Ford visit about making carbon tax only issue

The welcome mat is always out in Saskatchewan, so maybe it wasn’t all that surprising to see cousin Scott embracing cousin Doug.

Family is family. And what better time than Thanksgiving for Premier Scott Moe and Ontario Progressive Conservative counterpart Premier Doug Ford to get the conservative family together?

The more intriguing question, however, is: What is the Saskatchewan Party really hoping to get from this relationship with its Ontario kissin’ cousin?

More exports? We get that Saskatchewan imports $5 billion from Ontario while exporting $6.7 billion, but that doesn’t change by one dollar because of this gettogether.

Tearing down interprovincial trade barriers? A fair regulatory environment? Pro-growth policies? Who doesn’t want all that?

The carbon tax? Of course, but what really merited Ford’s trip west? Besides the hardly-worth-the-paper-the-press-release-was-printed-on news that Saskatchewan has filed for intervener status in the Ontario court action, what was actually new?

“Saskatchewan and Ontario will continue to be strong allies ... against a destructive made-in- Ottawa carbon tax that does nothing for our environment and is a direct cost to businesses, to jobs, families across this great nation of Canada,” Moe said.

As for Ford? Well, one thing we learned is he will never be outdone in the overblown rhetoric department.

“Justin Trudeau. My message to you is this: ‘Either you stand with families and businesses and hard-working people across this province or you stand with the carbon tax,’ ” Ford said. “But I tell you this: You can’t sit on the fence because when you sit on the fence, you get splinters.”

Ford’s hammer-to-the-forehead argument that we are being held hostage by this “nasty, nasty job-killing tax” isn’t exactly sophisticated policy discourse ... or of much value to providing meaningful alternatives when it comes to addressing greenhouse gas emissions that were hardly even mentioned.

But let’s consider Ford’s value as a blunt instrument to bludgeon voters on the carbon tax in the lead-up to elections in Alberta, nationally and even here in Saskatchewan.

As reporters in Saskatoon desperately poked and prodded Thursday to get anything of value from this largely unnecessary visit, Ford slipped into family tribalism in explaining why he was intending to meet with Alberta United Conservative Party Opposition leader Jason Kenney and not meeting with counterpart NDP Premier Rachel Notley.

“Jason’s a friend of mine and I’m out West and so is Scott, and I think we are likeminded,” Ford said.

Ford punctuated this by earlier noting that Moe has established himself as a great national leader who stood strong with Ontario on the issue of “illegal” crossings.

Sure, there are those in this province — perhaps some of them are Saskatchewan Party strategists — who might bristle at the sight of the polarizing Ford so obviously shilling for Moe’s political fortunes. One might even argue it was politically counterproductive because the tighter urban seats that Moe needs to win to hold his big Sask. Party majority would be most inclined to be turned off by Ford’s bombast and bluster.

But these are the voters most inclined to see Saskatchewan issues as being about more than a carbon tax — rising debt, declining jobs, fewer government services and, as Ford puts it, governments with their hands in people’s pockets through higher taxes. This is a problem for Moe, who needs to make the next election about a single thing.

So what’s helpful? How about a visit from Ford all about de-elevating public debate — making the next Saskatchewan vote about being either for or against a carbon tax? Remember: either you’re for the Trudeau carbon tax or you’re against it — there’s no sitting on the fence.

Finally, you might have noticed the flurry of Sask. Party nominations, causing some to think Moe would love to go to the polls this coming spring rather than in the fall of 2020.

To do so, Moe needs an excuse to go early. What better excuse than elevating the carbon tax to national crisis status?