Well, who could have seen this coming?After years of anti-Alberta policy coming out of the capital of the post-national state that is supposedly Canada, now that there’s a problem in central Canada everybody including Alberta is supposed to rally round the flag and join Team Canada to man the borders and resist Trump.There sat Ontario Premier Doug Ford this morning for example, at a table with other premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.“Nothing is more important than country, working together as Team Canada from a position of strength,” in what may become a textbook example of bloviation. “Country comes first!”Really? Since when?It sounds good of course and if Ford's estimate that 500,000 Ontario jobs are on the line is accurate, he has reason to be concerned. Indeed, he followed up by urging Mr. Trudeau to start passing out money to those affected by the trade war to come. However, where were Ontario and Quebec for the last ten years when Alberta was getting hammered by the federal government? Pipelines were cancelled, emission caps demanded, so-called ‘clean fuel regulations’ imposed (as though we were pumping H2S around the country) and the impossible — not to mention stupid — demand for Alberta’s electricity grid to be carbon net-zero in ten years time whatever the expense, was offered as a national priority?Alberta lost more than 100,000 energy jobs in the first years of the Trudeau government. But, we don’t remember any eastern premier coming to Alberta's aid, with the Team Canada call. Who rebuked the prime minister on our behalf, or Steven Guilbeault, his Minion of the Environment, with something like, 'C'mon Mr. Trudeau, we're a country you know. These proposals discriminate against our Albertan brothers and sisters.'Nary a one.We do remember however, that the Province of Quebec refused to accept a pipeline carrying Alberta energy across its sacred borders.And we also remember the prime minister himself declaring with great authority that there was no business case for the export of Alberta gas to Germany. That would have been good for business actually. When we weren't allowed to play, the Germans looked south and the US now supplies 80% of Germany natural gas needs...Those who wish to understand why there is a Western independence movement should think about this. They could start by recognizing that if the prime minister himself tears up Canadian traditions and allows others to tear down the statues that represent our collective past, he has seriously undermined the sense of Canadian nationalism upon which he and the eastern premiers would now like to draw.The next step would be to recognize that Alberta (and Saskatchewan) are actually paying the freight for Canada — it's called equalization — and they do so from their resource revenues.So, if in a fit of faux patriotism the smart people in Upper and Lower Canada succeed in turning off the valves that allow Western energy to the US, they will in fact be turning off the money taps that pay for their government services. Which means that in a bid to win votes in a coming election, Mr. Trudeau will once more 'have your backs' with the aid of yet more borrowed money... As if nearly $700 billion borrowed under this regime was not enough?Nice work that would be, wouldn't it?So let's move beyond patriotic GA Henty rhetoric about teams and the flag. The Trudeau government has long since surrendered its right to make that kind of appeal. Finally, before Mr. Ford asks for too much money to cope with the crisis, he should remember where it comes from...
Well, who could have seen this coming?After years of anti-Alberta policy coming out of the capital of the post-national state that is supposedly Canada, now that there’s a problem in central Canada everybody including Alberta is supposed to rally round the flag and join Team Canada to man the borders and resist Trump.There sat Ontario Premier Doug Ford this morning for example, at a table with other premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.“Nothing is more important than country, working together as Team Canada from a position of strength,” in what may become a textbook example of bloviation. “Country comes first!”Really? Since when?It sounds good of course and if Ford's estimate that 500,000 Ontario jobs are on the line is accurate, he has reason to be concerned. Indeed, he followed up by urging Mr. Trudeau to start passing out money to those affected by the trade war to come. However, where were Ontario and Quebec for the last ten years when Alberta was getting hammered by the federal government? Pipelines were cancelled, emission caps demanded, so-called ‘clean fuel regulations’ imposed (as though we were pumping H2S around the country) and the impossible — not to mention stupid — demand for Alberta’s electricity grid to be carbon net-zero in ten years time whatever the expense, was offered as a national priority?Alberta lost more than 100,000 energy jobs in the first years of the Trudeau government. But, we don’t remember any eastern premier coming to Alberta's aid, with the Team Canada call. Who rebuked the prime minister on our behalf, or Steven Guilbeault, his Minion of the Environment, with something like, 'C'mon Mr. Trudeau, we're a country you know. These proposals discriminate against our Albertan brothers and sisters.'Nary a one.We do remember however, that the Province of Quebec refused to accept a pipeline carrying Alberta energy across its sacred borders.And we also remember the prime minister himself declaring with great authority that there was no business case for the export of Alberta gas to Germany. That would have been good for business actually. When we weren't allowed to play, the Germans looked south and the US now supplies 80% of Germany natural gas needs...Those who wish to understand why there is a Western independence movement should think about this. They could start by recognizing that if the prime minister himself tears up Canadian traditions and allows others to tear down the statues that represent our collective past, he has seriously undermined the sense of Canadian nationalism upon which he and the eastern premiers would now like to draw.The next step would be to recognize that Alberta (and Saskatchewan) are actually paying the freight for Canada — it's called equalization — and they do so from their resource revenues.So, if in a fit of faux patriotism the smart people in Upper and Lower Canada succeed in turning off the valves that allow Western energy to the US, they will in fact be turning off the money taps that pay for their government services. Which means that in a bid to win votes in a coming election, Mr. Trudeau will once more 'have your backs' with the aid of yet more borrowed money... As if nearly $700 billion borrowed under this regime was not enough?Nice work that would be, wouldn't it?So let's move beyond patriotic GA Henty rhetoric about teams and the flag. The Trudeau government has long since surrendered its right to make that kind of appeal. Finally, before Mr. Ford asks for too much money to cope with the crisis, he should remember where it comes from...
