Pat Carlson stepped down as CEO of the Calgary-based natural gas producer last month. Carlson, who made community relations a hallmark of Seven Generations’ culture, says the industry needs to do a better job of involving those most affected by its operations.
Businesses cannot rely on the government to push projects past the objections of local communities, said the 63-year-old Carlson in an interview. Instead, governments should provide a final examination of operations that have already been mostly agreed on.
A project that needs government assistance to overcome local resistance represents a failure of the free-market system and a step toward a state-controlled economy, he said. And industry should work to convince environmentalists that getting Canadian natural gas to the coast fights climate change by cutting China’s dependence on dirtier coal.
