Canada doesn’t need internal warfare over oil and trade

It’s hard to say what is more ill-advised, Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s assertion that his province has no interest in oil, or Alberta conservative politician Brian Jean calling for an all-out boycott of Quebec products.

Let’s deal with Legault first. At the premiers meeting last week, he shot down any remaining hope that the Energy East pipeline might be revived, saying “there’s no social acceptability (for oil) in Quebec.” For those with short memories, Energy East was the pipeline project that might have carried Alberta oil across the country to refineries in New Brunswick, thus providing new markets for Alberta oil and reducing eastern Canada’s reliance on imported oil.

Quebec has a long history of opposing such a pipeline, just as British Columbia politicians oppose the Trans-Mountain Pipeline. But Legault’s declaration is also full of hypocrisy. Legault hates Alberta oil, but he is apparently fine with oil imported from Saudi Arabia, a country that routinely tortures dissidents, executes journalists and homosexuals and funds Islamic extremism.

Need more hypocrisy? Just days before his statements, Ottawa announced that Quebec will receive $1.4 billion more in equalization payments next year. That means Legault’s province will received 66 per cent of all equalization payments through 2020. And guess which provinces have to pay out for Quebec to receive that money? Alberta is certainly one.

Perhaps worst of all, the premier’s comments are insensitive considering the economic and social trauma gripping Alberta, caused by its inability to get its natural resources to world markets. No one, let alone a national leadership figure, should so lightly kiss off the pain and suffering Albertans are enduring.

It’s not surprising that Legault’s comments have enraged already frustrated Albertans. But former Wildrose party leader Brian Jean took the matter to the extreme by suggesting a boycott of everything Quebec. That, too, is ridiculous.

It’s not that Alberta couldn’t do some harm to Quebec’s economy. In 2015, Albertans spent $8.9 billion on goods and services produced in Quebec. That covers everything from milk and cheese to financial services. If Jean’s suggestion caught fire and grassroots Albertans shunned spending on anything from Quebec, the impact would not be pleasant.

But then what? Quebecers spend $6.2 billion on Alberta goods and services. Should they hit back by boycotting those products? Ultimately, where does that get us?

Jean’s threat and Legault’s unseemly bombast don’t amount to much in the big picture. But they are symptoms of a much bigger problem and challenge. Big parts of the country are making it clear they want oil to play a smaller, or no, role in Canada’s economy.

There’s consensus we need to move away from reliance on fossil fuels and carbon given their negative impact on the environment.

But notwithstanding unrealistic black-and-white declarations by some, this isn’t as simple as turning off the tap. Suddenly doing that would not only crush western economies, it could easily push the national economy into recession.

What we need is an orderly transition, and that’s what the Trudeau government is trying to accomplish, admittedly with uneven results. One thing is for sure: Internal trade wars and boycotts are not the answer.

The premier’s comments are insensitive considering the economic and social trauma gripping Alberta.