Public pressure apparently forced the Alberta government’s hand when it pulled armed sheriffs that had been stationed at environmental hearings for a proposed multi-billion-dollar bitumen upgrader near Fort Saskatchewan. Unfortunately, it now appears armed officers at controversial hearings is not a recent development, a further blow to the credibility of a province already under fire for a perception of putting industry interests ahead of public input.
As CBC reported this week, armed sheriffs were called in to guard a public hearing into the construction of Total S.A.’s proposed upgrader 10 kilometres from Fort Saskatchewan. The guards were called in by Alberta’s Office of the Solicitor General and Public Security to “prevent things from happening,” according to a department spokesperson. The department apparently did not expect anything to happen among the assembled farmers, environmentalists and landowners; the guards were simply there to ensure everyone at the hearing got their say.
Naturally, the move was roundly panned as heavy-handed by those in attendance, along with opposition Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald, who claimed the government isn’t interested in allowing citizens to freely express themselves. The guards were pulled within two days and the government promptly apologized. Solicitor-General Frank Oberle conceded there was in fact no need for the officers and apologized if anyone felt intimidated.
The apology is nothing more than an obvious attempt at damage control. Department officials confirmed armed sheriffs have been present at five environmental hearings since 2008, a startling revelation given the province’s track record with contentious hearings where industry interests are pit against rural landowners.
This is, after all, a government that in early 2008 was forced to overhaul its regulatory body, the Energy and Utility Board, after hearings into a $600-million power line between Edmonton and Calgary resulted in scandal. The board was branded biased after it hired private detectives to spy on critics of the project. The scandal so damaged the board’s credibility it was scrapped, giving way to the current Alberta Utilities Commission. The government learned from that experience by creating a new law that allows power companies to forgo a public hearing process for any transmission project considered critical in nature, a Draconian measure that’s an affront to democratic principles like transparency and free speech.
By failing to learn from these recent experiences, the Ed Stelmach government has either failed to grasp the poor optics of posting armed guards at hearings or it’s more of the same. Either way it’s yet another error in judgment that needlessly raises the temperature on the already sensitive issue. For a party that heavily leans on its traditional rural base, it’s a mistake that could prove costly.
