Achi news desk-
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the decision to shuffle the Canadian Energy Center (CEC) — commonly known as the province’s energy war room — into the Intergovernmental Relations department will help sharpen its focus and help its goals.
As part of the move, the centre’s mandate, money and three of its staff are being moved closer to the premier.
“When we have those big initiatives that we have to do, it should be led out of the premier’s office. So that was the thinking behind it,” Smith said.
The government announced the decision on Tuesday, saying the organization will “continue to increase public understanding of the role that oil and gas play globally in a secure energy future,” as part of intergovernmental relations.
The war room was created to combat what Senior Minister Jason Kenney called misinformation about the energy sector, but when Smith was elected, funding for the center was cut significantly. At one point, the CEC had a budget of $31 million. More recently, that number is $9 million.
“This is the first step toward basically dealing with a very embarrassing and costly promotional campaign on behalf of the Kenney government,” said Trevor Harrison, a political scientist with the University of Lethbridge.
The Opposition NDP, however, wants the reorganization to be investigated by the auditor general. It calls the heart of the centre’s aims unnecessarily.
“You don’t need a war room to communicate Alberta’s achievement or its industry. There is very good work that speaks for itself, and what you need is a stable policy,” said Nagwan Al-Guneid, Alberta NDP energy critic.
“The objective was to support the sector – so I want to understand how did this help Alberta’s energy sector in any way?”
Although the center is taxpayer funded, it has been labeled a private corporation, exempt from freedom of information legislation.
Moving the center under a provincial ministry means it is now under the same rules as the rest of the government, and open to slightly more public scrutiny.
Tom Olsen, CEO and managing director of the (CEC), revealed that he would not continue working with the centre, in a post on LinkedIn.
“I am proud of the role that a dedicated team of professionals at the CEC has played in advocating on behalf of one of Canada’s most vital industries and I applaud the Government of Alberta’s decision to bring this important work to internal,” he said.
Olsen said he will be working with the government over the next few weeks to help with the transition.
“I’m looking forward to moving on to as yet undefined opportunities after that,” he said.
