Teck Resources Ltd. officially announced last week that it would formally withdraw its regulatory application for the proposed $20.6 billion oilsands mining project at Fort McMurray and write down the $1.13 billion carrying value of the project.
The federal government had until the end of February to decide whether or not to give approval to the Teck Frontier project, which some criticized as being counter to Trudeau’s 2019 election pledge to put Canada on the path to having net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
In a letter, Teck Resources president and CEO Don Lindsay said they were disappointed to have arrived at this point, as Teck put forward a “socially and environmentally responsible project that was industry leading and had the potential to create significant economic benefits for Canadians.”
However, Lindsay said global capital markets are changing rapidly and investors and customers are increasingly looking for jurisdictions to have a framework in place that reconciles resource development and climate change.
“This does not yet exist here today an, unfortunately, the growing debate around this issue has placed Frontier and our company squarely at the nexus of much broader issues that need to be resolved. In that context, it is now evident that there is no constructive path forward for the project.”
When MPs had an opportunity to make statements in the House of Commons on Thursday, Viersen focused his comments on Teck Resources’ decision. (Incidentally, you can view a video of his statement was shared to Viersen’s Facebook page.)
Viersen said that Albertans are proud of overcoming challenges like landlocked resources, a cold climate, rugged terrain, great distances from markets and strict environmental standards.
“We step up and we work hard to overcome every challenge put in front of us,” he said.
Viersen further stated that the Teck Frontier Mine project was a clear example of Albertans overcoming challenges, as it had the support of 14 First Nations and either met or exceeded every environmental and scientific requirement placed on it by the Liberals.
“The only obstacle standing in the way was the Prime Minister and his government. Last week, Teck made it clear that the lack of action by the government led to its cancellation. Now, 7,000 jobs and $20 billion are gone,” he said.
“Albertans are a proud people. We work hard and we contribute to Canada. It is time for the Liberals to respect us, recognize our contributions and let us get back to work.”
Buffalo Declaration
It should be noted that allowing the Teck Frontier project to proceed was cited within the Buffalo Declaration, a manifesto signed by Viersen and three other Alberta MPs: Michelle Rempel Garner, Blake Richards and Glen Motz.
The declaration was released on Feb. 20 and can be viewed at https://buffalodeclaration.com/.
Its name is an allusion to a proposal originally made by Sir Frederick Haultain, the first premier of the Northwest Territories, for a new Canadian province composed of what would eventually become Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The Buffalo Declaration is essentially a lengthy examination on Alberta’s grievances with the federal government, which has led to a separation movement to gain momentum within western Canada.
It notes that Alberta has never been an equal participant in Confederation, pointing out that Alberta and Saskatchewan were part of an enormous expanse of land purchased by the Canadian government from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1868. This was a precedent for how Albertans would be treated by the “established Eastern political class” in the future, the declaration states.
It goes on to cite the National Energy Program as “a historical stain” on the relationship between the federal government and the people, adding that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau took it upon himself to attack the natural resource sector in Alberta with destructive force.
Finally, the declaration states that the imposition of a carbon tax, small business tax increases, the passage of Bills C-69 and C-48, the nationalization of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline expansion, silence over U.S. President Barack Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL pipeline, regulatory strangulation of the Energy East pipeline, failures to address trade issues with China and India and a refuse to enforce the rule of law on “illegal blockades” have served to close Alberta’s economy to investment and job growth.
This has all resulted in Alberta losing billions in investment capital and “our best and brightest” fleeing to jurisdictions like the U.S., the declaration states.
“Our federation has reached a crossroads at which Canada must decide to move forward in equality and respect, or people in our region will look at independence from Confederation as the solution,” it adds.
However, the manifesto notes that defeating the incumbent Liberal government or “building a pipeline” will not permanently address the systemic inequities that Albertans face.
“For confederation to be sustainable, Canada must commit to permanent nation-building structural change within its institutions of power,” the declaration states.
The Buffalo Declaration then lists a number of structural and policy solutions that Canada must enact to address this inequity, such as recognizing Alberta is not an equal partner in Confederation and a culturally distinct region, acknowledging the devastation of the National Energy program, altering the equalization formula and treating all resource revenues generated by each province as equal, constitutionally entrenching resource projects as the sole domain of the provinces and mandating equitable regional distribution of funding to arts and culture.
As indicated earlier, the approval of the Teck Frontier mine project is contained within the list of policy solutions, with an additional note that the project “has passed years’ worth of world class, credible, rigorous, arms-length environmental review.”
TownandCountryTODAY reached out to Viersen regarding the Buffalo Declaration and the implications of the Teck project’s cancellation, but requests for an interview were not answered.
