Energy for the War Room: Infrastructural Imaginaries and Contradictions in the Albertan Staples State

Background: This article examines the “energy war room,” a 2019 United Conservative Party campaign promise to build a new rapid response communications body to defend the Albertan oil and gas industry from critics online. Analysis: The authors explore the history of the war room concept and the long-running economic and social tensions in Canadian/Albertan staples state formations, analyzing how contradictory claims to weakness and strength structure social investments in communications infrastructures. Conclusions and implications: The authors conclude that the war room is best understood as an attempt to defer more fundamental contradictions of identity and security in the staples state.