Regina鈥� To have a Minister of Energy and Resources from an oil town is one thing, to have him be minister while his home riding hosts the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show is another.
Dustin Duncan is Saskatchewan鈥檚 Energy and Resources Minister in addition to his duties as MLA for Weyburn-Big Muddy. He shifted from his previous portfolio as Minister of Health to his current duties last August.
Duncan grew up in Halbrite, just down the road from Weyburn, in an oilpatch family several generations deep.
Pipeline Newsmet with him on May 3 in his Legislature office. Earlier that day he welcomed delegates to the 25th annual Williston Basin Petroleum Conference, and was the keynote speaker at lunch.
So what鈥檚 it like being the local boy whose also the energy minister?
Since Duncan was first elected, if there was any portfolio he could work in as a minister, this was the one he had his eye on. 鈥淔or me, Energy and Resources was the one I hoped that I could look back on my career as something I was able to do.
鈥淚t was something I thought about and wanted to do,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty neat, being the energy minister from a community in a part of the province where oil is so important in terms of the local economy. I certainly have people, from time-to-time, that know a lot about the industry, give me some advice. But people have also been pretty respectful about it. I probably don鈥檛 get as many calls as I thought I was going to, from people working in the industry, wanting to point things out to me. But they鈥檙e there, if I need to pick up the phone and say, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know a lot about this. Can you help me out?鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a good experience, so far,鈥� Duncan said.
Asked how Weyburn has been dealing with the downturn in oil, he said, 鈥淲eyburn is not unlike a lot of communities. One, it has been through this before, on a number of occasions. I think people, overall, are pretty resilient. I would say Weyburn had a pretty big run-up, over the last number of years, in terms of new people moving to town, new jobs sprouting out, new businesses. Having the most significant pullback in my lifetime, or at least since the early part of my lifetime, has
meant some challenging times over the last couple of years.
鈥淐ertainly, you can see it in day care classes, where a bunch of kids who started the school a year ago aren鈥檛 there anymore. It has an effect on families and the community at large. I would say that Weyburn, maybe more than other communities, maybe more than Estevan, is a little more diversified in terms of the local economy. So, I think it鈥檚 been able to weather it better than others. But, no doubt, it鈥檚 been a challenge,鈥� Duncan said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen some companies that have scaled back their employment. Companies that have made some changes
in compensation and renumeration, and others that have done other things to keep as many people as they can employed.鈥�
As an MLA, Duncan has seen things pick up around Weyburn, and more optimism in talking to people. 鈥淐ompanies are back, looking for employees. Some of the trucking companies are looking for drivers, lease trucks, owner-operators-type of operations. We鈥檙e starting to see it.鈥�
With the oil show coming up, Duncan said, 鈥淚鈥檝e been running around the oil show since I was a little kid. I have a lot of fond memories of it. My brother and I would run around and collect either business cards or stickers from companies. That was our thing.
鈥淢y dad works for a trucking company, so it was always a big deal to see which new piece of equipment was on display at the oil show. There was a time or two when it was the truck that he drove, so that was a pretty big kick, as a kid.
鈥淥ne of the things, for me, personally, is so gratifying about being in this position now is to be Energy and Resources Minister in the year Weyburn hosts the oil show. That鈥檚 the icing on the cake for me.
鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to it, seeing a lot of family and friends that work in the industry. To attend, as the minister, is pretty neat for me.鈥�
Duncan is expected to speak on June 7.
The Keystone XL project has now been approved by the Donald Trump administration, although it still has to get permits in Nebraska, a ruling of which is expected later this year. Asked his thoughts on that, Duncan said, 鈥淚t directly affects the province in that the longer we have the glut in moving oil to market, whether that鈥檚 going south, or west or east. In Western Canada, we鈥檙e getting to the point where we鈥檙e basically tapped out in terms of pipeline capacity. That causes a differential.
鈥淲e have figured out that, at the highest point, that differential costs the Saskatchewan treasury $300 million.鈥�
It鈥檚 important in getting Canadian oil to tidewater, he noted. That was a major point in his keynote speech earlier in the day.
There鈥檚 been talk of an American border adjustment tax on energy, but few details. If this includes oil, Duncan said it would strengthen the argument of why we need pipelines to tidewater, east or west. But it remains to be seen what the Trump administration is targeting, he noted.
Duncan noted that the Petroleum Service Alliance of Canada has substantially increased its drilling forecast for Saskatchewan. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep engaging with companies and tell Saskatchewan stories. If it looks like 2017 is going to be a better year for capital investment, like it does, we want to attract as much of that as possible,鈥� he said.
