Albertans are mad as hell. You should be.
As has been widely reported, last week the Federal Court of Appeal quashed the federal cabinet’s approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
The decision effectively leaves taxpayers holding the bag on a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle, quickly becoming the most expensive scandal in Canadian political history.
In the short term, this ruling means the loss of thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue, and billions in investment. It also sends a clear and unmistakable message to the world: Canada is closed for business. Why would anyone invest in Canada when Trudeau’s federal government can’t even cut through its own red tape?
The court’s ruling effectively kills the only remaining pipeline project that would see Alberta oil reach Canadian tidewater. This leaves our country reliant on American ports and American refineries. Albertans will continue to receive less than full value for our resources. This also means less money for health care, education, and seniors' programs, and blows a massive hole in the NDP’s already shaky plan to balance Alberta’s budget by 2024.
As a result of this ruling even more oil will be transported by rail, which is less safe, less efficient, and creates more emissions than pipelines. It’s also bad news for our farmers, who already face an uphill battle securing transport for their grain.
The loss of this pipeline, in and of itself, is not a crisis. But Alberta has lost more than one pipeline. Clearly, we have no friends in Ottawa; every step the Trudeau government has taken has unfairly and unilaterally impacted our province. But, if we are going to be honest, our own leadership has been lacking as well.
Premier Notley was more than eager to sign on to Trudeau’s climate plan, bringing in a carbon tax at her first opportunity. Two years later we have a carbon tax and no pipeline.
What is the premier doing about it? Effectively nothing. She says she will withdraw from Trudeau’s climate plan two years from now if she doesn’t get a pipeline. That still leaves Albertans paying her $30 per tonne carbon tax, which is currently $20 higher than Trudeau’s carbon tax. If she thinks she sounds tough, she is the only one.
Albertans deserve better. Our province deserves to be treated as an equal partner in Confederation.
We are not. This is a failure of leadership.
- Nathan Cooper, MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.
