The St. Paul Golf Club hosted three MPs for Q & A and a Haying in the 30’s fundraiser on Saturday night. At press time, the total amount raised was still to be tallied.
MP Michelle Rempel, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Environment, Toronto MP Bernard Trottier and local MP Brian Storseth combined efforts to help raise funds for the Mallaig based cancer support society.
Rempel was elected to her first term in Calgary Centre-North in 2011 and was previously a director at the University of Calgary’s institutional programs division.
“The fact that we continue to grow as a country is something we should celebrate and be proud of,” Rempel said, in her speech after dinner.
She said as an Albertan, it bothers her when sometimes the province is painted as not respecting the environment. “This is patently false,” she said, adding government aims to balance protecting the environment and growing natural resource and energy sectors.
“There are parts of this country that do not understand that a strong Alberta equals a strong Canada,” she said. The question becomes “not how we shut down or limit growth to protect our environment, but how do we balance policy to ensure that our environment is protected while ensuring that the economic growth continues.”
She said environmental lobby must be addressed.
“There is a large population of Canadians that think the entire northern half of Alberta is a giant tar pit with millions of dead ducks in it,” she said, to laughter. “We have to admit this is an issue for Canadians.”
Rempel addressed the decision to pull out of the Kyoto Accord, which applied to only 13 per cent of emitters and did not apply to China, Brazil or India and would have penalized Canada $14 billion. She said it would not have been an effective policy. She said the oilsands should be celebrated worldwide as an ethical industry, adding, “We’re on the forefront of seeing a new industry emerge in clean technology.”
Canada can realize its competitive energy advantage without watering down environmental protection, she said. Rempel advocated for changes to the regulatory process, saying the process needs to be predictable and timely and that one project should have one review process to avoid duplication. Consultation with stakeholders in the area of a project should be predictable, efficient and timely, she added.
Bonnyville Town Mayor Ernie Isley asked Rempel what she thought of the Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith’s proposal of a pipeline to eastern Canada for upgrading and refining, “making Canada totally self sufficient in energy.”
Rempel replied the proposal “is in alignment with our belief that we need to look at all markets for export for our energy resources.” She added, “We have to let industry decide where the demand is and where it’s best to refine these things,” and warned against the government intervening in the market.
