*** Photo credits: Kempton Lam. ***
The following is a report of the prime minister stephen harper Calgary events in Calgary yesterday.
2010 Budget Roundtable
Participants:
prime minister stephen harper
environment minister jim prenticeBrian Vaasjo – Capital Power
Cal Nichols – Gasland Group of Companies
Scott Thon – AltaLink
Hal Kvisle – TransCanada (PDF)
Doug Mitchell – Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Michael Wilson – Agrium (PDF)
Randall Eresman – Encana (PDF)
Ron Mannix – Coril Holdings (ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4)
Murray Edwards – Canadian Natural Resources
John Wright – Petrobank Energy
Here are a few brief points made by the PMO “designated” roundtable participant Doug Mitchell,
- high level discussions about energy, the general economy, agriculture, and how to generate the economy [economic activities]
- look at where is Canada and in reference to US in the recovery
- home improvement plan/stimulus showing the desired effects
- improvement from stimulus doesn’t last forever, ultimately someone has to pay for it
- recovery is fragile but Canada is doing well comparing to other nations
- people still worry about their jobs, worry about the future, people have to be cautious
- general mood in the room is positive
Edmonton-based Cal Nichols also stopped to answer a few questions from the media,
- Cal thinks mr harper is reaching out and looking for feedback and ideas, whats working, whats in the best interests for Canadians, with clear focus on how we are perceived by the world because we are part of a global economy.
- Stimulas programs are going to carry on and have to work within the budget.
- No discussion about equalization payments in the meeting.
- Main themes of the meeting: (because this was an Alberta based group) there were good discussions about energy initiatives, carbon capture, environment.
- Talks about the economy: Locally, optimism amongst the group. Everybody in the room is mindful of not only what is good for Alberta but what is good for the rest of the country.
From Canadian Press “PM meets with business leaders, Alberta caucus“,
“Harper projected optimism in a short statement he made for reporters before closing the doors on the meeting.
“We had some good news last week on the jobs front. We had a little bit of good news on the Buy America front. Commodity prices are obviously a lot better than they were a year ago,” he said.
“That all said, we think we still have some significant challenges going forward, given the fragile state of the global recovery.”
A deal was struck last week that allows Canadian companies to be temporarily exempt from some of the Buy American elements of Washington’s stimulus package.”
fyi: here is a link to a 2009 CBC report of mr harper’s roundtable in Calgary.
The following video shows mr harper at his photo ops, and two participants talking about the roundtable discussions in full. More discussion of mr harper’s visit to Calgary after the video.
Note: It is hard to write about prime minister stephen harper’s budget roundtable and Alberta caucus meeting in Calgary yesterday without stating how limited and restricted the media access were (and apparently the pm’s previous Calgary visits are the same). The “Photo opportunity off the top (cameras and photographers only)” stipulation, meaning no chances for gathered reporters to ask any questions, lead to superficial reporting of very limited value of what the prime minister thinks on the core issues. This reporter will explore that in another article.
Filed under: Alberta, Business, Calgary, Canada, Democracy, politics, Video, YouTube 
