CALGARY, AB: As a career politician, NDP Calgary-Foothills candidate Bob Hawkesworth should know better than making up his own facts.
But that’s exactly what he tried to do last night in order to soften the NDP’s ideological ideas on the economy and energy development when he claimed that within three months in government the NDP, “got the Energy East pipeline approved as part of the Canadian Energy Strategy.”
Here are the facts on the NDP record on pipeline development:
FACT: TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline has not even begun its public and regulatory review.
FACT: Premier Rachel Notley recently gave Quebec the ability to dictate economic policy to Alberta, essentially granting a veto on the Energy East pipeline.
FACT: The NDP have hired an anti-pipeline lobbyist as the chief of staff for the department of energy.
FACT: The NDP have been silent as their federal cousins have called for the oilsands to be, “left in the ground,” by two prominent candidates.
FACT: Federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair has consistently waffled on his support for the Energy East pipeline.
“Mr. Hawkesworth has spent his entire career as a politician trying to protect his job. Every day, Wildrose will stay focused on creating jobs for all Albertans,” Wildrose Calgary-Foothills candidate Prasad Panda said. “We can’t afford to have another MLA who not only does not understand how to create jobs and prosperity, but cannot even keep his facts straight on these critical issues.”