For decades, Kevin Taft has served as a thorn in the side of Alberta’s provincial government.
In his new book, Taft, who served as a Liberal MLA between 2001 and 2012, and as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party — the province’s official opposition — between 2004 and 2008, maintains his course.
Oil’s Deep State: How the Petroleum Industry Undermines Democracy and Stops Action on Global Warming — in Alberta, and in Ottawa is a controversial read.
Notably the book implicates the Alberta NDP, which was elected in 2015 with promises to challenge the sector’s dominance over political processes. To help explain (Read more…) that didn’t happen, Taft deploys concepts of institutional capture and deep state — a term used when institutional capture occurs with several different entities and is maintained for a long time.
It’s a challenging and insightful read, one that will likely spark many debates about how we talk and think about the oil and gas sector.
DeSmog Canada chatted with Taft about the book.