Weyburn – Tina Beaudry-Mellor, MLA for Regina University since April 4, 2016, was the first person to throw their hat in the ring for the Saskatchewan Party leadership, and, with it, the position of premier. She had been minister of Social Services prior to the leadership race.
On Oct. 16, in Weyburn, Pipeline Newsspoke to her in-depth about her energy policy.
“I think we’re going to build on what we’ve been doing up to the present time. We’ve been hearing from a lot of our stakeholders that they’re pleased with the position the Saskatchewan Party government has made on energy policy. They’re pleased with the climate of investment we’ve established. They’re certainly pleased with the advocacy on the national and global stage, with respect to energy policy,” she said. “I frankly am frustrated, as I’m sure are many others in this community, about the National Energy Board’s regulator environment. I think that’s something we are going to need to aggressively attack, from the perspective of not just Saskatchewan’s interests, but Western Canadian interests in energy production and resources. We do have significant work being done on carbon capture and storage.”
She noted Husky’s pilot project with carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Lloydminster and the two CCS projects in southeast Saskatchewan. Additionally, zero-tillage agriculture factors in as a carbon sink. “These things are not getting factored into the federal equations when it comes to emissions.”
Noting the candidates all will want to protect and advocate on behalf of resource industries in the province, and be opposed the federal carbon tax, she said what differentiates her is, “One of the additional angles or dimensions on this, on Energy East, Canada just lost 8,000 or so jobs. This is significant when you consider, here in Saskatchewan, the incredible pressure on human services ministries. Three-quarters of our budget is health, social services and education. And if we want to reduce government footprint, that’s going to be difficult to do if we’re not able to grow jobs.”
She said the impact of the carbon tax, small business tax changes, and cancellation of Energy East, make a difference.
Asked about oil and gas royalties, Beaudry-Mellor said, “I don’t have an appetite for changing them, certainly not upwards, and, if we were going to adjust them downwards, we would have to make up that lost revenue in other places.”
Premier Brad Wall went to Washington several times, lobbying for the energy industry. Asked if she would do the same, she said, “Absolutely.”
“I’ve had the pleasure, already, of being in Washington as a guest of (Senator Lindsey) Graham, (fomer U.S. ambassador to Canada) David Wilkins, in May. It was a family vacation, but also an opportunity to create connections with them. That’s probably one of the most exciting aspects of the job, to be frank with you. My overall vision for province is we become the economic powerhouse of the West. I think the premier has done an excellent job in building that foundation, but with this election of the Green/NDP in B.C. and the Notley government in Alberta, and the existing relationships Premier Wall has built in Washington, I think we can play a very key role in the next decade, and an important role, if you look at (President Donald) Trump’s positions around the Trans-Pacific Partnership and North American Free Trade Agreement. There’s some significant concerns. there, particularly with respect to livestock, for example,” she said.
With regards to pipelines, and particularly the now-failed Energy East project, she said, “Pipelines are far safer than road or rail, so that nullifies that one particular argument. The second reason to advocate for pipelines is to be able to get to tidewater or to eastern crude markets.
“I have a number of frustrations about this file. The first one is the regulatory environment from the National Energy Board. The second one is the environmental argument and the third is the safety argument. I think all three are flawed. I’ve already spoken to the safety argument. The National Energy Board – the regulatory red tape that companies have to go through in order to invest in a major job creation project is asinine. I’m shocked the federal government doesn’t step in and advocate to clean that process up before a company spends a billion dollars on regulator red tape. The government should be advocating on their behalf, for such a project, not sitting idly by and then cheering when it fails. It’s nonsensical, on so many levels. I think the premier’s quite right, that we need to rethink equalization payments if this is the kind of approach we’re going to take,” Beaudry-Mellor said.
She said the inclusion of natural resources in the equalization calculations needs to be revisited, saying there are two options. One is to press on the equalization position. “The second one, I’ll be frank, is we clearly have a federal government that does not have western concerns in mind.”
On carbon capture and storage and a carbon tax, Beaudry-Mellor said she’s not familiar with all the science, but like her colleagues, will oppose a federal carbon tax. But if a court challenge is not successful, we need a made-in-Saskatchewan solution. “Given all the other things the federal government is doing, I would be inclined to invoke the notwithstanding clause, though,” she said. “I am not convinced it is unwinnable, and I think that we have an important role to play in sending a very strong message that the combination of all these policies is wrong.”
Saskatchewan could do a better job talking about what we’re doing carbon capture and agricultural carbon sinks, and it’s not easy to do in 140 characters, she added.
Beaudry-Mellor is interested in building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the province, thinking towards the next 10 years. “I would be interested in hearing from the energy industry what kinds of innovations we could support through an entrepreneurial ecosystem based on innovation.”
“I’m looking at the next generation and I’d like to see where we might take our energy industry, going forward, and if there are any made-in-Saskatchewan innovations that we could help foster.”
She’s thinking of a synergy between the Petroleum Technology Research Centre and the Sask Capital Network or some other angel investment. “We would have to feed our skills training from Sask Polytechnic, obviously, the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan faculties. But then provide a space, like an incubator space, for these things to incubate.”
“I’d like to see our tech sector grow, and I’m particularly interested in the tech side of this.”
To that end, she’s also like to see entrepreneurship and financial literacy as a mandatory part of the K-12 education.
“I’m increasingly frustrated with the vilification of business in this province,” she said, noting that many businesses make strong contributions to communities. “We need to turn that narrative around. It’s very frustrating, when I see, ‘Stop the cuts,’ when the same group will cheer for the loss of Energy East, not realizing the loss of those jobs would result in pressure in our human services ministries that we can’t sustain.”
