Mr. Hehr: The Premier promised full public disclosure about changes to the incremental ethane extraction program, eventually approved by cabinet, but documents obtained clearly show that government staffers were writing press releases with industry prior to the approval.
The information provided is a document showing that a closed-door meeting of the Alberta Competitiveness Council was held on March 8. Given that we do not know which, if any, of the industry players were in attendance, we still don’t know if any companies were given an unfair advantage. Will the Minister of Energy release the attendance record of the meeting?
Dr. Morton: Mr. Speaker, I’d be happy to release the attendance at that meeting. In fact, I would refer the hon. member to slide 5 of the slide deck there, that lists members and also makes it very clear that it’s anticipated the government is going to change the policy. All this talk a few weeks ago about secret deals and inside deals – there was no inside deal. There’s no secret. All industry players were fully advised of what the policy was that was coming.
Mr. Hehr: Well, I’ll ask a follow-up to the hon. minister. Are the names of the companies who were in attendance at this meeting listed on slide 5?
Dr. Morton: Slide 5 makes it very clear what the forthcoming policy is. Whether the names of the companies are on slide 5 or not, I’m not sure. I have a list of everybody who was at the meeting. I’m happy to make it available to the hon. member.
Mr. Hehr: Well, I thank him for that. I wrote him a letter on November 14 on this. The Premier promised full disclosure, and I’d appreciate that information as soon as we can get it, all the industry players who were at this said meeting on March 8, to really clear the air and set us straight on this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Minister.
Dr. Morton: He’s most welcome.
Alberta Hansard, December 6, 2011