National Affairs: West finds easy scapegoat in Trudeau government

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on October 28, 2019.

Alberta is angry. So is Saskatchewan. They are ticked that the Conservatives didn’t win Monday’s federal election. They feel left out of the new Liberal minority government. They think there will be no one in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet to stand up for their interests.

I get the emotion. I’ve lived and worked in Alberta and understand its deep sense of alienation from central Canada.

But what did people from these two provinces think would happen when they voted monolithically for Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives? There are no Liberal MPs from Alberta or Saskatchewan available to serve in Trudeaus cabinet for a very simple reason: None was elected.

Whose fault is that?

Quebecers, who have played the regional alienation game longer than anyone, didn’t make Alberta’s mistake. They hedged their bets Monday.

They elected 32 members of the Bloc Quebecois. But they also elected 35 Liberals and 10 Conservatives.

That meant that no matter which of the two major parties won, Quebec would be assured of a voice at the cabinet table.

This is not the first time that a national election result has embittered Westerners. Jean Chretien’s 2000 victory over Stockwell Day’s Canadian Alliance led several prominent Albertan conservatives (including a young Stephen Harper) to pen what became known as the firewall letter.

This was an open letter to then-premier Ralph Klein urging him to opt out of federal-provincial programs, such as medicare and the Canada Pension Plan, in order to build a “firewall” around Alberta.

Citing Quebec as an example, the signatories argued that Alberta should wrest as much constitutional authority from Ottawa as it could.

Wisely, Klein ignored the letter. But the sentiments it expressed didn’t die. Most recently, they have found expression in the so-called “Wexit” movement, which would have Alberta and Saskatchewan separate from Canada.

No serious western politician yet supports separation. But some are happy to take advantage of Wexit’s existence.

In a statement this week, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe warned of the sense of alienation in his province, saying that it is “now greater than it has been at any point in my lifetime.” Then he repeated what have become the two provinces’ minimal demands.

He called on Trudeau to scrap his carbon tax, make it easier to build oil pipelines and change the so-called equalization formula that determines which provinces receive certain federal subsidies.

“It’s time for a new deal with Canada,” Moe wrote.

Canadians outside of Alberta and Saskatchewan might find it difficult to understand why a new deal is necessary. To the rest of Canada, it seems that Trudeau has bent over backward to move bitumen from the oilsands to the Pacific Coast. He even bought a pipeline.

The rest of Canada might be equally puzzled by the two provinces’ insistence that Trudeau is to blame for their economic woes.

The oilsands are suffering because the world price of crude is down. This has nothing to do with any Canadian government. Rather, it is the result of cheaper shale oil coming on stream.

As for the oilsands, they are not in trouble because of federal government policy decisions. They are in trouble because they are so expensive to exploit.

Royal Dutch Shell, for instance, has blamed the high cost of production for its 2017 decision to pull out of the Alberta oilsands. Analysts worry that it could be a harbinger.

This is the context for the latest round of Western alienation. But context is unlikely to soothe the mood in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

People are mad. The federal government is a convenient target.

Thomas Walkom writes on national affairs for Torstar Syndication Services. @tomwalkom