In an unprecedented move last month, Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) halted a Petro-Canada project hearing process after an employee disclosed a new personal relationship with an employee of the oil and gas company.

The ERCB employee had a crush on the Petro-Canada employee during at least part of the hearings–which began last November– but only handed over a business card on Jan.30, the last day of public presentations in High River.

The board says based on the results of an external investigation, conducted over the past month, it’s satisfied the relationship will not influence the hearing. The process to determine whether Petro-Canada can drill 11 sour gas wells and construct new pipe-lines near Longview will continue unabated.

“We wanted to be 100 per cent certain the integrity of the process in this case remained intact,” said board spokesman Bob Curran.

“Bringing in a third party ensures in our mind that transparency continues, and also that it’s not a matter of us strictly investigating ourselves.”

However, the investigation has done little to silence critics of the project, or the board.

“This hearing should be null and void,”said Alberta’s Green Party Leader Joe Anglin.

Anglin said the staff involved need to be named so the public and opponents of the project can also judge whether there is any conflict of interest.

“The board is wrong to keep this quiet.”

A letter from the investigator, lawyer Perry Mack, lays out some details about the relationship–even though their identities, and even their sex, are being kept secret based on the ERCB’s privacy rules.

The dating began with a dinner on Feb. 7 — a week after public hearings in High River ended, but before the hearing process was formally over.

“A personal relationship followed,” Mack said.

In interviews with the investigator, the Petro-Canada employee was “emphatic” that a ground rule of the relationship was the two could not discuss matters of substance related to the hearing. Together, the couple watched a TV news program on the hearing, and then “talked a lot about the hearing” — but only in the context of “how they came to be together.”

Mack said he believes the couple.

In his letter, he also said the ERCB employee and the Petro-Canada employee were involved in separate parts of the hearing.

By taking a paid administrative leave, the ERCB employee will have no further involvement on the file, Mack said.

The ERCB added that the employee is not a decision-maker in the process.

Mack conducted his investigation based on interviews with both parties, as well as other ERCB staff members. He also obtainedsomee-mails. Another lawyer, David Jones, then made recommendations.

Neither Petro-Canada or the ERCB will talk about whether the two are still dating.

The ERCB will not give any details of the status of their employee.Petro-Canada says their employee is still working on the Sullivan Field file.

Kyle Happy, a spokesman for Petro-Canada, said the investigation “confirms the integrity of the hearing process.”

But he said the company never had concerns about the relationship in first place.

“We have full confidence in our employee,”Happy said.

Even before news of the relation-ship flared up, the Sullivan Field hearing never lacked controversy.

The Petro-Canada project has been fought by environmentalists and landowners because of the impact they believe it will have on land, water and wildlife. There are also safety concerns. The sour gas pipeline will travel 440 metres away from the nearest home in the Eden Valley reserve.

Robert Shotclose, a Bearspaw administrator originally from Eden Valley, said he is not surprised the investigation found nothing wrong with the relationship.

He said the general perception across Alberta is that the ERCB “always comes down on the side of the industry.”

The band opposes the development, saying the pipeline shouldn’t be routed near houses on the reserve.

But Canada’s pristine natural image, which is one of the factors driving Canada’s high ranking, could be at risk, according to the World Economic Forum.

“Canada’s natural resources constitute a key strength,” according to the Geneva-based think-tank’s annual assessment of the tourism industry’s status and viability in 133 countries. 

Canada jumped to fifth place from ninth while the U.S. fell from seventh to eighth in the WEF annual rankings. 

Switzerland, Austria and Germany remain the top three, holding identical spots to 2008, while France jumped from 10th to fourth in the new ranking. 

The unstable and impoverished African nation of Chad is in last place. 

While the WEF points out that Canada has nine sites recognized by the United Nations as world heritage areas, it noted that Canada’s reputation is in question by Canadian tourism industry executives in areas such as carbon dioxide emissions and the number of endangered species. 

“This is of particular concern given the importance of the natural environment for Canada’s tourism, coupled with the fact that, in recent years, sustainable tourism has become a sensitive issue among consumers.” 

The WEF, which interviewed about 13,000 executives around the world, including 79 Canadians, assesses a variety of factors that make countries attractive for tourism developers. 

They including transport and tourism infrastructure such as highways and air services, as well as regulatory issues, access to labour, safety and security, health, government policy toward tourism, and natural and cultural resources. 

WEF spokeswoman Jennifer Blanke said Canada gained ground in this year’s survey partly because countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia fell sharply in several areas. 

She noted that Canada’s ranking is aided by “excellent” natural and cultural resources, the world’s top-ranked air infrastructure system, and a perception in the business community that Canadian governments are making more efforts to promote tourism overseas. 

She said it’s unclear whether a recent attack on Canada’s image as a credible environmental steward will impact the 2010 results. 

The internationally-renowned magazine National Geographic, in a glossy photo spread, presented a devastatingly bleak account of northern Alberta’s landscape as a result of the oilsands industry.