Nelson: Team Canada will use and abuse Alberta
March 28th 2025
Whatever other reservations folk have about our premier, when it comes to sticking up for this province, she’s displayed a backbone of steel.
Alberta’s oil is Canada’s trump card. Premier Danielle Smith must prevent it from being played.
Fortunately, whatever other reservations folk have about our premier, when it comes to sticking up for this province, she’s displayed a backbone of steel. She’ll need it more than ever in the weeks ahead.
Politicians across Canada are competing to see who can wrap themselves tightest in the Maple Leaf as the intimidation, threats and insults continue to ratchet up, courtesy of the regime south of the border.
Being seen as Captain Canada is certainly a vote-grabber. It led to Ontario’s Doug Ford being re-elected a few weeks ago and is the federal Liberals’ only hope if they’re to retain power under new Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Although, Ford folded like the Leafs in the playoffs when he took his tough guy act a little too far in threatening to hike electricity rates on U.S. customers by 25 per cent. He poured fuel on that fire by adding he’d be smiling if he was forced to cut off the juice altogether.
Trying to be a bigger bully than the global bully-in-chief isn’t wise, as he quickly discovered when U.S. President Donald Trump immediately returned serve, promising to double tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Ford rebellion dissolved in minutes.
But during this short-lived foray, Ontario’s premier couldn’t resist dragging Alberta’s American oil exports into his retaliatory playbook, suggesting an imposed export tax on crude would instantly change the game.
By Ford’s reckoning, this would jack up U.S. pump prices by almost a dollar a gallon, making Americans lose their minds. That such a move would also devastate Alberta’s economy and throw hundreds of thousands out of work didn’t bother him much. They aren’t his voters.
So, where would the money raised by this proposed export tax go? Maybe back to Alberta, which mined the stuff in the first place?
Come on. Let’s not be silly.
To discover the answer to that puzzle look no further than to Jean Chretien, the former prime minister and current elder statesman of the federal Liberal party.
While giving a keynote speech at the recent coronation of Carney, Chretien explained exactly what would happen with this cash bonanza.
Oh, and it wouldn’t just be oil facing such an export tax. Natural gas, potash, steel, aluminum and electricity would also be targeted. (Oddly, there was no mention of Quebec’s dairy industry being included. Just a slip of the tongue, no doubt.)
The money raised would be spent all across Canada to pay for infrastructure. It is doubtful Quebec would be absent when it came to that part of Chretien’s game plan.
The rest of this country isn’t content with the many billions it receives in annual equalization payments, made possible in large part by Alberta’s booming energy industry. They want more. They want a slice of the action itself, and what better way than to grab it beneath the convenient moral halo of seemingly punishing the current American president.
Thankfully, Smith understands only too well what’s going on. She knows such a tax would rip tens of billions a year from our province’s economy, money that would then be spread far and wide across this land, much of it no doubt landing in those marginal seats that might vote Liberal.
“You can ask me as much as you like, the answer is No,” she recently told those eager to grab a slice of the loot via such a tax.
She had better buckle up, because those demands are going to increase, especially since Carney joined the Captain Canada contest. And, with half of his new cabinet from Quebec and not a single member from either Saskatchewan or Alberta, he hasn’t much to lose out West come the federal election.
Smith’s backbone of steel will be tested as never before.
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Calgary Herald, Chris Nelson
calgaryherald.com
Alberta’s oil is Canada’s trump card. Premier Danielle Smith must prevent it from being played.
Fortunately, whatever other reservations folk have about our premier, when it comes to sticking up for this province, she’s displayed a backbone of steel. She’ll need it more than ever in the weeks ahead.
Politicians across Canada are competing to see who can wrap themselves tightest in the Maple Leaf as the intimidation, threats and insults continue to ratchet up, courtesy of the regime south of the border.
Being seen as Captain Canada is certainly a vote-grabber. It led to Ontario’s Doug Ford being re-elected a few weeks ago and is the federal Liberals’ only hope if they’re to retain power under new Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Although, Ford folded like the Leafs in the playoffs when he took his tough guy act a little too far in threatening to hike electricity rates on U.S. customers by 25 per cent. He poured fuel on that fire by adding he’d be smiling if he was forced to cut off the juice altogether.
Trying to be a bigger bully than the global bully-in-chief isn’t wise, as he quickly discovered when U.S. President Donald Trump immediately returned serve, promising to double tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Ford rebellion dissolved in minutes.
But during this short-lived foray, Ontario’s premier couldn’t resist dragging Alberta’s American oil exports into his retaliatory playbook, suggesting an imposed export tax on crude would instantly change the game.
By Ford’s reckoning, this would jack up U.S. pump prices by almost a dollar a gallon, making Americans lose their minds. That such a move would also devastate Alberta’s economy and throw hundreds of thousands out of work didn’t bother him much. They aren’t his voters.
So, where would the money raised by this proposed export tax go? Maybe back to Alberta, which mined the stuff in the first place?
Come on. Let’s not be silly.
To discover the answer to that puzzle look no further than to Jean Chretien, the former prime minister and current elder statesman of the federal Liberal party.
While giving a keynote speech at the recent coronation of Carney, Chretien explained exactly what would happen with this cash bonanza.
Oh, and it wouldn’t just be oil facing such an export tax. Natural gas, potash, steel, aluminum and electricity would also be targeted. (Oddly, there was no mention of Quebec’s dairy industry being included. Just a slip of the tongue, no doubt.)
The money raised would be spent all across Canada to pay for infrastructure. It is doubtful Quebec would be absent when it came to that part of Chretien’s game plan.
The rest of this country isn’t content with the many billions it receives in annual equalization payments, made possible in large part by Alberta’s booming energy industry. They want more. They want a slice of the action itself, and what better way than to grab it beneath the convenient moral halo of seemingly punishing the current American president.
Thankfully, Smith understands only too well what’s going on. She knows such a tax would rip tens of billions a year from our province’s economy, money that would then be spread far and wide across this land, much of it no doubt landing in those marginal seats that might vote Liberal.
“You can ask me as much as you like, the answer is No,” she recently told those eager to grab a slice of the loot via such a tax.
She had better buckle up, because those demands are going to increase, especially since Carney joined the Captain Canada contest. And, with half of his new cabinet from Quebec and not a single member from either Saskatchewan or Alberta, he hasn’t much to lose out West come the federal election.
Smith’s backbone of steel will be tested as never before.
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Calgary Herald, Chris Nelson
calgaryherald.com
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