Failed Tory energy policy costs thousands of jobs

March 02, 2011

Alberta NDP Opposition leader Brian Mason says the Tories new bitumen upgrading program represents a failed government policy and Premier Ed Stelmach’s biggest broken promise. “The Northwest Upgrader project is positive in that it creates value-added jobs for Albertans. Yet the Tories have allowed massive exports bitumen and value-added jobs to the U.S.,” says Mason. “Premier Stelmach promised that the majority of Alberta’s bitumen would be processed here. That promise has been broken. “The government could create jobs by requiring bitumen processing here in Alberta as a condition of oilsands lease agreements,” says Mason. “Instead, the government is spending money and using publicly-owned bitumen with NWU to process only a small fraction of Alberta’s oilsands output. “Albertans are losing value-added jobs and wealth because the Tories worry more about pleasing their industry friends than protecting Albertan jobs,” Mason says. “The Tories have a long record of frittering away Alberta’s oil wealth. That needs to stop.”