Escaping the Ottawa Bubble

When I arrived in Canada nearly 3 years ago, one of the best pieces of advice I had was to get out of Ottawa to experience the diversity of culture, politics and geography of this incredible country. This was great advice, and I’ve tried to follow it, travelling as much as my budget (and family commitments!) allow.

In the last few weeks I’ve visited Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT) and Saskatchewan (as well as flying visits this week to Montreal and Quebec City, more regular destinations of mine).

In Yellowknife, I had the privilege to meet Premier Bob McCleod, Speaker Jackie Jacobson, Minister David Ramsay and the Joint Task Force, visited two of the local First Nation communities, and had discussions on the Arctic, the traditional economy, and the enormous mining, oil and gas deposits.

Great to meet @nwtpremier and discuss challenges and opportunities of this wonderful territory with @RupertPotterFCO pic.twitter.com/UTI1uLZIzW

— Corin Robertson (@CorinRobertson) May 29, 2014

NWT struck me as a territory of incredible beauty and economic potential. The people I met were enthused about the  new devolution of powers to the territory (as of 1 April this year) and what that might lead to in terms of jobs and growth. It’s a time of great change in NWT, with the double-edged sword of climate change both opening up new opportunities around the Beaufort Sea as well as threatening the sustainability of the traditional economy (as well as the accessibility of the all-important ice roads).

The Catholic church at Dettah, Akaitcho Territory. Struck by prominence of Rom. Catholicism amongst NWT First Nations pic.twitter.com/phQsQrje6Y

— Corin Robertson (@CorinRobertson) May 29, 2014

I was also struck by the warmth of the people and the real sense of community, despite some real challenges, both social and economic. This was particularly apparent in the Legislative Assembly, with its absence of party politics and a “consensus” approach to decision-making (although the session I witnessed seemed quite a long way from consensus!).

My next stop was Saskatchewan (which charismatic Premier Brad Wall describes as “difficult to spell, easy to draw”) – visiting business and government representatives in both Saskatoon and Regina, and making a visit to the highly impressive SaskPower Boundary Dam Carbon Capture project.

Deputy HC @CorinRobertson hearing all about #Carboncapturestorage @SaskPowerCCS Boundary Dam. Strong UK-AB #CCS ties pic.twitter.com/iYUmJ15tEw

— UK in Canada (@UKinCanada) June 5, 2014

By chance, my visit came hot on the heels of the US EPA announcement on coal regulations, so a good moment to see how Saskatchewan’s journey on Carbon Capture was proceeding, and how the UK might learn from it.

We’re already working closely with Canada on CCS – and it’s a key strand of the UK-Canada Joint Declaration endorsed by Prime Ministers Cameron and Harper in 2011. I discussed this, as well as wider UK-Saskatchewan collaboration (eg in the research and agricultural biotech sector) with Deputy Premier Krawetz. I left enthused about the scope for us to do more together.

So a busy few weeks, but well worthwhile to get a taste of the world outside the Ottawa bubble and foster new UK-Canada links. I add it to visits over the last few years to British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Alberta, PEI, amongst others, trying to scratch below the surface of this fascinating and diverse country. There’s more I want to see – including the Arctic, whales, the Northern Lights (I went to NWT at the wrong time of year!), and polar bears. But I need to save something for future blogs!