Kenney criticizes throne speech for failing to mention energy sector crisis

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Premier Jason Kenney says the throne speech missed a critical issue that the federal government needs to address.

Kenney spoke Thursday morning, denouncing the speech saying it used “kooky academic theories” to gain votes and that the policies outlined will hurt the oil and gas sector further.

“In a 6783 word Throne Speech, not one word recognized the crisis facing Canada’s largest industry – the energy sector that supports 800,000 jobs, directly and indirectly,” Kenney said in a release Wednesday evening.

“Instead, we got a litany of policies that would strangle investment and jeopardize resource jobs when we most need the industry that generates 20 per cent of government revenues in Canada.”

https://twitter.com/Tommy_Slick/status/1309166405007351808

Kenney added the government failed to listen to provinces and instead focused on policies that will eliminate jobs making “Canada poorer and weaken national unity.”

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In the throne speech, the Trudeau government outlined plans to invest in green energy to meet the new clean-fuel standard.

Michelle Rempel Garner, the Conservative MP for Calgary Nose Hill, said the speech contained nothing new, and suspending parliament cost Canadians their lives and their jobs.

“This was the same boiled junk they’ve been using for the better part of the year and my concern is in that time we lost, Canadians lost their lives and their jobs.”

Rempel Garner also said the speech failed to mention the unemployment problem in Alberta.

“There is no acknowledgement of the fact that Calgary has the worst unemployment rate in the country for a second month in a row and that our provincial economy is growing slower than anywhere else in the country.,” she said.

“There was no indication that they would look at reversing some of the damaging regulatory policies that they brought into play, which hurt the Alberta economy ahead of the pandemic.”

Conservative Shadow Minister for Health (me) – statement on the Liberal’s response to COVID-19 and the speech from the throne. https://t.co/m1AirMlWZe

— Michelle Rempel Garner (@MichelleRempel) September 24, 2020

Kenney said the UCP government is doing everything it can to attract new investment into the province as conversations are ongoing with global companies to bring in billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in petrochemicals and fertilizer production.

However, he pointed out these jobs would be in jeopardy if the federal government moves towards its clean fuel standards goals, adding that these products, like fertilizers, will be coming from dictatorship countries.

Kenney said he plans to meet with other premiers on Thursday to discuss the issues surrounding the Throne Speech.