Many Albertans are concerned about the federal government’s so-called Sustainable Jobs Plan and other climate change policies. It’s no secret Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to phase out Alberta’s oil industry as a way to prevent global warming..Although all of Canada will be hurt by those policies — due to increased energy costs and decreased reliability — Alberta will be hurt the most, by far. That’s OK with Trudeau and his gang though, because their base of support is central Canada..As a result, many Albertans are reconsidering the province’s place within Confederation because it’s unfair to make Alberta pay so dearly for Liberal goals..But wait — we’ve seen this movie before. Under the previous Trudeau prime minister — Justin’s father — Alberta was also singled out for punishment to benefit a Liberal government supported by central Canada..In their 1990 book, Breakup: Why the West Feels Left Out of Canada, husband and wife team Don Braid and Sydney Sharpe explain the anger many Westerners felt towards Ottawa in the 1980s. Most of it was the result of Pierre Trudeau..Throughout the 1970s, Liberal energy was focused on exploiting Alberta’s oil resources for the benefit of Ontario and Quebec. The Ontario government under Premier Bill Davis pushed Pierre Trudeau to ensure his province could buy Alberta oil at well-below market price. This amounted to Alberta subsidizing Ontario to the tune of billions of dollars..Alberta, under Premier Peter Lougheed, fought back..But Ontario was angered by Alberta’s resistance. As Braid and Sharpe write, Ontario newspapers “regularly berated the Western oil sheiks as un-Canadian. One Western journalist visiting the editorial page editor of the Toronto Star, was amazed to hear the man say Ottawa should send in the troops if Alberta continued to resist.”.Send in the Canadian Army to seize Alberta’s oil for Ontario! That was the attitude of a respected Toronto opinion leader.. Hayes truck moving rigPierre Trudeau's National Energy Program virtually killed Alberta's oil industry in 1982. Rigs were hauled south to take advantage of better opportunities in the U.S. Here, a Hayes truck removes a tower from a drilling site. .Braid and Sharpe point out with the full support of the Ontario government, “Ottawa was systematically denying the Western provinces the full control of resources supposedly guaranteed by the Constitution.”.In fact, Premier Davis “wanted an emergency declaration that oil is a national resource, not a provincial one. And he was calling for direct federal intervention against the producing provinces.”.Trudeau lost the 1979 federal election to Joe Clark's Progressive Conservatives. But when Clark’s minority government fell months later, Trudeau made a come-back. It was then he implemented the NEP, which Braid and Sharpe write “was seen as Ontario’s reward for helping to re-elect the Liberals.”.The purpose of the National Energy Program was to put an end to the growing economic and political clout of the West, especially Alberta..It was so unfair even Prime Minister Brian Mulroney later acknowledged how bad it was. He told Braid and Sharpe “the National Energy Program is exactly like a hold-up at a gas station at three in the morning. That’s what they did! No one with a brain in his head is placing in doubt the fact that the Liberal government went in and knowingly pillaged the economy of Alberta.”.Once the NEP was in place, Alberta’s economy tanked. Thousands of jobs were lost and countless businesses went under. Without question, the NEP damaged Alberta significantly..Two distinguished economists, Mike Percy of the University of Alberta and Robert Mansell of the University of Calgary, concluded “the NEP was the crucial factor that kicked Alberta into deep recession in 1982, primarily because it pulled out money and killed investment at the same time. Oil and gas activity declined disastrously, while Texas and Oklahoma, which faced similar economic problems, continued to do fairly well.”.Of course, the NEP and the energy wars of the 1970s are long gone, but the problem remains the same. Alberta is an easy target because the power base of the federal government is in central Canada. If beating up Alberta will keep a federal government in power, that’s what happens. And it’s happening again right now..The problem is not simply Justin Trudeau, it’s the structure of Canada..Braid and Sharpe explain this well: “The problems go far beyond the abilities of any government to solve through tinkering or fiddling. They are rooted in the deepest structure of the country. Canada is a badly built nation — the only democratic federation in the western world in which every important institution, from the Supreme Court to the Senate, is dominated by the population centres. The largest provinces enjoy a multiple majority that spills into every level of federal government.”.Writing in 1990 as they were, Braid and Sharpe thought Canada could be fixed. They wrote, “What the provinces need are the tools to fight for themselves, at the centre of power, on an equal regional footing — the tools of self-respect. The obvious first step is an equal, elected, and effective Senate.”.Indeed, in 1990 the Reform Party of Canada was growing by leaps and bounds in western Canada on a platform of “the West wants in,” with a Triple-E Senate as its centerpiece..Unfortunately, the proposal for a Triple-E Senate was categorically rejected by central Canada. It won’t fly. Something else is needed..For at least 50 years Alberta has been the whipping boy of Confederation. That's the lesson of history. With that in mind, it’s clear only independence can solve the problem of Alberta’s gross mistreatment within Canada..With independence, Albertans could chart their own path to prosperity and self-determination. That’s the way to go.
