GUNTER: Federal Liberals incapable of seeing what’s best for the West – Edmonton Sun

Im glad Premier Jason Kenney is trying to knock some sense into the federal government. His junket to Ottawa this week with key provincial cabinet ministers to wring concessions out of the Trudeau government was a valiant first step to win a fair deal for Alberta in Confederation.

But Im afraid its futile. To help Alberta and the West, you first have to understand the West. And it is just not in Liberal DNA to see the West as anything other than an uncultured hinterland to be robbed and re-educated.

The results of the October election revealed the depths of Albertas and Saskatchewans frustration with the Trudeau government. Since then, the residents of those two provinces have been reassured that Ottawa is now listening. After all, the new federal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson is originally from Saskatoon and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was born in Peace River.

So? Before now, neither Wilkinson (who is an MP from North Vancouver) nor Freeland (who lived in New York before returning to represent downtown Toronto) had displayed much interest in their roots. Now the Liberals reassure us Freeland is a proud daughter of the Peace Country soil.

There are several good examples of the Liberals genetic incompatibility with the Prairie West from just this week.

First, the CBC carried a story with the headline, Unemployment rate among young men in Alberta nears 20 per cent, a level not seen since the early 1980s.

It is no coincidence no coincidence at all that the early 1980s was also the last time a Quebec Liberal named Trudeau was prime minister. Liberals in general and Trudeaus in particular cannot help meddling in the energy sector and, in the process, driving our provinces economy into the ground.

A second example came in an announcement this week from Environment Minister Wilkinson. (Remember, he was born in Saskatoon, so the West can count on him!) The Liberals might not allow liquified natural gas (LNG) exports to be counted even after provinces efforts to control greenhouse emissions.

Before Octobers election, the federal Liberals had promised provinces would receive credit for their LNG exports. Generating electricity by burning natural gas produces far fewer emissions than generation from coal. If Alberta and B.C. can export a lot of LNG to countries that currently burn coal, that would reduce worldwide emissions.

When they were campaigning for office, the Liberals agreed this was a good idea. Now, Wilkinson is saying the Trudeau cabinet have not made up their minds. If the cabinet turns down this idea it will cost businesses in Alberta and B.C. billions in added carbon taxes. And that added cost will drive away even more investment, cost even more jobs and extend the Alberta recession.

On Wednesday, Wilkinson approved a scheme to let New Brunswick adopt a provincial carbon tax instead of accepting the federal version. But N.B. also will be permitted to lower its provincial gas tax so consumers see little difference in the pump price.

This is the same deal Ottawa has with PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador. But it defeats the purpose of a carbon tax, which is intended to lower fossil fuel use by making carbon-based fuels more expensive.

Ottawa is happy, it seems, to make such tradeoffs with Liberal-voting regions such as Atlantic Canada but not with Alberta.

Wilkinson is also currently at the UNs big, annual climate conference in Madrid. There Canada is the only major energy-producing country still deeply committed to net zero emissions by 2050.

That, however, is a goal that can only be achieved by phasing out oil and gas. In other words, the Liberals cannot please international environmentalists and the Kenney government at the same time.

Who do you think theyll choose?

Read this article:

GUNTER: Federal Liberals incapable of seeing what's best for the West - Edmonton Sun