Victoria's Mayor, Lisa Helps, has returned from her trip to a Cenovus site in Alberta's Oilsands.
Calgary City Councillor, Ward Sutherland, invited Helps and her council out to see the Oilsands after Victoria threatened to open a class action lawsuit against Alberta based oil and gas companies.
Helps visited a SAGD extraction site, or steam-assisted gravity drainage, which is a process to liquefy the oil deep below the surface, that is pumped out later without having to excavate the site.
Helps says although the trip didn't change her mind on moving towards a low carbon economy and eliminate the reliance on fossil fuels, it did open her eyes to the other point of view.
"What I did see there is hard working, dedicated people who are working to continuously improve the way that fossil fuels are extracted. Use less energy in so doing, and really care about the work that they do. I feel like I got a better view into the other paradigm, and I understand that paradigm a little bit better."
Helps adds that the point of the trip was to gain a deeper understanding of the other side of the argument.
"The point of going was to broaden my perspective, deepen my understanding. So that even if there continued to be differences of paradigms or differences of opinion about the energy future of Canada, and the energy future of the globe, at least I have a much more informed perspective than I did before I went. I really sincerely do appreciate the efforts that are being made to, even while fossil fuels are being extracted, to do it in a more sustainable way."
She says her goal is still to cut back on emissions and reliance on fossil fuels, and move forward with investments in hydroelectric, solar, heat pumps, and renewable natural gas. But Helps says she now has a deeper understanding of the innovative steps being taken in the oil and gas sector, and is glad to have some new insight.