EDMONTON – The province with Canada’s largest oil and gas industry has sent one of the country’s smallest delegations to the international climate conference, where emissions from that industry are under scrutiny.
A preliminary list of the Canadian delegation to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, shows Alberta has sent two bureaucrats.
Newfoundland has nine people at the meetings, Manitoba has six and Ontario has four, as does the Northwest Territories.
Quebec has 36 representatives.
Several Indigenous and environmental groups also have stronger numbers at the meetings, which are setting the world’s path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
Premier Jason Kenney has said he didn’t see the value of one more politician at what he called a “gab fest.”
But Mount Royal University political scientist Keith Brownsey says the United Conservative government has missed an important chance to gather information, make contacts and tell Alberta’s story to the rest of the world.