For some of Alberta's oil and gas workers, this election is all about national unity
The Current spoke to 3 energy workers about what matters to them this election
Energy worker Geoff Rowe says one of his main election issues is Canadian unity, but he thinks one party can provide a stronger united front against threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.
"A Conservative [federal] government aligned with Conservative [provincial] government, that's a stronger negotiating tool when sitting against Trump," said Rowe, owner of Dark Star Production Testing Ltd., an oil service company located just north of Red Deer, Alta.
"If we move forward with a Liberal government that's opposed to a Conservative government in Alberta, we kind of have a fractured bargaining position," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.
Rowe is one of three Alberta oil and gas workers, all planning to vote Conservative, who agreed to be interviewed on The Current. The show is travelling across Canada ahead of the federal election on April 28, asking Canadians who they're voting for and why.
While the CBC Poll Tracker shows a national resurgence for the Liberal Party since Mark Carney was elected as leader, the Conservatives and party leader Pierre Poilievre still hold a decisive lead in Alberta.
In a recent op-ed for the Globe and Mail, Reform Party founder Preston Manning wrote that "a vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession," pointing to deep-rooted feelings of alienation and calls for an independence referendum among some voters in western provinces.
On the campaign trail, Poilievre said he did not agree with Manning's comments and urged greater unity, while Carney called the remarks "dramatic" and "unhelpful."
But Rowe said that alienation can be particularly acute among oil and gas workers, who feel their work and their industry have been maligned in the fight to curb climate change.
"We are contributing as much as we contribute to Canada, and yet we've been mistreated as badly as we have over the last decade," he said.
He added that Albertans writ large often feel excluded from the national conversation, especially when federal elections are frequently decided by the votes cast and counted in eastern time zones.
"I think it drives down voter turnout. What's the point in even going out to vote, because by the time it crosses into Manitoba, the election's already been called," he said.
Where do parties stand on energy and climate?
Chris Simeniuk started working in oil and gas in his teens, and is now the president of PayScore, a credit reference app for oil companies. He intends to vote Conservative because he thinks the Liberals have spent their years in power "killing energy in roundabout ways."
"We lost the Northern Gateway pipeline; the tanker ban; the Bill C-69 — while it's not blocking new pipelines per se, it's adding so much bureaucracy nobody wants to deal with it," he said.
Even though the Liberal federal government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline, he thinks the project was a mismanaged "debacle," where costs ballooned.
Last month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she has drawn up a "specific list of demands [that] the next prime minister, regardless of who that is, must address within the first six months of their term to avoid an unprecedented national unity crisis."
The various parties have all laid out their plans around the energy sector and climate change in their election platforms.
The Liberals say they're open to building new pipelines and speeding up energy projects, but would allow Quebec to veto any pipeline on its territory. The party scrapped consumer carbon pricing before the election, but would keep it in place for industrial emitters.
The Conservatives support an east-west pipeline and have proposed a national energy corridor, which would fast track approvals for pipelines and other energy infrastructure along a yet-to-be-determined route. The party would also repeal all carbon pricing, including the federal requirement on industrial emitters.
The NDP says it is open to building new pipelines but isn't prioritizing them. Along with the Bloc Québécois, the NDP believes Quebec should be able to veto any pipeline in its territory. The Green Party says it would stop all new fossil fuel projects and invest in clean energy. It would also remove barriers to inter-provincial energy trade.
Climate change has taken a backseat to issues like affordability and tariffs in this election, and on the world stage. In February, the United Nations announced that most of the world's nations missed a deadline to set new climate targets aimed at curbing global warming.
Rowe said the climate change fight has created a negative stigma around the oil and gas sector, but he believes the industry has a role to play.
"I think a lot of people discount the fact that we understand here that we are a transitionary fuel as we move forward with new energy sources," he said.
"Eventually, we know we're going to be phased out, but we're a very, very key part of the economy and developing new technologies moving forward."
'We need to work together'
Brian Richards says his vote for the Conservatives will be about building a Canada where his kids can thrive.
"I hope for a country like I inherited from [my parents], lots of jobs, able to buy a house, able to go to school, prosper," said Richards, a chemical application associate who helps treat pipelines for corrosion and bacteria.
"[But] I don't know if that's an option right now. It's scary out there for them," he said.
Richards wants to see new pipelines and infrastructure that would allow Alberta energy products to be shipped across Canada — an idea that Simeniuk agrees with.
"We need to work together, get rid of these provincial trade barriers and quit the in-house fighting," Simeniuk said.
Rowe said he's "incredibly optimistic" about Canada's future in the long term, but he wants to see "a larger alignment between Conservative and Liberal values."
"We have been swinging so far from centre on either side for so many years, we need to mend the fences," he said.
"I think that common sense will prevail, and I think that we need to be able to unleash our resources, then we can be one of the most prosperous countries in the world."
Audio produced by Joana Draghici and Allison Dempster.
