Trudeau tosses Alberta under bus ..Rex MurphyThe prime minister essentially excommunicated Alberta from Confederation
I’ve written a variation on this theme before, but after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Glasgow declaration, it is worth restating: if oil and gas were Quebec’s main industry, defending it, promoting it and declaring it as being in Canada’s national interest would be sacramental imperatives.
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Defending oil would be a requirement for Quebec citizenship. Trudeau would be preaching from the altars of Quebec’s most majestic cathedrals about the wretched and nation-breaking attacks on the central Quebec industry.
If oil were in Quebec, it would be a law that people have to bathe in it before going outdoors. Politicians would bring thuribles (incense containers) to swing and spread holy odours before every oil rig. They would genuflect at every Esso sign, and kiss the gas pump at every rise in price.
But oil is not in Quebec. It is in Alberta. And that, as Robert Frost once remarked, “has made all the difference.” And so it comes to pass that a son of the nation-province of Quebec, the Canadian prime minister, jetted off to Glasgow to toss Alberta under his minority bus.
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Think of the arrant and arrogant dismissal of Alberta’s recent equalization referendum in contrast with Quebec’s declaration of French as its only official legislation. That was a brazen exception to Canadian bilingualism, but Quebec’s assertions were treated with respect and compliance. Alberta’s referendum, by contrast, was barely glanced at as an odd gesture from a poor and restive relative.
As some poor toad wrote at the time, Quebec is the only province that can unilaterally alter the Canadian Constitution it did not sign, and cozily receive at the same time billions in equalization payments it did not earn — monies that come principally from a province whose product it abjures, stymies and derogates.
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But let us return to Glasgow. There, Trudeau essentially excommunicated Alberta from Confederation. He spoke to a global audience, and what he had to say was that he would sacrifice the most essential commodity of the modern world, energy, to sip tea in congruence with Prince Charles and try to evade the vulgarities that Greta Thunberg has taken to lately.
The question must be asked: has Trudeau forgotten that he is prime minister of Canada and not a United Nations bureaucrat or some sort of messianic figure of the green movement? If he wants a job in Brussels, let him apply for it, make it official and tell the rest of us. If he wants to be the president of Greenpeace, let him also say so. If neither of these options are on the table, let him consider being a guardian of Canada’s national interests.
And now back to Alberta and the other western provinces. Why is every western MP not fuming with rage at this peremptory, unilateral declaration from Ottawa to halt oil and gas development in Alberta?
I have totally given up on Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s ability to provide an effective opposition to the Liberals, but surely the members of his team, who earned their status as parliamentarians for standing up for their provinces, should be kicking up a storm over this outrage.
Alberta, you have a question to face. Up to Glasgow, there may have been the slim thought that the federal government would see that a province that has contributed so much, and is patriotic to its core, is a net benefit to Confederation and worth forging a constructive, mutually beneficial relationship with. It is very difficult to see, after Trudeau’s Glasgow declaration, how you can hang on to that hope.
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Which raises the only other question that matters: why put up with a political arrangement that betters provinces that abjure your industry, demean your voice and offer your well-being as a sacrifice for the applause of jet-setters, Hollywood trendoids, environmentalist obsessives and UN globalists?
Alberta is a province of quality and spirit. It is so bad to see it used as a trading card for cheap cheers in service to a specious cause, from the world’s self-appointed, and so well-off, worthies.
Were I an Albertan, I would first be puzzled, then angry, that I am being forced to weigh my love for this country against the disrespect for my province. It is not a choice I ever wanted to have to make, and one over which I would give long and tormented thought.
Glasgow, Trudeau and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault have placed this unhappy dilemma on the plate of all Albertans.
National Post
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-trudeaus-glasgow-declaration-throws-alberta-under-his-minority-bus