In Canada’s most staunchly Conservative city, Official Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair has seized on one of the few areas he might be able to find some common ground with its downtown business crowd – provincial rights in the oil and gas sector.

With the aim of ensuring he has a presence in the hub of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s political base, the NDP leader wasted no time this week playing to Albertans’ long-held concerns regarding federal meddling in provincial matters. Mr. Mulcair, whose home province of Quebec has also frequently clashed with Ottawa on matters of jurisdiction, told the Calgary Chamber the Harper government’s strategy on foreign investment could erode the constitutionally-enshrined provincial right to manage non-renewable natural resources.