Story of energy sector's huge importance to national economy lost on rest of Canada, Alberta banker says

Alberta's energy industry could do a better job of informing Canadians what the oil and gas sector is worth to the economy.

That's the assessment of Dave Mowat, ATB Financial's outgoing CEO.

A post by the bank's economics and research team this week addresses a perception that the Canadian auto sector is bigger than oil and gas.

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But it's not even close oil and gas accounted for $114 billion of Canada's GDP last year, compared to $18 billion from the auto sector.

Mowat says it's up to Albertans to get the facts out, beyond an advertising campaign.

"I think we've had our head down a little bit too far," he said during an CBC Calgary editorial board meeting.

"It's just like a company that doesn't communicate well with its shareholders, and I think from our perspectives, we really see Canada as our shareholders, and they are."

Mowat, who served as chair of theAlbertaRoyalty Review Advisory Panel in 2016,says getting the province's story out includes making sure Albertans themselves knowthe facts.

"When somebody throws a ... 'you guys produce more CO2 than blah, blah, blah,' we don't really have a comeback, so we don't know a lot of the facts about our own province," he said.

"And so I think we haven't been very good at just being good to our shareholders, good to the rest of Canadians, to really tell that story in an even-handed way."

In January, Mowat announced he will be stepping down as CEO of ATBeffective June 30 after 10 years at the company'shelm.