Reaction in Western Canada
The program was extremely unpopular in Western Canada, especially in Alberta where most of Canada's oil is produced. With natural resources falling constitutionally within the domain of provincial jurisdictions, many Albertans viewed the NEP as a detrimental intrusion by the federal government into the province's affairs. In Western Canada – and Alberta especially – the NEP was perceived to be at their expense in benefiting the eastern provinces. Particularly vilified was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, whose Liberals didn't hold a seat west of Manitoba. Ed Clark, a senior bureaucrat in the Trudeau Liberal government, helped develop the National Energy Program earning himself the moniker 'Red Ed' in the Alberta oil industry. Shortly after Brian Mulroney took office, Clark was fired.
Petro-Canada, the government-established oil company headquartered in Calgary, was made responsible for implementing much of the Program. Petro-Canada was backronymed to "Pierre Elliott Trudeau Rips Off Canada" by opponents of the National Energy Program, and the Petro-Canada Centre in Calgary became known as "Red Square." The popular western slogan during the NEP – appearing on many bumper stickers – was "Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark".
Lougheed stopped development on several oil sands projects. After negotiations between Trudeau and Lougheed, the NEP was revised so that the price of so called "new" Canadian oil (discovered after December 31, 1980) would eventually rise to the world price but existing "old" oil would still be capped at 75% of the world price.
Read more about this topic: National Energy Program
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