NDP BRINGS FORWARD EMERGENCY MOTION AIMED AT RELEASING SECRET KEYSTONE XL DEAL THAT COULD COST ALBERTANS BILLIONS

CALGARY - Alberta’s NDP will put forward an emergency motion to request the full disclosure of Jason Kenney’s Keystone XL deal after the project was halted on Wednesday.

The NDP have called a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Jan. 26 to formally request that Cabinet waive privilege and release the full risk analysis, and all financial documents related to the deal. This is an unprecedented step and will be the first motion of its kind put forward by the Official Opposition under the UCP government’s mandate.

“Premier Kenney made a risky bet with $7.5 billion of Albertans’ money without releasing any details,” said NDP Energy Critic Kathleen Ganley. “Now that the project has been stopped, Albertans deserve to know exactly how much of their money is at stake and what analysis — if any — was conducted by the UCP before spending billions of dollars on this project.”

In March, Premier Kenney announced Alberta was investing up to $7.5 billion in Keystone XL despite facing significant legal and political risk. The deal consists of $1.5 billion equity and $6 billion in loan guarantees. The UCP have refused to release the deal or any risk analysis publicly. 

On Wednesday, United States President Joe Biden rescinded the construction permit for Keystone XL, putting billions of dollars of Albertans’ money at risk.

At the PAC meeting on November 17, 2020, committee member NDP MLA Marlin Schmidt asked the UCP government to release the details of the deal and associated analysis. However, Cabinet replied that a formal request to waive privilege was needed at the Committee before any documents could be released. 

“We are making that formal request that Cabinet privilege be waived so the deal can be released and Albertans can finally get some answers about this deal,” said Ganley. “We hope the UCP members on the committee agree that Albertans deserve transparency after months of hiding the details.” 

The UCP holds a majority on the committee with eight members compared to four for the NDP.