CALGARY – The Alberta government is facing renewed criticism over its choice of panellists to head up its oilsands advisory group.
The Wildrose party is calling for co-chair Tzeporah Berman and another appointee, Karen Mahon, to be fired.
The opposition party claims Mahon sent out a fundraising email “imploring people to fight against the Kinder Morgan pipeline.”
Berman is a well-known anti-oilsands advocate.
She co-chairs the group with Dave Collyer, the former president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and Melody Lepine, a member of Alberta’s Mikisew Cree First Nation.
Premier Rachel Notley says she wants different voices – including environmentalist and oilsands producers – to be heard.
“People will disagree, but the way forward is to find common cause, not to develop silos and to develop your own echo chamber and then to be really surprised when no one agrees with where you are going,” Notley says.
“I think that … the vast majority of Albertans believe in inclusivity, they believe in mutual respect, they believe in civil discourse and they believe that it’s absolutely appropriate to disagree, but to do so in a way that allows you to have an actually thoughtful conversation.”
(CHQR)