UCP candidate Jeff Callaway urges Alberta to buy port of Churchill to spur oil sales

Alberta conservative leadership candidate Jeff Callaway says one way to jump-start the province’s lagging oil industry may be to buy a piece of Manitoba.

Callaway, who is running to lead the new United Conservative Party, says the province should look at buying the port of Churchill on Hudson Bay and shipping oil there by pipeline.

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He says tankers there could ship oil abroad and fetch a better price for Alberta, which has been running multibillion-dollar deficits in recent years.

READ MORE: Alberta government adjusts expectations, spending because of lower revenues in first quarter fiscal update

He said the province would have to buy the port from the private owners, fix the railway going to it and build a pipeline there as well.

There’s a lot of work to be done.

READ MORE: Train to Churchill, Man. suspended ‘indefinitely’ after flooding damage

Recent floods have washed out the rail line to the remote community and the owner of the port, Denver-based Omnitrax, has suspended operations at the grain terminal and is looking to sell.