Last week in the legislature, Tory Energy Minister Mel Knight incorrectly accused the Sierra Club of supporting nuclear energy.

During question period on April 24, Liberal leader Kevin Taft alleged that the government had appointed a pro-nuclear member to the supposedly “unbiased” Nuclear Energy Experts Panel, created to advise the government on whether to support the development of nuclear energy. Dr. John Luxat, the former president of the Canadian Nuclear Society, was appointed to the panel last week. 

Knight deflected Taft’s claims by attacking the credibility of one of the most vocal critics of nuclear expansion in Alberta, The Sierra Club of Canada. “It might be very interesting for the member opposite to understand,” he said, “that one of the, kind of, major forces working with respect to environmental concerns globally, The Sierra Club, runs ads in Europe in favour of nuclear energy, Mr. Speaker, in favour of nuclear energy. This is not—not—a consultation process. We’re going out to answer some questions for Albertans.”

The Sierra Club quickly debunked Knight’s statement. The group has never endorsed nuclear energy—indeed, it has no European wing or any activities on that continent, says Lindsay Telfer, director of the group’s prairie chapter. 

The day after he leveled the false accusations, Knight personally contacted the Sierra Club to apologize. The energy minister is expected to clarify his statement in the legislature.

Albertans should be concerned about Knight’s actions, Telfer says, because they reflex the government’s real agenda. “To me the issue remains, why was Mel Knight trying to legitimize nuclear energy proposals in the legislature?

“What remains clear in this whole situation is that Knight has a bias in favour of nuclear energy—displayed by his committee selection and his obvious attempt to legitimize the pro-nuclear position in the legislature. What kind of information can we expect from this panel if this is our starting point?”

Knight is no stranger to controversy. He is well-known for his staunch defense of the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board after it was revealed that the publicly appointed regulatory board had used taxpayer dollars to hire private investigators to spy on landowners and their lawyers during public hearings near Rimbey.

[Dave Cournoyer is a provincial affairs blogger and has in the past worked for the Alberta Liberal Party.]