Swift Current– Pipeline News asked each of the four federal candidates in the riding of Cypress Hills Grasslands a series of questions on energy, with a focus on issues in that particular riding. These are the responses of Marvin Wiens, representing the Liberals. He spoke with Pipeline News by phone on Sept.16.
Pipeline News: Southwest Saskatchewan was the primary area for natural gas production in this province, but the drop in gas prices in recent years has caused drilling for natural gas to all but cease. What is your take on this development?
Marvin Wiens:I have a couple on my land myself (gas wells) that I’m getting yearly rental on. It’s positive. I view it very positively. As an MP and as a Liberal party we’d do everything to develop that industry because it is very important to this riding. Anything we can do to help develop it I think has to be done.
P.N.: The oil industry has taken up a lot of the slack from the decline of natural gas in southwest Saskatchewan. However, declining oil prices has caused all drilling to cease in the Shaunavon area as of early September. How is this going to impact your riding, and what will you do to help the energy industry in your riding?
Wiens: The news has been saying we could have $20 oil before this crisis is over. I don’t know if that’s true. I hope it’s not true.
I’m not sure I’m qualified to say exactly what government can do to counter world prices that end up at $40 or $20 a barrel. That is an international issue. But from a federal government regulation point of view, we need to do everything we can to, I guess, help the oil industry cope with those prices, and do whatever we can to help the industry to survive until we see better days. I don’t know anything else the federal government can do.
P.N.: The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, if built, will pass through the Cypress Hills-Grasslands riding. Indeed, this riding will see almost all the Canadian component of the pipeline’s construction. Its entire Saskatchewan run is within this riding, and pipe was stockpiled south of Shaunavon several years ago. If and when the project goes ahead, it will mean hundreds of high-paying construction jobs in the riding and tremendous spinoffs for businesses in the riding. What do you think about the Keystone XL project?
Wiens: Both the federal Liberal party and myself are very supportive. We’ve said that. It is huge for this riding. We would do everything we can to promote the project and do what we can with the U.S. government to make them comfortable to approve their side of it.
My sense is, under the Harper government, the U.S. government was nervous, because the environmental side of the project wasn’t being done properly. We are committed to doing the environmental side of that; the government side of that to make sure that we have U.S. government support to make the project go ahead because it is so important to the oil industry in Western Canada.
P.N.: Is there anything more on that project the federal government can or should do regarding Keystone XL? Will it take a new American president for this project to go ahead?
Wiens: There again, my sense of it is it probably will. My sense is the federal government, on this file, is to be seen as having the proper environmental regulations in place, that the industry is support of, that the industry, I think, wants to have happen, and that hasn’t happened. We have not, as Canadians, assured our American friends we are doing everything from the environmental side as we should. That, I hope, would happen very quickly under a Liberal government is elected.
I’m not close enough to comment (on specific environmental concerns). But my understanding is the federal Conservative government relaxed the environmental processes to the point where the U.S. government said this isn’t adequate. I’m not sure that that’s accurate, but that’s my understanding of the issue. If that’s the case, we need a Canadian government that ensures we have those environmental regulations in place that can sell this project to the U.S. government. They will benefit, and we will benefit greatly, from the project.
P.N.: With oil prices having been in serious decline since the summer of 2014, and now drilling activity drying up, the industry is going from bad times to worse, with thousands of job losses, businesses in serious trouble and home values in oilpatch towns taking a beating. What, if anything, should the federal government do to help this industry now in crisis?
Wiens: That’s a tough question. I suspect improvements to employment insurance, as I understand it there’s room to improve that program that hasn’t been done. Beyond that, I’m not sure what answers there are from a federal government perspective. But I’m sure prepared to investigate if there’s anything else the federal government can do.
P.N.: SaskPower has announced a new natural-gas fired power plant for Swift Current. Most of Saskatchewan’s wind-powered electrical production is within this riding. What do you see for our electrical generating future, especially given concerns about climate change?
Wiens: I think, as government, we need to work towards green power. There’s no doubt about that. To be environmentally friendly, we need to use our traditional fossil fuels wisely. They’re a great resource. We also need to develop alternate sources of power that are cost-effective.
I don’t believe personally in investing huge amounts of government dollars, and this is my personal opinion, in alternate energy sources if they’re not going to be cost effective eventually at some point in time. That doesn’t mean we should invest in wind turbines or solar from the research point of view to develop alternate sources for the future. We do have a limited supply of fossil fuels, and eventually we will have to do something other than fossil fuels. So we need to do both. We need to allow the oil industry to be profitable and supply power, but we also need to work on the alternatives for the longer term.
