Rachel Notley had to put up with a lot of "oilmansplaining" after she smashed through the gates of the Progressive Conservative dynasty in Alberta.
The days following her New Democratic Party's election victory coincided with a number of oil company quarterly conference calls, during which top executives said they looked forward to helping the incoming NDP premier understand the importance of the energy industry to Alberta.
Last week, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers announced it was setting up an elite task force to work with the NDP government to "make the industry stronger because a strong oil and gas industry makes for a strong Alberta." Job No. 1 will likely be to hunt down politicians' phone numbers, because executives' speed-dial codes for the provincial government no longer work.
Of course, oilmansplaining takes its cue from the delightfully coined "mansplaining," in which humans of the male persuasion display a propensity to dumb down topics when speaking to women. In the energy sector, it's more of a admonition to an unfamiliar NDP government not to gut the province's dominant industry.
It's clear Ms. Notley knows where she has the most convincing to do – in the energy and capital markets. She sought to calm fears early on, by saying that "things are going to be just A-okay here in Alberta," and by promising that no major policy changes will be made before extensive consultation with industry. "No one will be surprised by the way it unfolds," she said.
"It," in this case, is a review of oil and gas royalties, the campaign platform that's most worrisome for the industry and its investors. In fact, some contend the mere mention of another rejig of Alberta's complex resource-rent system has already harmed the value of assets and pulled share prices lower. Hence the industry's communications offensive before the government has even been sworn in.
But it's tough to imagine Ms. Notley is not thinking pragmatic thoughts for the sputtering economy she's inheriting. Oil prices – a much more important determinant than royalties of asset values and share prices – remain under pressure.
The NDP wants to show that it's more than just a protest vote, so surely it recognizes that revenues to fund its ambitious social agenda are tight. The energy sector, has, after all, slashed billions of dollars of spending and cut thousands of jobs to cope with the crude-price collapse.
One thing the new government shouldn't do on the energy front, though, is dawdle on a new carbon and environmental policy. This could have the largest long-term benefit, and if outgoing Premier Jim Prentice has been true to his word, a lot of work has already been done.
Many inside and outside the energy sector, me included, have complained that a lack of action on toughening carbon emission regulations, despite promises to do so, has hurt Alberta's reputation and, by extension, added a big hurdle to efforts to diversify markets for the province's resources.
It certainly gave U.S. President Barack Obama no incentive to make a decision on approving the Keystone XL pipeline, for instance, while the industry has complained that its landlocked oil is still saddled with a domestic discount.
What's needed is an increase to the carbon levy on major emitters above the current rate of $15 a tonne, as well as a broadening of the regulations to more industries. It is not known what numbers the current policy writers were closing in on.
Meanwhile, all that is standing in the way of building up green energy sources like wind and solar are changes to how the energy market assesses power coming on to the grid, and its price.
Mr. Prentice had said that the policy changes would be rolled out by the end of June, which leads one to assume that much to the detailed work is done, and that any changes could be made reasonably easily.
Ottawa did Alberta and its energy sector no favours by unveiling the latest in a series of national targets for carbon reduction, 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, and exempting the oil sands from stringent regulations.
At the risk of being accused of engaging in some kind of 'splaining myself, taking action on the carbon levy and opening the door to more wind and solar would provide Ms. Notley with a golden opportunity to show her government can make smart, decisive moves on the environment while helping out the energy sector's market-access aims in the long run.
It could even take some of the angst away from royalties for a while.
Jeffrey Jones