The Alberta Liberals say their plan to put a hard cap on greenhouse gases emissions is a sound one, but Conservative leader Ed Stelmach has said it would cost 300,000 jobs in the province.

Stelmach first put forward this statistic just over a week into the campaign, and has yet to cite a source. During the televised leaders debate February 21, a CBC reporter asked Stelmach where he got his numbers. Stelmach dodged the question, and instead talked about the Conservatives’ climate change policy.

On February 26, another CBC reporter put the same question to Stelmach at a Calgary media scrum: “Where do you get that number from?” Stelmach’s response: “[The Liberal plan] is bringing us back to Kyoto-style caps, back to 1990. Just the other day — and I forget the name of the board that said that the number of jobs at stake in the industry is around 745,000. So the 300,000 that I used is a small sample compared to the huge cost to the economy.”

When reporters asked if his 300,000 statistic was hyperbole, Stelmach replied: “It’s fact. It’s fact.” His press secretary, Tom Olsen, then jumped in and said the statistic didn’t just apply to Alberta, but the whole country. “Make that clear, premier,” he said.

Neither Stelmach nor Olsen said where they got the 300,000 statistic. (JK)