Kenney Sees Virus, Blockades Posing Threats to Alberta Economy

(Bloomberg) -- Alberta Premier Jason Kenney expects the province, already struggling with an oil industry downturn, to be wrestling with economic headwinds ranging from the coronavirus to pipeline protesters this year.

The coronavirus looks likely to cause a “significant global economic downturn,” Kenney said Monday in Leduc, Alberta. The virus is causing a “massive reduction” in travel and cutting demand for energy products, which will hurt the oil-rich province, Kenney said. Concerns about the virus prompted the cancellation of the annual CERAWeek energy conference in Houston that Kenney was scheduled to attend next week.

“Clearly this will affect the global economy -- it's going to affect oil prices, it will affect our fiscal situation,” Kenney said at an event to announce an increased loan to fund the cleanup of abandoned oil and gas wells to help the struggling oilfield-services industry. “It's just one more challenge being thrown at Alberta.”

Kenney also expressed skepticism that a proposed agreement between the British Columbia and federal governments and members of the Wet'suwet'en indigenous group that was announced over the weekend will help end the blockades that have hampered Canada's economy in recent weeks. While he's hopeful that the tentative deal will resolve some ambiguities around the role of the hereditary chiefs in off-reserve territory in B.C., he expects to see “continued militancy” from protesters who have “misappropriated” the cause of the Wet'suwet'en.

The comments come days after Kenney's government announced a budget that projected the province's deficit would narrow 9.3% to C$6.8 billion ($5.1 billion) in the fiscal year that runs through March 2021. However, those projections assume West Texas Intermediate crude at $58 a barrel, which is more than 20% higher than the grade's price on Monday.

“It frustrates me that I think we're doing everything that we reasonably can to get this economy moving again, and yet we're being sideswiped by global events that are beyond our control,” Kenney said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Orland in Calgary at korland@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, ;Derek Decloet at ddecloet@bloomberg.net, Carlos Caminada, Stephen Wicary

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