By Jon Roe
Ed Stelmach embarked on a 10-day mission to the European Union this week, skipping a first ministers meeting in Ottawa in the process. Though the mission to the EU was dubbed an important trade mission, boosting Alberta’s environmental image across the Atlantic was also a goal of the trip. But after a provincial government poll showed that only three per cent of Canadians and just 16 per cent of Albertans believe Alberta is doing a good job of protecting the environment, Stelmach needs to do more at home than just rebranding the province’s energy industry.
According to a Canwest News Service article, Alberta is planning a three-year, $25-million campaign to address its energy image in Alberta, Canada and key export and immigration markets. This effort has been called “greenwashing” by critics and rightfully so. Cloaking a large problem under the friendly guise of marketing is not actually a solution to the problem. The oilsands aren’t just perceived to be environmentally devastating. They are severely scarring to the landscape and it may take decades before their impact starts to disappear. The side effects of tailings ponds, a byproduct of the oilsands extraction process, are both immediate and long-term, evident by the deaths of hundreds of ducks earlier this year and the cancer-ridden downstream community of Fort Chipewyan.
This is not just an image issue. These are real problems and concerns that have not been properly addressed. The $25 million used to change people’s view of Alberta’s energy industry will be a wasted effort if those problems are not actually dealt with and is a dishonest way of approaching serious concerns.
Stelmach’s trip was also controversial because its timing meant he missed a meeting of the premiers and the prime minister on the issue of the slowing economy. Though Stelmach’s response to questions about his reasons for skipping the meeting were arrogant and reflected badly on Albertans– he said the only reason Alberta was at the table was because Alberta’s economy was holding together the Canadian economy– the trade mission was planned in advance of these discussions.
The overall value of the mission and not its timing should be questioned more, considering that although Europe is Alberta’s third-largest export market, it accounts for only two per cent of exports, according to a government press release. One of Alberta’s chief exports is oil and Europe can readily and cheaply get that elsewhere. The whole effort seems like a waste.
While Stelmach globe trots and trumpets Alberta’s environmental black eye, at home, people believe the government isn’t doing such a great job taking care of our environment. Stelmach and his government need to address these concerns in a real way, not just gloss it over with a marketing scheme.