GUEST COLUMN: Rob Anderson is a lawyer in Airdrie, Alberta and is the former Finance Critic of the Wildrose Official Opposition.“Never let a good crisis got to waste.” .This paraphrased political philosophy was recently re-popularized by US President Barack Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, during the 2008 financial crisis. .It’s become the mission statement of the globalist left ever since..Enter, stage right, the COVID-19 pandemic. .Left-wing globalists around the world are now attempting to use some of the same curtailments of civil liberties and economic freedoms deployed during this “COVID crisis” to justify the imposition of similar long-term policies to save us all from what they call the “climate crisis”. This is a key part of the Great Reset Agenda that Justin Trudeau, the UN, and other world leaders have been pushing. .The UN’s Secretary General, António Guterres, is now urging all national governments to declare a “climate emergency” until the world has reached net zero CO2 emissions. Emergency declarations like this are intended to give governments special executive powers to exercise over their citizens and businesses..The UN Secretary General complained that countries were spending far too much COVID recovery money on fossil fuels and I quote, “CO2-intensive sectors”.In other words – according to the UN – the world needs to quit spending money on industries that it views as CO2 intensive – like oil and gas, transportation, agriculture (and the millions of jobs they create) and instead spend our money on the phantom green job economy. That is, inefficient and unprofitable industries subsidized by government taxes..Well, Justin Trudeau took these marching orders from his friends at the UN to heart, announcing that he will raise the federally-imposed carbon tax from $30 to $170 per tonne; an increase of nearly 500%..What does that mean for you and me? It means over the coming few years, fuel prices will go up by another 50 per cent. It means all of our food will be more expensive as transportation and agricultural costs soar. It means higher heating bills. It means fewer jobs in Alberta and far more jobs in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran..A $170 per tonne carbon tax will cripple our energy industry beyond repair. It will end long term investment in our oil sands. It will bleed out short term investment over the next decade. It will cost Alberta, and Canada, hundreds of thousands of jobs. It would make West a have-not region..So, what do we do about it? Wait for our countrymen and women in Ontario and Quebec wake up to Trudeau and ride to our rescue? Fat chance..Many will say, Alberta needs to seek its independence now. And although that may ultimately be necessary, I believe there is another option that may be timelier and more effective..The Alberta and Saskatchewan governments can and must immediately take effective control over every aspect of law enforcement, taxation, and environmental and economic regulation in our provinces..The provinces must collect federal and provincial tax revenues, and send to Ottawa their cut after holding back the equalization they’ve stolen from us during the prior year. .We must also end any federal involvement in law enforcement within provincial boarders, and refuse to enforce federal laws that attack Alberta’s sovereignty over our resources and the property of our citizens (i.e. the carbon tax)..We simply need to stop permitting Ottawa to impose policies of economic vandalism in Alberta. .We don’t need to ask Ottawa for permission. We just need to ask Albertans and Saskatchewanians. If they give their provincial governments the thumbs up, the premiers needs to implement these measures without hesitation..Many in Central and Eastern Canada will call these actions illegal or unconstitutional. It will be “un-Canadian” and “selfish”, they will say. The Trudeau-loving government-subsidized mainstream media will dutifully echo the cries of their masters. .But they aren’t living the nightmare we are here. Our provinces are under economic attack by our own federal government. It is purposefully and actively destroying our economy and hundreds of thousands of livelihoods and lives..In the months ahead, we need our Western Canadian MPs and MLAs to be bold and strong. .And if they won’t lead, then others need to step up and replace them – and do so quickly..We can’t wait any longer..Rob Anderson is a lawyer in Airdrie, Alberta and is the former Finance Critic of the Wildrose Official Opposition
