Alberta-Sask. tiff about more than just licence plates

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on January 18, 2018.

Medicine Hat popped up on western newswires this week as the preferred spot by the Saskatchewan government to resolve an interprovincial trade dispute.

Even in a town that is craving publicity, one can only continue to scratch one’s head trying to make sense of the entire controversy.

The geography is a no brainer — possibly as easy to figure out as the goals of a negotiator that at the last minute calls for a change of venue.

Saskatchewan’s choice of Medicine Hat to be the meeting place of the minds on construction vehicle licensing in both provinces is a four-hour drive from Regina.

Alberta wants Lloydminster, which has a special cachet as a summit spot as it spans the boundary. It was suggested last month and just happens to be just three hours from Edmonton.

It’s a pity that our fathers in confederation didn’t declare Medicine Hat as Alberta’s capital 112 years ago (the meeting would be in Swift Current) but here we are.

And, again, here we are, attempting to figure out exactly what the complaint is.

In December, the Saskatchewan government announced it would bar contractor vehicles with Alberta plates from provincial construction projects, such as road buildings and powerplants, notably, like the one being built near Swift Current.

They say it is in response to a similar policy in Alberta that no one, including the Saskatchewan government, seems able to prove exists.

Alberta denies the claims, and has sent the matter to dispute resolution outlined in the New West Trade Partnership agreement that could result in a $5 million penalty.

That process begins on Jan. 22, next Monday.

Saskatchewan now wants to sit down on Jan. 31.

Perhaps it has something to do with Saskatchewan Government Insurance?

Everyone in both provinces knows that cheaper no-fault auto insurance often is not surrendered by Saskatchewan motorists who spend more than 90 days in Alberta, as is required by the RCMP.

Ironically, the respective governments’ ideological bents on private and public insurance are the opposite of the situation they find themselves in.

Another possible well-sprung for the disagreement is the recent Alberta position that one-fifth of its construction budget be cordoned off for only Alberta-based firms to bid on.

The capital construction budget in this project is about four times larger than Saskatchewan’s. The economic recovery plan here involves pumping money into public works projects.

One can argue that such a move discourages free-riders.

Maybe, it’s only a last parting shot by outgoing premier Brad Wall, one that’s now in the lap of the Saskatchewan party cabinet.

It’s certainly been a present for the Alberta NDP cabinet which has suffered Wall’s critiques over two years and can now trumpet how it’s standing up for Alberta industry, workers, free trade and its fair share.

Speculation aside, it’s about more than licence plates, and the entire issue should come to some sort of conclusion in the weeks ahead.

Whether that’s at the negotiation table or via trade ruling, either in Lloydminster or Medicine Hat, it should be interesting.