Alberta premier brands federal minister's net-zero speech at oil conference 'tone-deaf'

Expecting to draw around 5,000 delegates from more than 100 countries around the world, the World Petroleum Congress had barely kicked off Sunday before rifts between Alberta and Ottawa concerning energy policy took centre stage.

The World Petroleum Congress is a five-day conference being held in Calgary for first time since 2000. The theme for this year's conference is "Energy Transition: The Path to Net Zero."

During the opening ceremonies on Sunday, Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson told the crowd that, as a global community, in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, "meaningful progress" needed to be made by 2030. 

"We cannot get to net-zero by 2050 if we begin our journey in 2040," Wilkinson said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks provided by his office on Sunday evening, prior to the speech.

Wilkinson also issued a "call to action" to Canadian oil and gas companies to aggressively take up the challenge of decarbonization.

"A call to action to enhance the long-term competitiveness of the sector while concurrently playing an important role in the global fight against climate change," the remarks read. 

Wilkinson then goes on to "acknowledge the net-zero commitments that have been made by many of the largest Canadian energy companies."

But Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, speaking to reporters on Monday, said it was the "wrong place" for Wilkinson to make that speech.

"What he was tone-deaf to is the amount of work that's been done by our industry to align with the carbon-neutral target, and to essentially act as if the industry was winding down, and that is not the case," Smith said.

"That's why I had to counter his message. This is not an industry that's winding down. It's an industry that's transitioning away from emissions."

When asked by a reporter whether the World Petroleum Congress's international stage was an appropriate place for the federal and provincial government to spar over energy policy, Smith said she didn't like to fight with her federal counterparts.

"But I'm not going to allow them to take swipes at our industry and have it go unanswered, and talking about this industry winding down, being on its last legs, only having 25 million barrels a day of production by 2050, at a time when everybody's here to celebrate production and investment," Smith said.

"And, we're trying to make Canada an investment magnet. I would say that was the wrong place for him to make that speech."

Jim Reiter, Saskatchewan's minister of energy and resources, is also attending the conference. He was also critical of the speech, saying that he thought Wilkinson had been "dismissive" of what industry was doing.