A note to Notley, Kelly McParland,
Contemplating the storm he’d unleashed with a proposal to ban increased shipments of bitumen through Pacific ports, John Horgan was the picture of innocence.
He just didn’t get it. It’s about the environment, right? Everyone wants to protect the environment — right? — so what’s the big beef ? Especially since nothing concrete had actually been done … it’s all just talk at the moment, a plan to appoint some experts to advise on how heavy oil can be safely transported by sea.
“We have not put in place anything at this time,” the B.C. premier noted Friday as a backlash grew beyond his borders. “We are going to put in place a scientific panel to look at the consequences of a catastrophic spill. I don’t think that’s unreasonable. I’m surprised with the reaction we’re getting from Alberta.”
The problem f or Horgan is that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley wasn’t born yesterday. Notley understood immediately what was afoot. Horgan didn’t have to shout “Kinder Morgan!” for Albertans to recognize it was another blatant attempt to gum up plans to build a new pipeline to the coast. Like many on the left, Horgan evidently reckons that if he can slow the process and raise the costs enough, the company might eventually give up and cancel the project.
Notley isn’t buying. She didn’t swallow the original announcement, and she didn’t fall for Horgan’s feigned surprise. “B.C. started this fight, now the gloves are off,” said in one of several broadsides at B.C.’s plan. “We’re prepared to do what it takes to get this pipeline built — whatever it takes.”
She’d already been on the phone to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to tell him to quit stalling and make clear to Horgan that the pipeline comes under federal juris- diction and had already been approved. Meanwhile she was shelving talks over a potential purchase of $ 500 million in electricity from B.C. “Enough is enough. We need to get these things built,” she said.
Though Canadians may have heard enough about pipeline politics to last them a lifetime, this one carries more than the usual potential for political risk. Horgan is a brand-new NDP premier whose party came second in last year’s election but clings precariously to power through the grace of three Green Party candidates. The Greens are already peeved that he failed to mothball a gigantic dam project, which they hate almost as much as they hate pipelines. Horgan’s excuse in that case was that construction was too far advanced to be cancelled without economic repercussions that might prove even too painful for New Democrats.
Sticking a wrench into the pipeline plan must have seemed just the thing to win back the Greens’ affection. But Horgan may not have allowed for Alberta’s frustration with the rest of Canada, its sense that — once again — its interests have been relegated to second-class status, its impatience at Liberal Ottawa’s propensity to talk much and act little, and its irritation with activists blind to the need for others to make a living.
There are only two elected NDP governments in Canada, and Notley’s response demonstrates just how little they share. Hers is the one with the majority, making it beholden to voters rather than a three-person Green cell. After more than two years in office Notley has become acutely aware how much tougher it is to govern than to wave placards and demand “justice” at left- wing rallies. People have to eat, and in Alberta — not to mention elsewhere in Canada — it’s the energy business and its vast network of associated industries that puts bread on many tables. Notley has become as determined a proponent of the industry as any of her predecessors, and gone farther than many of them to build national support. But her willingness to compromise has been met with the usual stonewalling, posturing and parochialism of Canada’s provincial leaders. Before Horgan came along, his Liberal predecessor, Christy Clark, invented a list of five demands for Alberta to meet — including a piece of the action — before she would deign to tender her approval.
Now well into the second half of her mandate, Notley knows that Jason Kenney looks sure to win the next election if B.C. succeeds in blocking the pipeline. And Kenney, leader of Alberta’s reborn Conservatives, is already making warlike noises about what he’d do if B.C. doesn’t smarten up. That’s why Notley is willing to speak plainly to the prime minister and remind him of his responsibility to act in the national interest, even when it might get messy.
“He needs to see this action for what it is, that is B.C. taking a shot across the federal bow, not Alberta,” Notley said. “On this particular matter, they need to speak to it directly and make it very clear the B.C. government does not have the authority.”
Blunt action isn’t something Justin Trudeau is known for. Hugs and earnest assurances are more his style. Nonetheless, in Edmonton on Thursday he assured a town hall gathering his government would stand by its support for the pipeline.
“We were assured, we did the science, we did the research that the Kinder Morgan pipeline is not a danger to the B.C. coast … We will ensure the Kinder Morgan pipeline gets built.”
He repeated the pledge Friday at a second town hall in Nanaimo, where two women were hauled from the room after repeatedly heckling him.
“It is in the national interest to move forward with the Kinder Morgan pipeline and we will be moving forward with the Kinder Morgan pipeline,” he insisted.
Those are the words Notley wants to hear, but Albertans are well aware the Liberals have fallen short on any number of promises since gaining office, and fear the pipeline may be next. That could trigger any number of repercussions: Notley could soon be out of a job, the NDP out of office and Horgan facing the harder- edged Kenney. Alberta could invoke retaliatory measures aimed to impose at least as much pain on B. C. as Alberta suffers, and maybe more. Everything shipped across Canada from B.C. has to pass through Alberta, after all. And Trudeau could find himself replicating a feat managed by his father when his National Energy Program alienated entire generations of people across much of the west.
Horgan needs to think beyond his need for the Greens. Canada is bigger than that. If he can’t comprehend Alberta’s reaction, someone needs to explain it to him. Preferably before he has time to make things worse.