You know how a picture can say a thousand words? .That’s what happened yesterday when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shook hands with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith after he announced he saved Canada’s health care system with another multi-billion dollar infusion of federal money. .He put his thumb on the top of Smith’s hand to keep it in place — just as he keeps his thumb on Alberta through a green energy program that's going to suck the life out of the province and eviscerate its energy sector. Trudeau's treatment of Smith — leaving his thump print on her hand — is part of a trend where the prime minister demonstrates contempt to the point of abuse towards female politicians. Remember how he elbowed NDP MP RuthEllen Brousseau? Or how black female Liberal MP Celine Caesar-Chavannes said Trudeau yelled at her?.In their first ever meeting, Smith was obviously uncomfortable looking friendly with her federal adversary and political opponent Trudeau. She is much too honest a person to appear insincere and fake her true feelings for the man who wants to crucify Alberta with the “Just Transition,” or as I called it in a column last month, the Justin Transition. .That didn’t stop Trudeau from hamming it up as usual, looking like Smith was an old a friend as his former chief of staff and perpetual acolyte Gerald Butts. .The prime minister has little difficulty in feigning affection when he is really feeling dislike. He’s an actor after all — although it’s not clear if he could ever have found success on the stage or screen since he was a drama teacher and you know what's said about those who can’t do something well. .Just why is Trudeau putting so many eggs in his health-care basket and looking like the best friend to all of Canada’s premiers? .Well, to be brutally honest, he doesn’t have any baskets left to fill. He's spent so much of his time as prime minister pushing absurdly woke policies and bitter identity politics that he left a sour political taste in the mouths of an increasing number of voters. .Health care — that poll after poll lists as a grave concern for Canadians — seems like the natural place to go for Trudeau. .But health care is almost a misnomer for the medicare system that now exists in Canada. As I mentioned in yesterday’s column, it is ludicrous to assume a broken system can work better by infusing it with more funding. The premiers are already saying Trudeau’s offer of $46.2 billion in new money is insufficient. .Canada will still have one of the most expensive health-care systems in the world and one of the worst in terms of wait times. We are spending marginally less than what Americans pay for private health insurance yet getting little of the dividends — and hundreds of thousands of Canadians continue to stream across the border to get life-saving surgery and other operations in the United States. .Has Trudeau bridged any gaps with Alberta or Danielle Smith? .Smith is not backing down on any of her issues with the federal government, with her office issuing a news release Tuesday that demanded: .Abandonment of any references to ‘just transition’ or any other terminology or policies that signal the phaseout of Alberta’s conventional or non-conventional energy sector or workforce. Increased workforce training and participation in all of the conventional, non-conventional and emerging energy sectors. The need for formal consultation and collaboration with Alberta before the federal government announces or implements legislation, targets or policies that materially impact Alberta’s energy sector. Substantial increase in LNG exports to Asia through the lens of meeting targets through replacement of higher emitting fuel sources with clean Canadian LNG. Joint federal-provincial initiatives to facilitate increased private investment in nuclear, hydrogen, bitumen beyond combustion, geothermal, lithium, helium, zero-emission vehicle, CCUS, petrochemical and other emerging technologies and fuels that make Alberta’s conventional and non-conventional energy sector increasingly carbon neutral. .None of these demands are matters Trudeau is going to agree with. He couldn’t even sell LNG to Germany and he has no interest in perpetuating the use of fossil fuels. He’d apparently rather see Canadians freeze in the dark before deserting the fable that green energy can actually power a modern industrial state. .There is little ground for agreement and that handshake said it all.
