Were I an Albertan, I’d be asking: What’s the point?

He couldn’t wait. Joe Biden didn’t let the sun set on his first day as president before coming down like a ton of bricks on Alberta. Almost with his first breath, he smashed Keystone XL.

And Justin Trudeau didn’t let 24 hours go by to assure Mr. Biden he understood. Ever so kindly he “acknowledged the new president’s decision to fulfil his election campaign promise on Keystone XL.” The promise to kill it on the first day.

My guess is, to borrow a phrase that the now defunct governor general, Julie Payette, and Trudeau have both found useful in tight situations, the citizens of the province of Alberta “will experience the decision differently.”

Of all the powers and countries and issues and crises in the world at the present moment, is it not utterly unimaginable that at the top of what Joe Biden is pleased to call his mind is a projected pipeline to Alberta? That on his very first day he drew out the sword of an executive order to slay thousands of jobs in his own country and its closest ally?

Were I in Alberta today I guess I’d be standing just a little taller knowing I was a Canadian, part of a great federation that stands up — vigorous, alert, and always willing to fight — when my province and its citizens are being bullied and injured by any power, including the united States of America.

I’ll drop the irony, instanter. Were I an Albertan today I’d actually be asking: What’s the point? Why are we in this thing? When will it ever stop? does anyone in Ottawa have any idea of where this is driving us?

I’d be asking, how long are we going to put up with being mauled and mocked and stymied and blocked, by forces within Canada and without, and never receiving a damn whimper of support from most of our fellow provinces, and especially our federal government?

Someone should quickly consider that what began and continued as an attack on jobs and the industry has escalated into something else entirely. It is an economic attack, yes. But now I see it more as an attack on the dignity of the province and its citizens. It is never wise, and always dangerously heedless, to strike at peoples’ sense of worth.

When Barack Obama — he was the first — cancelled Keystone, energetic condemnation by this Liberal government was sadly lacking.

Now that Biden has wielded the Keystone axe again, Canada — PM Trudeau — is being “honoured” by receiving the “first call from the new president.” A diplomatic quid pro quo perhaps for not making any noise over the slashing of Alberta’s prime industry.

did Trudeau not consider that if so vital a Canadian interest as its oil and gas industry was being shuttered by the new guy, so quickly, then maybe — just to show solidarity with Alberta and its oil workers and as a province of the Confederation — he should tell Mr. Biden he can take his first phone call and — in doug Ford’s exemplary formulation — place it in his “yingyang” department?

Ooh, but that would not be diplomatic. It might upset many wise mouths on the TV panels. It might — fearful thought — show evidence of spine and independence.

And after all, it’s only Alberta. It’s not like it’s an attack on our auto industry, or, good heavens, Bombardier, which of course pose no “threat” to our planet, and besides have the good grace to be positioned in real provinces, like Ontario and Quebec.

By the way if anyone buys the idea Biden killed Keystone because of his fears about global warming I can find you a real bargain on beach property in Siberia. I remind readers the u.s. has three million miles of pipeline.

The only reason Keystone was slaughtered, on the first day, is to show credentials to the environmental crowd, the woke virtuous, not to mention the u.s.’s own oil and gas lobby.

And while we are at it, if anyone thinks the Trudeau government mourns this decision, they have not been listening to every pious global warming sermon from the PM and Catherine Mckenna these past five years. They are Greener than Kermit.

We have in Ottawa the Greenest government ever, and the Fata Morgana of apocalyptic global warming is their creed, their Bible, their one and dearest idea. And whatever few timid words of “regret” we may have heard, they are mere vapours.

Have they not, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the massive hit to the economy we are enduring, after every blow that has fallen on Alberta oil and gas in the past five or six years, the fire in Fort Mac, the downturn in prices, the flight of headquarters and investment — after all these and more, have they not escalated the senseless carbon tax?

It’s not only Joe Biden who has it in for Alberta oil and gas.

So where are we? Alberta is still landlocked, hived off as if it were a foreign jurisdiction within the borders of Canada. There will be no pushback — none, not a little finger lifted — from the national government for this attack on thousands of jobs, and — in my estimation — for this insult to a province of a prime ally.

Trudeau will get a phone call — hopefully after Ms. Payette is off the newscasts. We would not like any distractions from this mark of favour.

And out in Alberta, it is becoming more and more difficult, perhaps even impossible, to answer the basic question: If you allow the savaging of our economy, if you ignore what we in Alberta have contributed to you during the good times, if you side with rabid environmentalism, pour on carbon taxes and fuel emission standards, if you bar every effort to build even one damn pipeline: Why are we in this thing?

That’s the question. And you know what “this thing” refers to.

does anyone in ottawa know where this is driving us?