Oil Patch Insider

For whom the Bell tolls

These are early days, but Brendan Bell could be entering rarified atmosphere as a politician from northern Canada who can make his mark at the federal level.

Youthful, energetic and on top of his file, he is about to try putting a dent in history.

When the next Canadian election is called — either 2008 or 2009 — he will be the standard bearer in the Western Arctic (read Northwest Territories) for the currently governing Conservative party.

Right off the bat, that puts him in a tough league. The last Conservative to represent the district in the House of Commons was Dave Nickerson, who was the region’s Member of Parliament from 1979 until he was unseated in 1988 by the Liberal party’s Ethel Blondin-Andrew, the first aboriginal woman to be elected to the Parliament of Canada.

She made the Western Arctic a Liberal stronghold until being toppled in 2006 by Dennis Bevington, from the left-leaning New Democratic Party.

After serving in the NWT legislature from 1999, most recently as industry minister with key responsibility for overseeing the Mackenzie Gas Project, Bell opted not to seek re-election in October, choosing to test the federal arena.

The first step was easy enough. He won the Conservative nomination by acclamation earlier in November.

Now he has an uncertain wait for the next federal campaign to be called.

That could come next year if the opposition parties decide to overthrow the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, or 2009, if Harper has his way.

Bell is not bothered by that prospect, telling the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. he needs time to “build some regional teams, get out and talk to the people about the issues that are important to them.”

If he and the Conservatives are elected, he will arrive in Ottawa at what could be a pivotal moment in the history of the NWT.

Assuming the Mackenzie Gas Project is still alive and moving forward, it will likely have evolved from a regional to a full-blown national issue.

By then, unless all of the pieces are in place, debate could be raging over the exploitation of Canada’s Arctic natural resources, the impact on the northern environment and lifestyle and the federal government’s role in negotiating key fiscal terms. Before stepping down as the NWT’s industry minister, Bell made a U.S. tour to promote northern gas as an affordable, secure and low-emission energy option to coal-fired electricity plants.

He argued Arctic gas could reduce carbon emissions in Texas alone by 75 million metric tons.

It was the kind of message a re-elected Harper government would be eager to spread.

—Gary Park