All this fighting, and Alberta has nothing to show
We need to stand up for ourselves, but let's be smart
The idea that Albertans would get a “fighter” as a premier likely resonated with many voters and thus helped to put Jason Kenney in that very office. After all, a willingness to “fight” implies passion and dedication.
But as a strategy, “fighting” doesn't necessarily amount to much. To use a different metaphor, all boxers are fighters — some are just a lot smarter and a lot better than others. A terrible fighter is still technically a “fighter.”
So our premier would have us believe he's a fighter, in that he professes to care deeply about our province and, more specifically, about our oil and gas industry. And in fairness, I'm sure that passion is very genuine. His strategy of fighting, however, leaves a lot to be desired. After all, good fighters can point to their victories. Alberta's fighter is very much lacking in that department.
Perhaps, it's no surprise, then, that after another loss for Alberta, our fighting premier believes the answer is … more fighting.
In the aftermath of the decision by the new U.S. president to revoke the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, Kenney has been advocating a forceful response. In both public comments and in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Kenney has urged the federal government to retaliate, specifically by imposing economic sanctions on the U.S.
Of course, it is possible that the premier doesn't actually believe such a response is wise but merely that he believes the prime minister
We need to cultivate allies and, above all, we need to get results.
won't actually follow through. Hence the convenient narrative that had only Trudeau heeded Kenney's advice, KXL could have been saved.
I suppose, though, it is at least theoretically possible that “fighting back” could accomplish that goal. It is also possible — and much more likely — that such a fight could imperil other pipeline projects (namely Line 3 and Line
5), and jeopardize all sorts of other Canadian exports to the U.S.
A fight here seems spectacularly ill-considered and the fact that this comes from the same brain trust that brought us the fight-back fiascos known as the “war room” and the “public inquiry into anti-alberta energy campaigns” only reinforces the point.
It would be grossly unfair to pin the cancellation of KXL solely on Kenney, mind you. No one has seriously argued that KXL would have been spared this fate had Rachel Notley been re-elected in 2019.
However, let's ponder a different counterfactual: Jason Kenney as premier in 2016. Would the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project have still been approved by the federal government amid all of the “fighting” (carbon tax “fight,” equalization “fight,” etc …) we'd surely have been engaged in? For all the criticism that the actual 2016 premier wasn't “fighting” Ottawa enough, getting a “yes” on TMX was a victory. Where are the victories that this premier can point to?
When you've touted “fighting ” as the answer to all of Alberta's problems, the lack of victories becomes an excuse to double down: we just need to fight more and fight harder, you see.
At some point, though, we need to step back and ask whether this is all working. It's not enough to say Ottawa is a problem or environmental groups are a problem or Washington is a problem. Compiling our enemies list and complaining about perceived unfairness might make for good table-thumping politics, but it's not bearing out as a strategy.
Yes, we need to stand up for ourselves, but we need to be smart about it. We need to cultivate allies and, above all, we need to get results.
We need to get TMX and Line 3 completed. We need to protect the Line 5 project. We need to expand other exports both to the U.S. and to other provinces. Any strategy that puts some or all of that at risk seems like a colossally bad idea.
Afternoons with Rob Breakenridge airs weekdays 12:30-3:30 p.m. on 770 CHQR. rob.breakenridge@corusent.com
Twitter: @Robbreakenridge