Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is coming to Alberta next week.
Trudeau’s press secretary, Cameron Ahmad, said Wednesday the prime minister will meet with Premier Rachel Notley on Feb. 3.
Ahmad said he had no details yet on the agenda or where the meeting will take place.
The visit will come in the midst of a heated debate over pipeline projects intended to ship Alberta oilsands crude to coastal waters, as well as concerns over the province’s employment outlook.
Alberta’s economy and its government finances have been battered by plunging oil prices that have dropped below US$30 a barrel in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Statistics Canada reported the province lost more jobs last year — almost 20,000 — than in any year since the 1982 recession, while the unemployment rate has risen to seven per cent.
Trudeau has come under fierce attack from the Opposition Conservatives, with interim Tory Leader Rona Ambrose accusing him of abandoning Alberta.
