de Jonge attends PNWER training conference

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Chantelle de Jonge aims to make a positive impact to Alberta-US relations and emphasize energy infrastructure development.

de Jonge attended training at the Legislative Energy Horizon Institute, held July 10-15 and hosted by the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER).

“The intent is for legislators to learn about energy policy and then PNWER is a regional, multilateral forum that brings together legislators and government and private sector leaders to talk about policy issues throughout the Northwest and find regional solutions to what are global challenges,” said de Jonge. “The biggest [topic] was trade. We have such deep economic ties that underpin both the Alberta – and really Canada and America’s economy – and bilateral trade bring a lot of mutual benefits. That is really the biggest focus here is how we better support jobs and economic growth, specifically through trade.”

She explained her presence at the event was both to learn and to lead on topics expanding from energy trade, which included aquatic invasive species, livestock health, forestry and wildfire management.

de Jonge emphasized Alberta’s role as an energy leader and also supporting American jobs in the sector.

“Much of our heavy oil goes down to the American Midwest, so many of their refineries are specifically designed to process Alberta crude oil, and that is supporting, really, hundreds of thousands of American jobs,” she said. “That bilateral trade – these energy corridors – which is a place Alberta has really been a leader on, is something that was a big topic of discussion.”

Much of de Jonge’s focus as the parliamentary secretary for affordability and utilities revolved around energy security and electricity generation throughout North America. 

She added Alberta aimed to share its policies regarding electricity generation and use with other jurisdictions in order to suggest avenues to impact ongoing electricity shortages.

“(Another) big topic of the day … is data centres, and we will hear shortly in our region about data centre development and that brings a lot of potential economic growth, and while that is true, we need to ensure that we have reliable sources of electricity to power these things,” said de Jonge. “That is a big focus – the electricity demands from the center alone are astronomical, and we are really seeing that unprecedented growth in demand for electricity, and this is a place where we have got to look at reliable electrical generation in Alberta.”

Leading among ongoing concerns are American tariffs. The latest being a threat of 35 per cent tariffs on all imports. 

De Jonge, being a signatory on PNWER’s public letter to the Canadian and American governments emphasizing free trade earlier this year, emphasized the importance of free trade across the border.

“Ninety per cent of Alberta’s exports go to the US. That is $140 billion in exports that supports hundreds of thousands of good paying Albertan jobs,” she said. “As legislators, we need to be continually engaging with our counterparts to the south and building those relationships.”