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“At least we are seeing some honesty for once,” she wrote. “Unfortunately this (is) how large parts of the world are run.”
Savage was backed by Alberta government house leader and Environment Minister Jason Nixon.
“She was quite rightly just pointing out the obvious that at this moment, because of COVID, there is probably less people taking the opportunity to go out and protest pipelines,” Nixon said Tuesday.
Premier Jason Kenney declined to comment.
The Alberta energy industry’s reputation faces increasing pressure. Some of the world’s largest investment funds have restricted their activity in the province because of environmental concerns. In February, Teck Resources pulled out of a multibillion-dollar oilsands project because of what it said was a regulatory environment unable to reconcile resource development and climate concerns.
Savage’s remarks don’t help, said Duane Bratt, political scientist at Calgary’s Mount Royal University.
“This is going to contribute to it,” he said.
Still, the comments are consistent with everything Jason Kenney’s United Conservative government has been saying, said Bratt.
“They want to fight with environmental groups. They want to fight with investors pulling out.
“It’s a very narrow interest. It’s an appeal to people in Alberta that want somebody fighting for them. I didn’t think (when it began) that this type of approach would work, but they’re going ahead with it.”
The Opposition NDP’s energy critic, Irfan Sabir, also suggested that Savage’s comments, combined with the province suspending environmental monitoring in the oilpatch, will make it harder to attract international investors to the industry.
Savage’s remarks express how the government views people who disagree with it as wrong, corrupt and hypocritical, Bratt said.
Alberta has introduced legislation imposing stiff fines and possible jail terms for protesters who damage or interfere with the operation of a wide range of energy infrastructure, although such acts are already illegal. The bill remains before the legislature.
A similar bill carrying increased trespassing punishments for animal rights protesters at agricultural facilities came into force in December.
With files from Dean Bennett in Edmonton.
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