UCP candidates demand apology from NDP candidate for comments about energy industry

UCP candidates Devin Dreeshen, Chantelle de Jonge and R.J. Sigurdson criticized comments by an NDP candidate Friday in Okotoks

The United Conservative Party is demanding an apology from an NDP candidate for comments he made in a 2021 book about Alberta's energy sector.

Wild Roses are Worth It: Reimagining the Alberta Advantage by Livingstone-Macleod candidate Kevin Van Tighem is described as a collection of provocative, personal and thoughtful essays.

Jason Nixon, UCP Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre candidate, said Friday that in the book, Van Tighem calls Albertans angry, entitled rednecks and resource exploiters.

Nixon added that Van Tighem also compares the province's energy industry to slavery and energy workers to slaves.

Van Tighem released Wild Roses are Worth It in 2021 and in a YouTube interview last May, he shared his frustration over Alberta developing a reputation of being "entitled, grabby, resource exploiters."

He also wrote about our "addiction to a doomed and destructive energy source."

"An addict doesn't want to face reality," he wrote. "He or she just wants to know there will be a next fix. There will be. We're already in that fix. Oil sucks. And we're the suckers."

In another section, he wrote, "Alberta's enslaved landscapes were never unemployed to start with. And most of the jobs we force them to do impair their ability to do their real work. That's how slavery works; it makes bosses rich by stealing the energies of their slaves."

Regarding pipelines, he wrote, "New pipelines, should they come, will simply perpetuate our hopeless addiction to a doomed and destructive energy source."

DEMANDING APOLOGY

In a field outside Okotoks Friday morning, Chantelle de Jonge, who's running for the UCP in Chestermere-Strathmore, said Van Tighem owes Albertans an apology.

"This is worse than when the NDP called Albertans sewer rats and embarrassing cousins," de Jonge said.

"This is the most repulsive thing any NDP candidate has ever said about Albertans and our energy industry. Van Tighem needs to apologize immediately."

VAN TIGHEM RESPONDS

Later Friday afternoon, Van Tighem issued a statement to CTV News.

"It's no secret that I care deeply about Alberta's outdoors," he said. "Like many rural Albertans, I keep a careful eye on anything that might put our farming, ranching and natural heritage at risk. Sometimes my description has been over the top and veered into unduly provocative comparisons.

"So let me be clear," he added. "Oil and gas jobs are important. They support Alberta families and communities. That’s why we need to maximize the value of our resource economy. I respect and admire my friends, family and neighbours who work in both the energy sector and on farms and ranches across Alberta.

"Oil is a big part of our past," he added. "It will be an important part of our future, and I'm proud to be part of a party who delivered the first pipeline to tidewater in 50 years."

Van Tighem is the author of more than a dozen books about Alberta's natural habitat, its wildlife and conservation. He's formerly a superintendent of Banff National Park, has written more than 200 articles, stories and essays on conservation and wildlife, and won numerous awards, including a Western Magazine Award, Outdoor Writers of Canada book and magazine awards and the Journey Award for Fiction.

With files from The Canadian Press