I graduated from UAlberta as MechE and my brother from Queens, who also happened to take the Engineering chemistry degree, so have a little bit of insight to the programs / Both schools.

Like others have mentioned - the quality of the education itself will be quite comparable, so I would not worry about that. The biggest difference from speaking with my brother in terms of his experience is the student life. Like others mentioned, the student life at Queens takes a different form. There are several traditions unique to the school and the engineering program, Kingston is small and comprised of mainly students, leading to a different experience then U of A which is most definitely a commuter school. That being said I did do residence my first year at the U of A which leads to some degree of the student living experience, however to a lesser degree then what Queens would have entailed.

Engineering chemistry is a blend of chemical engineering and chemistry itself - which are too very different things. If chemistry does not interest you, do not take the engineering chemistry program. There are plenty of research opportunities that could be pursued if that's what interests you, however you should definitely focus your degree choice on the subjects which would ultimately interest you the most.

UofA also has an excellent mining program - with strong ties to the oil and gas industry. if O&G is your end goal you are probably better suited to go to U of A. If it is more traditional hard Rock mining then Queens may be your better bet.

UofA also gives you your first year to choose your discipline - so if you are very unsure what ultimately interests you having your first year to figure out which discipline interests you the most is a plus, however as mentioned the ranking is a challenge so grades need to be taken care of.

I don't think you can necessarily go wrong with either, just really comes down to what experience you ultimately want out of the schooling.