Alberta Premier Jason Kenney fires back at federal leaders opposed to oil bailout

Alberta's premier pushed back Thursday against federal party leaders who said the oil industry is dying and unworthy of a federal government bailout.

Premier Jason Kenney said Bloc Qubcois Leader Yves-Franois Blanchet is "obsessed" with attacking Albertans, who have paid billions of dollars in federal taxes that helped fund Quebec social programs and services.

"Please stop kicking us while we're down," Kenney said Thursday during an Edmonton news conference.

"We Albertans have been generous, and we will continue to be generous, but this,these attacks on our natural resource industries are unwarranted, they are divisive, they're I believe, in a way unCanadian at a time like this."

Both Blanchet and Green Party parliamentary Leader Elizabeth May said Wednesday the federal government should abandon any plan to offer financial aid to the languishing oil and gas industry.

"My heart bleeds for people who believe the sector is going to come back. It's not," May told reporters in Ottawa. "Oil is dead and for people in the sector, it's very important there be just transition funds."

Blanchet said the oil industry is "condemned," and the federal government should avoid propping it up.

"It is clear that there is no long-term future for that kind of industry, so let's help them go somewhere else, something which is more green," he said.

Blanchet should be more appreciative, Kenney says

Kenney said Blanchet should show gratitudefor the billions of dollarsthe oil industry has generated and shared with Quebec in recent decades.

Quebec received $13 billion through equalization this year, some of which came from federal taxes paid by oil and gas workers, he said.

Oil companies are nowbleeding money as coronavirus lockdowns drastically reduce demand, a global price war sends prices plunging and firms struggle to borrow.

These have prompted companies to scale down spending and production, which could, in turn, decrease employment in the sector.

• Premier says Alberta government balancing need for economic aid with debt risk

Alberta expected almost a tenth of its provincial budget this year to come from non-renewable resource revenues, based on an oil price of $58 US a barrel.

On Thursday, a barrel of benchmark West Texas Intermediate was worth about $24 US.

For more than a month, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has promised help for the oil patch was imminent.

The federal government has already committed to spending $2.5 billion cleaning up orphanedwells and reducing methane emissions.

But the industry wants broader measures, including cash, relaxed borrowing conditionsand policies such as lower resource royalties.

Premier backs beleaguered health minister

Kenney also dispelled talk of a provincial cabinet shuffle on Thursday as critics call for the resignation or demotion of Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

Shandro is at odds with Alberta doctors after imposing a new agreement this spring that changed how physicians are paid.

Kenney said Shandro has the confidence of government and has been doing "an extraordinary job" in the portfolio under the pressure of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctors' pay must stop rising at its current rates, Kenney said.

"Particularly with the great fiscal reckoning that Alberta will face following the pandemic, we cannot continue to see annual increases in physician compensation that are typically three-to-four times higher than inflation," he said.

Since the pay changes took effect March 31, several groups of rural doctors have said they will stop working in hospitalemergency wards and delivering babiesbecause they can no longer afford to do both hospital and clinic work.

On April 24, Shandro reversed some of the pay changes for rural physicians, adding $81 million to the Rural Remote Northern Program.

Kenney said Thursday that amounts to about $100,000 more annuallyfor each rural doctor.

However, some rural doctors say the distribution of money is changing, and they still stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Doctor pay makes up about a tenth of the province's spending, Kenney said.