No brakes on oilsands

EDMONTON - Conservative Leader Ed Stelmach signalled Monday he'll ignore a call from some of Canada's largest energy companies to control expansion in the oilsands to protect fragile lands. He also brushed aside a plea from the province's aboriginal chiefs to halt approval of new projects.

Stelmach, who famously said he doesn't believe in "touching the brake" on development, dismissed as preliminary a call for an immediate suspension of government land-lease sales in three massive environmentally sensitive swaths of northern Alberta.