[btimbit]

Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel says he’ll put the province back on track to be a leader in innovation and diversification if his party were to form government following next month’s election.

“The petrochemical industry is where the great growth can happen because it is supplying … new products for the new age economies. We see this gas royalty in-kind as a way in which we can partner with these petrochemical firms so they can expand their businesses.”

Mandel noted the party would also support the next planned phases of the $9.7-billion North West Redwater Sturgeon Refinery, located 35 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

The three-phase, 150,000-barrels per-day bitumen-blend refinery, Canada’s first new oil refinery in 34 years, is designed to produce diesel, diluent and other products for the Alberta and world markets.

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He pointed to programs like CanaPux — a technology that mixes and coats oilsands bitumen with polymer plastic, creating a pellet-shaped product similar in shape to a hockey puck — as an example of innovation the Alberta Party would support.

Late last year, Canadian National Railway Co. said it planned to build a pilot plant worth up to $50 million to create the product, in order to transport it by rail and ships to customers around the world.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/polit...ation-strategy