CALGARY – Minister of Municipal Affairs Doug Griffiths is coming under fire from the Wildrose Party for comments he made about Alberta’s energy sector while at a private speaking engagement last month.
Griffiths was promoting his book 13 Ways to Kill Your Community in PEI on October 4th, when he said “everyone thinks it’s a benefit and a bonus because we have such a dominant commodity, but you know that sucks the life out of every other aspect of Alberta.”
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WATCH: Doug Griffiths speaks about Alberta’s energy sector while in PEI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUV7iJ_DjcY
In a statement, opposition leader Danielle Smith says it’s inexcusable for a government minister to attack Alberta’s most important industry, especially at a time when massive efforts are underway to build pipelines and get Alberta’s product to expanding markets.
During Question Period on Monday, Griffiths refuted the attacks, saying the quotes were part of a larger statement promoting rural development and were taken out of context.
“The discussion was about what you do in a hot economy, not just what you do when the economy is faltering,” says Griffiths. “I was very cautionary in saying having success has challenges too, because it can draw energy out of other sectors of the economy and other parts of the province – and so when there is success, it can have its challenges just as well as if there isn’t.”
He also called the attack by the Wildrose a smear, and encouraged people to go online and watch his speech in full.
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