Plunging oil prices part of cabinet retreat talks
Posted Apr 25, 2016 05:19:10 AM.
Last Updated Apr 25, 2016 08:32:03 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his 30 cabinet ministers are holed up at a luxury mountain resort in Kananaskis, Alberta discussing the devastation wrought by plunging oil prices on the province’s economy.
Premier Rachel Notley met privately with Trudeau Sunday night and then gave a presentation to about half the cabinet at which she drove home the message that a healthy Alberta economy is a necessary precondition for robust national economic growth.
She spoke of the desperate need for a pipeline to get the province’s oil sands crude to tidewater and for a quick start to job-creating infrastructure projects.
She also reiterated her objections to a recent boost in Employment Insurance benefits for hard-hit regions of the country, which excluded Edmonton.
But while many of the ministers leant Notley a sympathetic ear, she received no specific promises on any of the issues she raised.
The retreat wraps up midday Tuesday.
