PM NEEDS TO DO BETTER
It’s encouraging that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is portraying himself as a friend of working Canadians. Among the many reasons to be grateful, is at least if he’s on domestic soil, there’s less risk of Trudeau harming the country’s reputation abroad.
Yes, the backdrops for the inevitable photos aren’t as exotic as, say, India, but it is important for political leaders to defend Canadian jobs.
Trudeau conducted a cross-country tour of steel and aluminum factories after Canada, along with Mexico, was temporarily exempted from punishing U.S. tariffs being imposed by President Donald Trump. Trudeau and other members of his cabinet have made it clear that securing relief from such levies is a priority for the Liberal government.
“Make no mistake — this was a true Team Canada effort and it will continue to be, moving forward,” the PM crowed at the Rio Tinto Alcan aluminum plant in Saguenay, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City.
“The exemption represented a positive step in the right direction, but we still have a lot more work to do,” Trudeau told the aluminum workers. “We had your backs last week and we always will.”
The prime minister deserves credit for such gestures, but his remarks and the apparent diplomatic muscle of his entire government raise questions about where Albertans fit in the Liberals’ priorities. If Trudeau and his ministers are so influential that they can keep Canada safe from U.S. tariffs, while dealing with an unpredictable president, surely they can insist that a pipeline expansion they approved in 2016 proceeds.
But no. Trudeau mumbles a few supportive words in favour of expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, but does nothing to move the project forward. This, despite the fact the project would create billions of dollars of wealth for governments at all levels in Canada.
His lack of commitment to a project that would buoy all of Canada economically emboldens B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan, who owes his job to the Green party, which opposes the pipeline expansion.
Trudeau is quite content to sit back and let Alberta and the rest of the country suffer, so long as it doesn’t alienate his voters in B.C. and Central Canada. That’s not acceptable. Federal approval of the pipeline should mean that it moves ahead in a timely fashion, not that important energy infrastructure investment is subjected to interminable delays by meddlesome politicians and special interest groups.
A true national leader would have every worker’s back. That’s clearly not the case here.