Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
National

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall Urges Oil Industry To Fight Celebrity Critics With 'Facts'

The Canadian Press, 17 Sep, 2015 05:42 PM
    REGINA — Saskatchewan's premier is urging the oil and gas industry to do a better job selling itself or risk losing the battle for public opinion to celebrity critics who he says have unrealistic ideas on how quickly the world can kick carbon.
     
    Brad Wall told the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association there is a growing, vocal minority that want the industry shut down completely and they are influencing policy-makers.
     
    "We're at some disadvantage when it comes to this argument. The other side has great scientific minds speaking out for them, like Neil Young and Daryl Hannah," Wall said Thursday, referencing the rock singer and "Splash" actress who have been outspoken in their opposition to the oilsands and pipelines.
     
    "We don't have a lot of glamour on our side ... but here is something else we have. We have facts.
     
    "I humbly suggest to this group today that we urgently redouble our efforts to present the facts, to be disseminators of them, to be purveyors of the truth."
     
    Wall said resource proponents need to emphasize the steps Canada takes to protect the environment through advancements in technology such as carbon capture and storage. And the pipeline industry must also emphasize safety advantages to transporting oil by pipe rather than rail.
     
    He said while getting the world off fossil fuels is a laudable goal, it's "magical thinking" to believe that it can be done quickly and painlessly.
     
    Renewable resource technology is getting better, he said, but it's not at the point where it can be solely relied upon, especially at peak times. 
     
    "Have you noticed that there is just not as many people calling for an end to fossil fuels in January in Canada?," he said. "I've certainly noticed that. The fact is, with current technology, renewables can take us only so far right now."
     
    Wall, who is facing an election in his province next year, has been an outspoken supporter of the oil and gas industry — including the proposed Energy East and Keystone XL pipelines — and he's taken on that role with increased vigour since the election of an NDP government in neighbouring Alberta.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Canadian Trucker Gary Blakley Sentenced To 3 1/2 Years In Crash That Killed NY State Trooper

    Canadian Trucker Gary Blakley Sentenced To 3 1/2 Years In Crash That Killed NY State Trooper
    Gary Blakley of Ridgeway, Ont., pleaded guilty in April to aggravated criminally negligent homicide.

    Canadian Trucker Gary Blakley Sentenced To 3 1/2 Years In Crash That Killed NY State Trooper

    Dalhousie Student Alleged To Have Made Threats To Kill Up To 20 People

    HALIFAX — A Dalhousie University medical student who was facing expulsion told a psychiatrist he would obtain a gun and kill up to 20 people and himself, court documents allege.

    Dalhousie Student Alleged To Have Made Threats To Kill Up To 20 People

    Tom Mulcair Speaks With Egyptian Ambassador, Emphasizes Urgency Of Fahmy Case

    TORONTO — NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has raised the case of imprisoned Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy with Egypt's ambassador to Ottawa.

    Tom Mulcair Speaks With Egyptian Ambassador, Emphasizes Urgency Of Fahmy Case

    Federal Lawyers Maintain PM Made No Decision To Not Fill Senate Vacancies

    Federal Lawyers Maintain PM Made No Decision To Not Fill Senate Vacancies
    OTTAWA — Stephen Harper may be surprised to learn that he has not made a decision to let vacancies in the scandal-plagued Senate go unfilled.

    Federal Lawyers Maintain PM Made No Decision To Not Fill Senate Vacancies

    Wrongfully Convicted B.C. Man's Daughter Tells Of Toll Taken On Family

    VANCOUVER — The daughter of a wrongfully convicted British Columbia man says she never believed her father was guilty of the sexual assaults that sent him to prison for 27 years.

    Wrongfully Convicted B.C. Man's Daughter Tells Of Toll Taken On Family

    Ludhiana To Toronto: How Indo-Canadian Whizkid Asdhir Bhim Scripted Super Success Story In Canada

    Ludhiana To Toronto: How Indo-Canadian Whizkid Asdhir Bhim Scripted Super Success Story In Canada
    Asdhir, whose family comes from Ludhiana in Punjab, is the founder of Excel Funds which was Canada's best performing mutual fund last year.

    Ludhiana To Toronto: How Indo-Canadian Whizkid Asdhir Bhim Scripted Super Success Story In Canada