PM MUST ACT ON TRADE TIFF
In hockey, when referees fail to enforce the rules fairly, frustrated players toss the gloves to take matters into their own hands. When hard feelings and fighting hijack the game, the officials have lost control.
The analogy sums up the crux of a trade dispute now spiralling in hostility and scale between Alberta and British Columbia. By swallowing his whistle as the B.C. government obstructs the Trans Mountain pipeline project, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds himself with an escalating brawl between the players. He has lost control of the game.
In banning the import of B.C. wines, the Notley government has landed a symbolic haymaker that carries just enough economic impact to make the point and to be taken seriously. Albertans spent $72 million on B.C. wine last year, but that still pales in comparison to the $1.5 billion annually in benefits that a completed Kinder Morgan would bring to the Alberta treasury. It’s revenue that the province, and the rest of Canada, may never see if B.C. continues to ignore fair process and the rule of law.
Halting the import of B.C. wine carries the risk of fines under the New West Partnership trade agreement. The stakes are so high that it’s a gamble worth taking.
The wine ban escalates an Alberta counterattack that really started last week after the Notley government broke off negotiations to buy additional power from B.C. It’s more than likely that Alberta has more trade bombs to drop. B.C. beer, a campaign urging patriotic Albertans to vacation outside B.C. or a slowdown of oil shipments to the coast could be next. These tactics will undoubtedly inflict collateral damage to businesses, employees and consumers on both sides of the border and they may change few minds across the border about the legitimacy of Trans Mountain. But a trade war grabs attention and must kick-start meaningful dialogue between Rachel Notley, B.C. Premier John Horgan and the prime minister.
Beyond mouthing platitudes supporting Trans Mountain, Trudeau has done nothing to advance a pipeline that has earned his government’s blessing after a regulatory approval process.
British Columbia’s government needs to be reminded that it does not own Canada’s western coast, that it cannot ignore the law and does not have the right to usurp a federal project in the national interest. But it shouldn’t be up to Alberta to enforce Canada’s Constitution. That’s the federal government’s job.