Second energy minister shown the door

These are dangerous times for Canada’s energy ministers.

In less than a week, those holding the portfolio in Alberta and now the Canadian government have been moved down the pecking order.

Mel Knight handed the reins of control in Alberta to Ron Liepert, and Lisa Raitt, after only 15 months as Canada’s Natural Resources Minister, has been yanked from the job by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in favor of Christian Paradis, a 36-year-old star-in-the-making.

Despite giving his home province of Quebec some added clout in the federal cabinet, Paradis may face his toughest job selling the importance of hydrocarbons in Quebec, which has adopted California’s low-carbon fuel standard and is the bastion of strongest Canadian opposition to the oil sands.

Gilles Duceppe, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, reflected the mood when he said Paradis was “stooping very low to accept a portfolio like that. A Quebecer will be defending the indefensible. That’s shameful.”

It matters little in Quebec that the energy sector is responsible for 25 percent of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product, or that Alberta’s energy wealth is redistributed to economically weaker regions such as Quebec.

It is not clear whether Paradis will attempt to present a more complete picture of the oil sands in Quebec or across Canada.

But many observers note that the real control at the federal level over the petroleum industry is in the hands of Environment Minister Jim Prentice, who runs Canada’s climate-change agenda, has government oversight of the Mackenzie Gas Project and, like Harper, comes from Calgary, the headquarters of the Canadian industry.

Even so, Paradis can’t be shoved out of the MGP picture, given the importance of current attempts to negotiate a fiscal regime with the project partners and the cabinet’s ultimate role, once the regulatory agencies have completed their work this year, in issuing final approval.

The change was forced on Harper by a series of gaffes committed last year by Raitt, who is facing an investigation by the federal ethics commissioner into allegations of improper fundraising activity and who left confidential government documents in a TV studio.

—Gary Park