The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - January 04, 2025


How the Alberta gov is standing up for oil and gas


Episode Stats

Length

16 minutes

Words per Minute

174.59691

Word Count

2,801

Sentence Count

181


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 When you let aero truffle bubbles melt, everything takes on a creamy, delicious, chocolatey glow.
00:00:06.320 Like that pile of laundry. You didn't forget to fold it.
00:00:09.220 Nah, it's a new trend. Wrinkled chic.
00:00:12.100 Feel the aero bubbles melt. It's mind-bubbling.
00:00:26.020 Welcome to this week's episode of the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:28.860 I'm your host, Isaac Lamoureux, and you might be thinking that I'm wearing this suit
00:00:33.280 because of some of the heat I faced for wearing a Christmas sweater on my Christmas episode.
00:00:38.140 But no, I decided to dress up today because in this episode,
00:00:42.380 I'll be joined by Alberta's Minister of Energy and Minerals, Brian Jean,
00:00:46.440 for a look into the provinces, countries, and even the world's energy future,
00:00:50.760 with Conservative leader Pierre Polyèvre and President-elect Donald Trump
00:00:54.980 leading their countries with a more pro-energy approach in 2025.
00:00:59.780 In this episode, we'll explore Minister Jean's outlook on the growing international demand
00:01:04.900 for Alberta's energy and what 2025 could bring for the industry
00:01:09.240 by collaborating more closely with a pro-energy federal government.
00:01:13.080 We'll also discuss Alberta's push to make the federal emissions targets more realistic,
00:01:19.500 Jean's take on balancing environmental goals with affordability,
00:01:23.020 and his views on addressing the small but loud climate activist voices.
00:01:27.960 Minister Jean shares insights into Alberta's economic advantages,
00:01:31.640 from high-paying energy jobs to the growing opportunities in minerals
00:01:35.440 like lithium, titanium, and helium.
00:01:38.740 He also provides commentary on the state of Alberta's opposition,
00:01:42.540 the NDP's lack of leadership,
00:01:44.740 and how Alberta can strengthen collaboration with the United States
00:01:48.140 on cross-border issues like illegal trade and energy exports.
00:01:52.360 Let's hop right into that interview now.
00:01:54.240 So yeah, with the likely election of Pierre Polyèvre
00:01:56.520 and the incoming Trump administration,
00:01:59.020 and of course assuming the trade impasses will be dealt with,
00:02:01.680 will the demand for Canadian energy in 2025 be higher than ever?
00:02:07.220 Well, I think so.
00:02:08.200 We're certainly at record levels now.
00:02:10.620 The world is at record levels.
00:02:13.080 You know, we believe that with more egress and more opportunity,
00:02:17.460 we will have more customers for our product.
00:02:20.860 We have an endless supply of people that want to buy our product,
00:02:23.520 including, you know, other countries such as India or Korea or Japan.
00:02:29.340 They're all looking for opportunities to buy our energy.
00:02:32.600 And I think with the future, it looks very bright indeed.
00:02:37.800 And then looking ahead into 2025, I'm just curious,
00:02:40.180 what are your top priorities?
00:02:43.380 Well, I think the one thing we need to do is work aggressively
00:02:47.060 with the feds to change their emissions targets to be more realistic.
00:02:53.100 The 2050 timeframe is realistic,
00:02:56.060 and I think it gives us an opportunity to have technology catch up to us
00:02:59.080 and offer what it can do.
00:03:02.280 I just think that's got to be our number one objective.
00:03:04.980 But people are having a difficult time right now.
00:03:07.780 Affordability is definitely an issue on everybody's mind.
00:03:10.340 So I think as we go forward as a government,
00:03:12.040 we have to look for ways to make things more efficient and more effective,
00:03:14.640 but at the same time distribute, take care of people properly,
00:03:18.500 and make sure we invest properly so that Albertans have lots of jobs,
00:03:25.380 lots of wealth, so they're healthy and happy.
00:03:29.140 And I think that's what it's all about, making sure your family is healthy,
00:03:32.560 making sure your life is happy,
00:03:34.200 and you can do that better when you have a job and when you have a future.
00:03:38.400 And speaking quickly on the expectations surrounding emissions,
00:03:42.640 so there's obviously international demand for Canadian energy,
00:03:47.220 but the small but loud voices of climate activists
00:03:50.360 are evidently continuing to push for net zero.
00:03:54.380 So I'm just curious if there's any plans
00:03:57.020 on how to deal with this small but loud minority.
00:04:02.180 Well, I think telling the truth
00:04:03.160 and providing proper education for them
00:04:05.120 is the most critical path forward.
00:04:07.220 I think we have to continue to put forward a position of strength together.
00:04:14.180 The energy that we do provide to people,
00:04:17.240 I mean, whether it's a warm shower in the morning
00:04:19.880 or a warm house right now,
00:04:21.360 I'm in Fort McMurray right now, it's minus 15, 20.
00:04:25.360 And I will tell you last night it got a little bit colder,
00:04:27.460 and I'm really glad that I have natural gas
00:04:29.540 for a very reasonable price, heating my home.
00:04:32.080 And then I get into my vehicle,
00:04:33.120 which is fueled by oil sands oil,
00:04:37.780 and I'm able to stay warm in my vehicle
00:04:41.040 and also drive great distances in relatively short times
00:04:44.460 because of our great transportation network.
00:04:46.360 All of these things, including the transportation network,
00:04:48.620 includes needs, Alberta resources, bitumen.
00:04:54.820 There's no question that Alberta has a very bright future
00:04:57.260 if we have the opportunity to sell our product to the world,
00:05:00.620 which is guaranteed by our constitution.
00:05:02.040 And that's the other thing that I think is alive and well for the future
00:05:05.640 is making sure that we enforce our rights under the Canadian constitution,
00:05:08.800 which is a reasonable thing to do when you have a federal counterpart
00:05:14.260 that is aggressively going in our jurisdictional space.
00:05:18.520 And we just have to make sure we keep them in theirs.
00:05:20.460 And then just speaking quickly on the opposition in Alberta,
00:05:25.400 I'm curious to get your thoughts on where you think the NDP
00:05:27.940 and Naheed Nenshi stand on the development of Canadian energy.
00:05:33.340 Well, it's interesting you ask what my stand is on Naheed Nenshi.
00:05:37.100 I would like to know where he's standing because I'm not sure where he is right now.
00:05:40.200 You know, I've looked for him in the House.
00:05:41.500 I've seen him a couple of times hiding behind some polls there,
00:05:43.660 but no-show Nenshi is not around.
00:05:47.580 He had a chance to run in the Lethbridge by-election, didn't take it.
00:05:50.600 I'm kind of surprised.
00:05:51.500 Now we have another MLA, an NDP MLA from Lethbridge,
00:05:54.400 so he obviously could have won that seat.
00:05:57.120 Why is he refusing to come to work every day?
00:05:59.320 That's what I'm kind of wondering.
00:06:00.380 And I think as somebody that has a record from Calgary,
00:06:04.560 it might be the reason why is because the record is one of high taxes
00:06:08.300 and not listening to the people.
00:06:09.900 So, you know, am I concerned about the opposition?
00:06:14.460 Well, they have a job to do just like I have a job to do,
00:06:16.760 but right now they're leaderless in my mind,
00:06:18.900 and their job should be to focus on getting a good leader
00:06:21.700 so they're a good, effective opposition, and they're not right now.
00:06:26.340 And Premier Smith has said that she would not consider a threat
00:06:29.560 like Ontario Premier Doug Ford made on energy,
00:06:32.240 but if the tariffs were to come,
00:06:33.920 do you see any situation wherein Alberta could get a tax exemption
00:06:38.680 or a tariff exemption on energy?
00:06:42.040 Well, you know, I think we should look at this as more of an opportunity,
00:06:45.120 and I think Premier Smith is.
00:06:46.600 We've got an opportunity right now to work with the U.S. administration
00:06:49.120 to get rid of fentanyl cross-border illegal activities
00:06:52.620 and trade of humans and just, you know,
00:06:56.200 all those things like guns and other things
00:06:59.140 that go back and forth across the border.
00:07:00.620 Those are real, and we need to stop them,
00:07:03.300 and we have an opportunity with the U.S. president right now to stop them.
00:07:06.120 So I don't know why we wouldn't grab this opportunity
00:07:08.820 and say, yahoo, let's do it.
00:07:10.720 Let's do it together, and let's get rid of the illegal drug trade
00:07:14.080 that's so prevalent in border crossings, as we know,
00:07:17.800 and let's work with them to stamp it out in North America.
00:07:21.560 I think that's a great opportunity.
00:07:22.720 Are we going to see prices in the United States
00:07:27.580 rise by 50 cents to a dollar a gallon in the Midwest?
00:07:32.280 Well, that's the same question you just asked.
00:07:35.100 I don't think Trump's that kind of person, but maybe I'm wrong.
00:07:38.400 Does he want to drive the people that voted for him
00:07:40.740 to have, you know, more expensive gasoline
00:07:43.660 as a result of a tariff that he put in by 50 cents or a dollar?
00:07:47.420 I don't think he's that person.
00:07:49.560 I think he's trying to drive a deal.
00:07:51.080 He's a businessman, and he's saying, listen,
00:07:52.680 you guys are gong shop north, just not as bad as down south.
00:07:57.800 I mean, the drug trade down there is a lot worse.
00:07:59.480 The human trafficking is a lot worse.
00:08:00.980 The gun trade is probably a lot worse.
00:08:04.140 I don't know.
00:08:05.660 But what we do know is that we've got a great opportunity
00:08:08.300 to work with the U.S. administration
00:08:09.520 to make sure our oil and gas flow through,
00:08:12.080 make sure we work with them to clean up some things.
00:08:15.120 Donald Trump is negotiating.
00:08:16.580 This is a deal for him, and he's saying, like,
00:08:18.300 I don't like how our borders are.
00:08:20.460 I think that's totally reasonable.
00:08:21.840 I don't either.
00:08:22.640 So let's clean him up, and let's work together to do that.
00:08:24.820 And in the meantime, exempt our oil and gas,
00:08:27.020 because it's only going to be better for your people,
00:08:28.660 just like it's going to be better for our people.
00:08:30.160 He may not realize how many Americans
00:08:31.720 actually work up here in the oil sands.
00:08:33.080 But is there any situation you could see happening
00:08:55.020 where retaliatory measures would need to happen?
00:08:58.360 I know Smith kind of took a stance against it,
00:09:01.120 but is there any situation where that could happen?
00:09:04.280 I certainly hope not.
00:09:05.420 It's beyond the scope of the provincial government to do so.
00:09:09.180 This is a federal government jurisdiction,
00:09:12.820 but I would hate to see the federal government
00:09:14.940 do something stupid like that and react in the wrong way,
00:09:17.400 which would cause retaliations backward.
00:09:20.040 Better off if we get along with our friends to the south.
00:09:22.160 They buy a lot of our product, and it's important.
00:09:25.520 They also, you know, a lot of people don't realize this,
00:09:28.160 but not only do they buy a lot of our product,
00:09:30.820 but in Pad 2 and Pad 4, which are the two most northern areas
00:09:35.800 of the five pads in the U.S.,
00:09:38.100 those two pads use almost exclusively 100% oil sands oil,
00:09:43.140 oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan.
00:09:46.540 I think they'd be pretty silly to increase those prices,
00:09:51.220 and you might say, well, they can just get it in from the south then.
00:09:54.100 Well, they can't. It's not so easy.
00:09:56.220 They're integrated into our pipelines.
00:09:58.100 They're integrated into our heavy oil,
00:10:00.020 and they've made their production facilities
00:10:02.680 and their refineries geared up to take our heavy oil.
00:10:06.680 It cost hundreds of millions of dollars to do that,
00:10:08.600 like millions of dollars.
00:10:10.240 And now they're stuck with our oil.
00:10:11.900 So I think it's going to be a little bit more difficult
00:10:14.240 than just saying, hey, you're sending us that stuff.
00:10:16.980 Let's increase the price.
00:10:18.580 Because he's got to think, whoa, I'm going to increase the price
00:10:22.380 for my people just like I'm going to increase the price
00:10:24.860 for those folks.
00:10:26.400 So am I really accomplishing anything?
00:10:29.180 I think Premier Smith is taking the right approach.
00:10:30.960 Let's work together.
00:10:31.980 Let's find some common places where we can work together,
00:10:34.040 and let's take it as an opportunity and do it.
00:10:36.220 And she has done it.
00:10:36.860 She's got more sheriffs.
00:10:37.800 She's got drones in there.
00:10:39.400 She's patrolling the border when it's really
00:10:41.040 a federal jurisdictional responsibility.
00:10:43.240 But you know what?
00:10:44.280 When they're not doing it right,
00:10:45.260 we have to step in and do it.
00:10:46.740 And that's what we're doing, protecting Albertans.
00:10:49.820 And the Albertan government has long-cited
00:10:51.680 the federal government's lack of collaboration,
00:10:54.520 specifically, of course, on energy projects.
00:10:56.720 So I'm curious what that collaboration might look like
00:10:59.500 with a more pro-energy government
00:11:01.420 if Polyefre takes office.
00:11:05.180 Well, I think there's a lot of opportunities,
00:11:06.940 primarily in reducing regulations
00:11:09.380 so that we can get more pipe in the ground.
00:11:11.500 We need more egress.
00:11:12.520 And if we're going to get this product to market
00:11:16.060 that is the best product in the world,
00:11:17.520 that is the most environmentally friendly
00:11:19.100 and best for human rights and jobs,
00:11:21.060 then we need to get more of it out of the ground
00:11:23.640 and into pipes that go south and go east and go west and north.
00:11:27.860 The truth is, as I mentioned before,
00:11:29.720 Korea, Japan, India, all want to buy our oil,
00:11:34.460 and they want to buy guaranteed supplies long-term.
00:11:38.700 If we can do that,
00:11:39.780 we can increase the price and decrease the differential
00:11:42.400 for our product.
00:11:44.420 And we can also supply many of our allies and friends
00:11:47.380 that are important to the U.S. long-term stability
00:11:51.500 as it is important to Canada's long-term stability.
00:11:54.180 So I truly believe we should work together
00:11:56.460 and think about energy security as we go forward
00:11:58.460 and eliminating energy poverty,
00:12:00.780 which is so prevalent in places like Bangladesh
00:12:02.680 and India, etc.
00:12:04.240 And just taking it a step further,
00:12:06.880 what specific economic benefits might Albertans see
00:12:10.660 in the coming year from a more favourable shift towards energy
00:12:14.560 and subsequently what benefits might be seen nationwide
00:12:16.880 or even worldwide?
00:12:19.760 Well, it's about jobs.
00:12:20.920 And the more Alberta jobs,
00:12:22.820 the more oil that comes out of our ground here,
00:12:24.740 the more natural gas that flows into pipes
00:12:26.540 that go overseas,
00:12:27.500 the better the world is
00:12:29.940 because we displace coal
00:12:31.300 with every bit of natural gas that goes over
00:12:34.260 and that's extremely important.
00:12:37.040 What does it mean for Albertans?
00:12:39.220 Well, the best jobs in Canada right now
00:12:41.540 are in Alberta,
00:12:44.040 in the Fort McMurray region.
00:12:45.840 You know, you can buy a house for $300,000.
00:12:48.660 It's like a five-, six-bedroom house.
00:12:50.600 And you can get a job that pays you
00:12:52.680 the highest household income in the country,
00:12:55.080 $200,000 a year, I believe, last year.
00:12:57.500 So these are great benefits to live in Fort McMurray
00:13:00.680 and rural Alberta, northern Alberta.
00:13:02.700 And a lot of people are looking for those opportunities
00:13:05.380 for their families
00:13:07.400 because they realise that's, you know,
00:13:09.640 that's what makes it important.
00:13:10.980 And home ownership is a reality here.
00:13:14.100 So I think what you see is a lot more wealthier Albertans,
00:13:18.240 in particular First Nations Albertans that live here
00:13:20.540 and First Nation companies that live here
00:13:22.860 and also companies from right across Canada.
00:13:25.180 I'm hoping that more people locate to Alberta
00:13:27.700 because it is the best place to live,
00:13:29.640 work and raise a family in the entire planet.
00:13:32.060 And you can do so as a wealthy individual as well.
00:13:35.680 So it's a great opportunity for families in Canada
00:13:40.500 to be part of the oil and gas sector.
00:13:43.120 Yeah.
00:13:43.280 And are there any other questions
00:13:44.460 I haven't asked or covered that you'd like to say?
00:13:46.720 No, I just would like to say how much I appreciate
00:13:51.260 being the Minister of Energy and Minerals for Alberta.
00:13:54.060 It's, you know, $183 billion industry last year
00:13:57.080 just in oil and gas.
00:13:58.160 And now we have minerals coming along
00:13:59.940 like lithium and helium and vanadium and titanium
00:14:03.080 and so many different opportunities
00:14:04.460 out of the tailings ponds in northern Alberta.
00:14:06.200 You know, we could supply titanium in the world's,
00:14:11.620 to the world about 15 to 20% of the world's needs
00:14:15.100 on a yearly basis for about 40 or 50 years
00:14:16.980 just out of the oil sands.
00:14:18.240 There's some really, really cool stories
00:14:20.240 that are happening right now,
00:14:21.120 including lithium, as you know,
00:14:22.320 the lithium brine solution,
00:14:24.360 the, you know, the second or third time
00:14:25.760 we've used a lot of wells in southern
00:14:27.180 and central Alberta.
00:14:29.120 The, this is the Alberta story
00:14:30.580 is how do we continue to be productive,
00:14:33.360 continue to make sure that the people of Alberta
00:14:34.960 get the benefit of these resources,
00:14:37.320 which they own.
00:14:38.200 So, appreciate being here.
00:14:40.160 I want to thank the Premier.
00:14:42.460 She's just, she's, she's so tied in
00:14:45.780 with the energy file.
00:14:46.800 It's great to see because, you know,
00:14:49.560 Albertans really have a champion
00:14:50.720 in our Premier for them and for their jobs
00:14:53.280 and their quality of life.
00:14:54.600 So, proud to be part of that government.
00:14:56.560 Thanks a lot, Mr. Jean.
00:14:57.280 I really appreciate you taking the time with me today.
00:14:59.980 My pleasure.
00:15:00.500 Enjoy.
00:15:01.120 Take care.
00:15:01.440 Thank you.
00:15:02.040 You too.
00:15:02.480 Bye-bye.
00:15:02.660 Let me know in the comments
00:15:03.800 what you thought of Minister Jean's interview
00:15:06.300 and whether there was anything surprising
00:15:08.380 or noteworthy in your opinion.
00:15:10.640 That wraps up our special episode today.
00:15:12.940 Once again, my name's Isaac Lamoureux,
00:15:15.060 your host of the Alberta Roundup.
00:15:17.200 I hope you all had a Merry Christmas
00:15:19.040 and a Happy New Year's.
00:15:20.680 Have a great weekend.
00:15:21.840 Thank you and God bless.
00:15:23.080 May Alberta prosper strong and free.
00:15:33.800 Good明榜.
00:15:34.900 Good night.
00:15:46.840 Good night.
00:15:47.180 My voice is gonna be a flash.
00:15:48.860 I love you.
00:15:50.080 I love you.
00:15:50.800 Good night.
00:15:52.180 Good night.
00:15:52.900 I love you.
00:15:53.320 Good night.
00:15:53.820 Good night.
00:15:54.460 Good night.
00:15:55.020 Good鬼.
00:15:55.700 Good night.
00:15:56.600 Thank you.
00:15:56.860 Good night.
00:15:57.520 Good night.
00:15:58.840 Good night.
00:15:59.620 Good night.
00:16:00.080 Good night.
00:16:01.200 Good night.
00:16:02.140 Good night.