Alberta Premier Jason Ken-

ney said a veto would “send a devastating

message to prospective investors in this

country.” That sentiment is shared by anal-

ysts who say the potential impact of cabi-

net’s decision on the Frontier project is

likely greater than the project itself.

Oil market analyst Kevin Birn of IHS

Markit said the decision will influence in-

vestor sentiment toward the oil patch both

from outside and inside Canada. Mr. Birn

said the risk profile of projects increases if

the perception is that the regulatory ap-

proval process isn’t transparent.

The potential for cabinet’s decision to

send negative signals to the market is com-

pounded by other issues that are already

leaving investors wary, namely: the contin-

uing rail blockades against the Coastal Gas-

Link pipeline project, and the fact that

Canada had to nationalize the Trans

Mountain pipeline to ensure its construc-

tion, according to Richard Masson, an ex-

ecutive fellow at the University of Calgary’s

public policy school.

The “most important thing,” Mr. Mas-

son said, is that there is an approval system

that “people can count on.”

TheSuncoroilsandsfacilityisseennearFortMcMurray,Alta.,in2012.In2016,Albertaagreedtoanoilsandscapinconjunctionwith
Ottawa’sapprovaloftheTransMountainpipelineexpansion.JEFFMCINTOSH/THECANADIANPRESS

Albertaofferstoenforce

oilsandsemissionscap,

pendingFrontierapproval

Offerfromprovince’s

EnvironmentMinistercomes

daysbeforefederalcabinet

todecideonwhethertoreject,

approveordelaytheproject

MARIEKEWALSHOTTAWA

Thousands of teachers and education
workers marched along the streets circling
Queen’s Park in Toronto on Friday, taking
part in the first provincewide strike to
shutter all publicly funded schools across
Ontario.
The leaders of the four main teachers
unions said they hoped that a joint strike
that had 200,000 members hold mass ral-
lies across the province would send a uni-
fied message to the Progressive Conserva-
tive government to withdraw the cuts be-
ing proposed at the bargaining table.
“We want thisgovernment to under-
stand that over 200,000 teachers and edu-
cation workers across this province are
standing up and in one voice saying you
must pull back these cuts,” Liz Stuart, pres-
ident of the Ontario English Catholic
Teachers’ Association (OECTA) told report-
ers outside the legislature on Friday.
Teachers and education workers have
been without a contract since the end of
August, and tensions with thegovernment
have risen in recent months.
The strike on Friday involved around
30,000 union members picketing outside
Queen’s Park, which was by far the largest
demonstration in the province.
The road encircling the building was
closed to traffic to accommodate the pro-
test.
Teachers and education workers carried
signs critical of the cuts being proposed by
the government. Another 20,000 were
picketing along a 30-kilometre stretch on
Highway 10 in Peel Region.
“I’m hoping that it sends a message to
the government ... that we’re serious and
we’re going to fight for our students. It’s
not about the raises, despite what [Educa-

tion Minister Stephen] Lecce keeps on say-

ing. We’re here to fight for our students and

for their education,” said Samantha Wood,

a high-school teacher in Toronto.

Sarah Jacinto, who teaches Grade 8 in

Toronto, said she’s had as many as 37 stu-

dents in a class. She currently has 27 chil-

dren in her class. “We want to do the best

we can for our students, and the cuts that

they’re proposing are not going to allow

that to happen,” she said.

Inside the legislature, Mr. Lecce told re-

porters that the job action has “gone on for

too long.”

He said that some progress was made

this week with OECTA and the Association

des enseignantes et des en-

seignants franco-ontariens

(AEFO).

“The fact that they opted

to pause that momentum, in

effect, to strike today I think

is really unfair to kids,” Mr.

Lecce said. “We should have

been negotiating today.”

Shortly after the strike ac-

tion, OECTA said in a state-

ment Friday evening that it would be paus-

ing its rotating one-day strikes, planned for

next week, after the mediator called all

parties back to the bargaining table on

Monday.

Friday’s joint legal strike is the first in

the history of education unions in Ontario.

In 1997, when education workers walk-

ed off the job under then-premier Mike

Harris, it was a political protest, not legal

strike action, against changes being made

to the education system.

OECTA and AEFO members were strik-

ing alongside their counterparts from the

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Feder-

ation and the Elementary Teachers’ Feder-

ation of Ontario (ETFO).

The issues for the various unions in-

clude class-size increases in high school,

mandatory online courses for high-school

students and a hiring regulation that gives

supply teachers with more seniority an

edge in getting hired for long-term occa-

sional and permanent teaching positions.

Benefits also remain a major sticking

point, and one that led to a recent break-

down in talks between ETFO and the gov-

ernment.

Those familiar with ETFO’s plan say

benefits have been in some financial diffi-

culty. Thegovernment told union negotia-

tors that any increase in funding toward

the plan would force cuts to special-educa-

tion teaching supports.

ETFO, the country’s large-

st education union with

83,000 members, has threat-

ened more job action next

week. The union told its

members earlier this week

that it would announce its

“Phase 6 strike protocol” on

Monday and that those ac-

tions would begin Wednes-

day, two days later.

There were no other details provided in

the memo.

Unions are required to give five days no-

tice before they start job action or when

they escalate their strike to fully withdraw-

ing all services. However, there’s some de-

bate about whether a similar notice is re-

quired if the strike action is modified.

ETFO’s three days of renewed contracts

talks with thegovernment broke off earlier

this month and the union stepped up its

job action.

For two weeks this month, English pub-

lic elementary schools in the province

closed twice a week, because of a weekly

provincewide strike, accompanied by ro-

tating strikes that hit every public board

on a certain day.

Roadscloseasthousandsofeducators

rallyacrossOntarioinjointstrike

CAROLINEALPHONSO
EDUCATIONREPORTER

Wewanttodothe

bestwecanforour

students.

SARAHJACINTO

TEACHER