It’s a message Albertans aren’t used to hearing from the leader of the federal Liberal party: the oilsands of northern Alberta are “awesome” and an opportunity for the country.

That’s exactly what Michael Ignatieff recently told a group of young Canadians in Vancouver. (His remarks, made January 14, are posted on YouTube.) “Everybody expects me to say, ‘They’re terrible, and we’ve got to shut them down,’” Ignatieff said. “Absolutely not.” Recalling a daylong tour of the oilsands he took with his wife in August, Ignatieff said he was impressed by the scale of the development. “For once, the word ‘awesome’ that we overuse all the time is truly what you feel when you’re there. It is awe-inspiring. The capital investment. The sheer size of this thing. The fact that there are 100 years of deposits.”

Ignatieff also signalled that he’s keen to work with, not against, Alberta. “Energy policy in our country is a national unity issue,” he said. “The dumbest thing you can do — and no Liberal must ever do it — is run against Alberta, make Alberta the enemy, isolate Alberta.”

However, Ignatieff also described the oilsands as “pretty dirty,” and criticized the federal government for environmental negligence. “The federal government’s environmental protection mandate has simply been vacated in the last three years,” he said. He also criticized the government for ignoring the human impacts of the development on downstream aboriginal communities like Fort Chipewyan. “They need to be addressed immediately.” Working with Alberta to clean up the oilsands, he said, can “make it a source of pride for all Canadians.”

The following day, the Mikisew Cree First Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation put out a news release expressing disappointment that federal Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt “chose not to contact or meet with” either band during her recent tour of the oilsands. “[Prime Minister Stephen Harper] and his ministers are completely uninterested in hearing our concerns and discussing solutions,” says Mikisew Cree chief Roxanne Marcel.

Industry activity in the oilsands, meanwhile, continues to wind down as oil and gas prices sink. Suncor recently posted a net quarterly loss of $215 million, and the company is suspending expansions at its Voyageur and Firebag projects.