Alberta wants to flip the script in oilpatch's favour it won't be easy

When Jason Kenney took tothe podium this weekto launch his promised energy "war room,"he did so under the gazeof college students hopingto one day work in the oil and gas industry.

Alberta's premier explainedhow theCanadian Energy Centre would respond rapidly to perceived "misinformation," gatherand analyze data, and produce original content,like promotional videos.

With an annual budget of$30 million, the effort is well-funded.

But withspending on health and education under the microscope in Alberta, it seemsfair to ask what is the expectedreturn on thatinvestment?Will it change minds? Can it help bring backjobs?

Or perhaps,as opponentssuggest, the goals are more political in nature.

The centre is now one of Alberta's most high-profile bodies, aimingto influenceglobalopinion on the country's oil and gas sector. How the government viewssuccess is an important question.

Many Albertans,indeed, hope it can shiftunfavourable views of theoil and gas sector.

But creating a new, "positive"narrativeseemslikea difficultand even amorphous goalin a charged,global debateabout fossil fuels, carbon emissions and climate change.

On the same day that the war roomlaunched, Tom Olsen, the head of the new centre, found himself answering questions about climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was named TimePerson of the Year.

David Taras, a political analyst at Calgary's Mount Royal University, saidaffecting North Americanpublic opinionwhen it comes tothe oilsandsand climate change won't be an easy task.

"Iwould say the chances are the same as putting your finger in the dike," he said in an interview.

Kenney said during Wednesday's launch that one way the government willgauge success is with public opinion research, but he added that some things will be difficult to measure.

"We are facing a significant challenge by these same organizations trying to misinform prospective investors about our environmental performance," said Kenney.

"It's kind of hard to measure exactly what impact we can have there."

His hope is that when investorscome to make decisions on environmental, social and governance criteria,they will, at the very least,be looking at current and accurate data on the performance of the Canadian industry.

It's his contention Canada generates energy at the highest environmental, human rights and labour standards on Earth.

"My hope is that someday in the future, these facts will be so well-known that we don't need to invest so much in telling the truth," Kenney said. "But right now, we are inthe fight of our economic lives."

Environmentalists and others concerned about climate change will undoubtedlychallenge what the Alberta government and the energy centre put forwardas facts.

Greenpeace Canada didn't waste any time, quickly disputingone of the energy centre's postings on itsnew website, challenging the notionthere will be "increasing demand globally for oil and gas for decades to come."

In a world where even basic facts seem polarizing, how will others view the information that comes from theCanadian Energy Centre?

What isclear is this has been a rotten stretch for the people who work in Alberta'soil and gas industry, as layoff announcements continue to stingthe sector.

ATBFinancial's new forecastanticipates another sluggish year for the provincial economy as thestruggles of the oilpatch are expected tocontinue.

In some ways, Kenney'sestablishment of the "war room" gives both form and substance to the concerns and frustration of those Albertanswho are worriedabout their future and the industry.

"We are going to stand up for an industry that has done more than any in Canada's modern history to create shared prosperity, social mobility and progress across this country," Kenney said Wednesday.

If Canada doesn't provide the energy others need, he said,"OPEC dictatorships and Vladimir Putin's Russia will."

In Alberta, this may be a compelling argument. His remarks were met with applause Wednesday in a room that included executives from some of the industry's biggest lobby groups.

But can it win over skeptics onBay Street, Wall Street or in London?

This month, Moody's downgradedAlberta's credit rating, citing the province's continued dependence on oil. It also noted the province'soil and gas sector is carbon intensive and itsgreenhouse gas emissions are the highest among provinces.

"Alberta is also susceptible to natural disasters, including wildfires and floods, which could lead to significant mitigation costs by the province," Moody's said.

Kenney immediately pushed back, saying financial institutions, including Moody's, "are buying into the political agenda emanating from Europe, which is trying to stigmatize development of hydrocarbon energy."

Moody's has not retracted its report.

Then there's the debate about the demand for oil in the future and the trajectory of the sector. Regardless of how many decades people believe will pass before oil demand begins to slip, the conversationdefinitely seems to be shifting.

"About 14 years ago, all anybody could talk about was peak oil supply," Bloombergopinion writer Mark Gongloffnoted this week. "Now everybody talks about the opposite: peak oil demand."

It's one reason why some Albertans, like Duncan Kenyon of the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think-tank, saynow is the timeto have hard conversations about the future of the province and its business strategy.

The Canadian Energy Centre will now wadeinto this roiling debate about energy amid global calls foraction on climate change hoping to turn the tide in favour of the oilsandsand the rest of the domestic energy sector.

Success might be hard to measure but, in an attention economy, it's perhaps the struggle to resonate that is one of its greatest challenges.