TRADE WAR WITH B.C. COULD BE BIG WIN FOR NOTLEY
Premier plays role of Alberta’s defender — a key strategy used by Lougheed and Klein
Alberta is fermenting an all-out trade war with British Columbia.
And in some ways, Premier Rachel Notley couldn’t be happier.
On Tuesday afternoon, Notley announced she is banning the importation of all B.C. wine into Alberta.
Yes, she can do that.
All alcohol imported to Alberta goes through the governmentrun liquor commission. And Notley declared she has turned off the tap.
“I am announcing that the (Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission) will put an immediate halt to the import of B.C. wine into Alberta.”
Notley figures this will cost B.C. about $70 million a year. Not that anyone is expecting the boycott to last that long. Or perhaps I should say, nobody wants the boycott to last that long.
Notley says the wine embargo will continue as long as the B.C. government threatens to put an embargo on Alberta’s oilsands bitumen flowing by pipeline to the West Coast.
“I know a lot of Albertans who love B.C. wine; quite frankly I’m one of them,” said Notley as she reminded the people of B.C. that Alberta supplies most of their oil. “Just like I know a lot of British Columbians who love to drive their cars, fly in planes and heat their homes using Alberta energy products.
“So I think those Albertans who are calling for a boycott of B.C. wine, asking us to send a message to the government of B.C. on that basis, are correct.”
Notley is hoping her latest move will force the government of NDP Premier John Horgan to change tack. But what she really wants is for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “step up” to his responsibilities as leader of a confederation and force Horgan to back down from his threat to usurp federal powers over pipelines.
The real fight here, according to Notley, is not Alberta vs. B.C., but B.C. vs. the federal government.
Notley’s move to escalate the battle with B.C. is sure to get Trudeau’s attention and, she hopes, force him to intervene on her side. He, after all, approved the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline in 2016 and has said repeatedly the past week he wants the project to go ahead.
Her move comes with risks, including the possibility of British Columbians boycotting Alberta goods. B.C. could, for example, ban Alberta beer imports — but Notley seemed to welcome the prospect of a beer battle by suggesting we buy many more B.C. pints than the other way around.
There are upsides to this escalating trade dispute for Notley.
It takes attention away from Alberta’s growing provincial debt. Today we are talking bottles, not budgets.
She joins a long list of memorable Alberta premiers, including Peter Lougheed and Ralph Klein, who increased their popularity and became icons by fighting external enemies.
She gets to play the champion of Alberta, the defender of our province from outsiders who threaten our economy.
She gets to bash both Ottawa and her fellow NDP premier in B.C.
She gets to sound almost like a conservative.
Not that Alberta conservatives would agree. The United Conservative Party issued a news release Tuesday saying Notley is doing too little, too late.
“The fact remains that the Alberta NDP’s ‘social licence’ scheme is in shambles, and it appears, at this time, that the Trudeau Liberals have completely abandoned Alberta aside from hollow, feel-good rhetoric,” said the party’s energy critic, Prasad Panda.
The UCP called, yet again, for Notley to scrap the province’s carbon tax.
That’s not going to happen, of course. Pretty much the only reason Trudeau approved the Kinder Morgan pipeline was because of Notley’s Climate Leadership Plan, which includes the carbon tax (and besides, Trudeau has warned provinces if they don’t put their own price on carbon, he will impose one).
But Panda does make an important point: Trudeau has done little but issue “hollow, feel-good rhetoric.”
Trudeau needs to do much more not only to fulfil a promise to get the pipeline built, but to stand up for the constitutional powers and responsibilities of the federal government.
By doing that he can end this trade war and get B.C. wine flowing back into Alberta.
I’ll drink to that.