LILLEY: Trudeau ignores Alberta’s concerns but appeases Quebec

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Last week a friend from Alberta asked me if the Trudeau administration would take the results of the province’s equalization vote seriously.

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Before I even knew the final results, I knew the answer: of course not, it’s Alberta and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just doesn’t care.

In fact, I said, Trudeau’s liberals will be more concerned with appeasing Quebec by Elections Canada’s recommendation that the province fall from 78 to 77 seats in the next election than by Alberta’s concerns about equalization payments to that province. .

When asked, Trudeau unsurprisingly shot Prime Minister Jason Kenney.

“He himself contributed and approved the current EQ formula against which he is now stirring feelings a few years later. I find that kind of politics not necessarily helpful, ”Trudeau said last week.

It’s a good talking point that Trudeau, his ministers, and an army of online fans like to use, but the changes that Kenney was a part of were made more than a decade ago.

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Since 2007, when the Harper administration first proposed the changes, Alberta has experienced multiple economic shocks, including a collapse in the price of oil and orchestrated campaigns to stop the export of its valuable natural resources.

Meanwhile, Albertans have paid billions more in taxes than they have received in federal services.

Quebec, on the other hand, has received between $ 10 billion and $ 13 billion per year in compensation payments, being the biggest political impediment within Canada for Alberta to bring its oil and gas to market.

Quebec exercised an effective veto on the Energy East pipeline. Although the federal government had clear jurisdiction over the approval of interprovincial pipelines, the Trudeau government allowed Quebec to decide.

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The province has also continued to elect politicians who oppose Alberta’s natural resource development and are not against fanning anti-Alberta sentiment for political gain in Quebec. Beyond Trudeau, his new Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is a good example.

Guilbeault had multiple mentions in the Allan Report on activities targeting Alberta’s oil sector. In addition to working for Greenpeace for years, he was also on the steering committee for the Tar Sands Solutions Network, which sought to shut down Alberta’s oil industry.

This is the man who now sets environmental policy for the federal government.

So, let’s get back to the EQ topic. Does anyone think this liberal government will care what Alberta has to say about equalization?

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Given that liberals have shown that they don’t care about the province, its citizens, or its economic well-being, I think the answer is clear.

Edmonton Journal Columnist David Staples wrote last week that “the most dangerous thing for the rest of Canada would be to minimize and ignore this referendum result.” Yet that is exactly what we can expect the Trudeau government to do.

I agree with Staples’ claim that this is a dangerous move, but neither Trudeau nor those around him have given any indication that they will take it seriously. If it were a Quebec complaint, it would sound very different, as it did when asked about the change in the number of seats in the House of Commons.

“I have clearly heard the concerns of various people, including Quebecers, about what Elections Canada has proposed,” Trudeau said.

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He added that there would be plenty of time to listen to everyone, to listen and debate, before any changes were made. Those comments were made immediately before Trudeau was asked about Alberta’s equalizing vote.

In contrast to his conciliatory words towards Quebec concerns, Trudeau was harsh and dismissive in dealing with development in Alberta. National unity for Trudeau only means taking care of Quebec; Like his father, Trudeau’s actions show that he believes “to hell with the west, we’ll take the rest.”

Trudeau does not run a national government; He runs a central Canadian government that governs western Canada.

That is dangerous for our future.