EDMONTON 鈥� Alberta's energy 鈥渨ar room鈥� 鈥� the oft-ridiculed agency famous for its feud with a children鈥檚 Bigfoot cartoon 鈥� is being retooled and brought in-house directly under Premier Danielle Smith's office.
鈥淭he Canadian Energy Centre is an important advocate for Canada and Alberta鈥檚 long-term position as a safe, clean and responsible energy supplier,鈥� the province鈥檚 Energy Ministry said Tuesday in a statement.
鈥�(But) after careful consideration, we will be integrating the mandate of the (centre) into Intergovernmental Relations."
In Alberta鈥檚 cabinet, the intergovernmental relations portfolio is handled by the premier.
The statement said the centre's assets, intellectual property and researchers will be moved over to the intergovernmental relations office.
A senior government source said three of the six current employees of the Canadian Energy Centre will remain in their roles.
The source said the centre's branding and website will remain the same. Most of the agency鈥檚 budget is devoted to advertising.
The Canadian Energy Centre was the formal name given to a corporation created by former United Conservative premier Jason Kenney in 2019.
Kenney characterized it as a 鈥渨ar room鈥� that would fight back, in real-time, against what it deemed to be unfounded criticism of Alberta鈥檚 oil and gas industry.
There was controversy from the start as the centre was structured in such a way as to shield it from public freedom of information searches.
The centre came out of the gate with a $30-million budget but drew fire almost immediately for using someone else鈥檚 trademarked logo and for having staff members refer to themselves as reporters instead of public employees.
It also posted, and later apologized for, a series of social media messages about the New York Times, saying the newspaper had been 鈥渃alled out for antisemitism countless times鈥� and had a 鈥渧ery dodgy鈥� track record.
In March 2021, the centre 鈥� and by extension Kenney鈥檚 government -- was widely ridiculed after it launched a campaign against 鈥淏igfoot Family,鈥� a Netflix cartoon featuring talking animals and a domesticated sasquatch battling an oil magnate determined to blow up an Alaskan wildlife preserve to gain easy access to petroleum.
The "war room" urged followers to tell Netflix the movie is 鈥渂rainwashing our kids with anti-oil and gas propaganda.鈥�
The sasquatch debate spilled onto the floor of the legislature, with the Opposition accusing Kenney鈥檚 government of turning Alberta into a laughingstock.
鈥淲hich investors in Zurich do you think were swayed by your brave stand against a child鈥檚 cartoon character?鈥� NDP Leader Rachel Notley chortled in Kenney鈥檚 direction.
Kenney shot back, 鈥淚鈥檓 sure (the NDP) are cheering on the propaganda in that Netflix story, but we鈥檙e correcting the record as we should.鈥�
The Bigfoot film director thanked the province, saying the movie had been sinking on the Netflix viewing list but soared back into the top 10 due to the controversy.
Change had been in the works for months.
Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean's most recent mandate letter from Smith, published last July, called on him to review the Canadian Energy Centre.
Nagwan Al-Guneid, the NDP鈥檚 Opposition energy critic, characterized the change as a massive waste of public funds.
鈥淪ince 2019, the UCP have wasted over $66 million of taxpayer money on this failed war room," said Al-Guneid in a statement.
She said that money could have gone to fund the province's carbon tax on large emitters, which in turn could have been funnelled into more technology to reduce emissions.
Al-Guneid said the NDP will ask the province's auditor general to investigate.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2024.
Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
