CALGARY — Imperial Oil has become the first major energy company in Alberta to take a public stance against breaking away from Canada.“As a national company, we believe a united Canada is the strongest position we can take to face the challenges and opportunities ahead,” Imperial Oil President and CEO John Whelan told a Calgary conference Tuesday.“Canada and Alberta work best when people, products, energy and investment can move freely and reliably across the country.”Imperial, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp., is one of Canada’s largest oil sands producers. It operates the Kearl oil sands mine and Cold Lake in-situ operation, along with refineries in Alberta and Ontario.Other energy sector CEOs have discussed the independence debate in recent months, but none have put forward a company-wide position on the matter.Bloomberg reports that earlier this year, Cenovus Energy CEO Jon McKenzie said the independence movement was rooted in legitimate grievances and could diminish if the concerns raised by proponents were addressed.ATCO CEO Nancy Southern has also reportedly described the debate as “very unhelpful.”.Smith hopes independence support falls to single digits as Nixon predicts referendum defeat.Whelan’s comments come less than a month before Albertans are scheduled to vote on whether the Alberta government will be given a mandate to begin the process of seceding from Canada.A University of Calgary study commissioned by Premier Danielle Smith’s government and released last week estimated that independence could reduce Alberta’s gross domestic product (GDP) by at least 2.2% during the first five years under a favourable scenario.It also said leaving Canada could cost between $50 billion and $170 billion during the first five years and increase Alberta’s debt by $209 billion to $324 billion under a favourable scenario.Recent polling has indicated most Albertans wish to remain in Canada. An August poll from Research Co. found that 74% of respondents would vote for Alberta to remain in Canada, while 22% would vote for the Alberta government to start the legal process to hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.Premier Smith told business leaders at a Calgary Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday that she remains concerned about the number of Albertans prepared to vote in favour of independence.She said earlier polling suggested the vote could produce a 70–30 result in favour of remaining in Canada.“I’m not comfortable at all with 30%,” Smith said.“That seems very high to me. If 30% of our fellow citizens have given up on Canada, we shouldn’t be complacent about that or happy about that.”The premier recounted conversations she had with two Alberta business owners who intended to support independence despite possible repercussions for their respective businesses..Alberta independence support holds at 30% as referendum battle heats up.One told the premier their decision was based on anger, while the other said their decision was based on the possibility of strengthening Smith’s leverage with Ottawa.“I would say there's a better way to give me leverage. Give me leverage on those other nine issues [on the referendum ballot],” she said.“That's the way to give me leverage. You give me a, a two-thirds or higher mandate on those nine issues. And I promise you, I will take those forward, and we'll work with the federal government on solving those problems. We might not be able to, to win on all of them immediately, but we can change the national conversation.”Smith also warned that casting a ballot out of anger could produce an unintended result next month.“Sometimes we’re going to overcorrect when we’re mad,” she said.“Sometimes they get a surprise outcome on the basis of just voting angry, and I don’t want a surprise outcome on October 19.”Apart from opposing independence, Whelan expressed support for Smith’s goal of doubling Alberta’s oil production and praised measures taken by both the provincial and federal governments to encourage more industry growth.“With a supportive fiscal and regulatory framework, Imperial has the potential to double our gross operated upstream production while also advancing additional downstream biofuel production,” he said.
