News

Keystone XL? Cancelled.

Energy East? Cancelled.

Northern Gateway? Cancelled.

Teck Resources? Cancelled.

Pretty much anything out east? Approved!

Last month, Canadians were treated to the news that a new government - one they didn’t elect - had been formed, sort of.

Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh reached a “Confidence and Supply Agreement” that would keep the Liberals in power until 2025, with the NDP backing the government on confidence votes and budgets.

While it's not an official coalition, with the NDP receiving no cabinet minister spots, for the purposes of Alberta, it might as well be.

Last week I wrote to you all about how some provinces are more equal than others when it comes to seats in the House of Commons.

You can refer back to last week's email for the full details, but here's a quick summary:

In the most up-to-date Canadian census data, Quebec's population increased, but it increased more slowly than the rest of the country, meaning Quebec now makes up a smaller share of the total Canadian population.

Who cares about a slightly slower rate of increase in population, you might ask?

Well, politicians in Quebec really do, because a province's population is the primary thing that determines how many seats it gets in the House of Commons, and Quebec's drop in share of population means mathematically it will lose a seat in the next Parliament.

Energy security.

It's a concept that has been ignored by many - including our federal government in Ottawa - for far too long.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has suddenly helped the world realize what's been obvious to many Albertans for a long time - we still need oil and gas!

You're mad.

I get it. 

You should be mad.

It's time now, though, to figure out how to channel that anger to create a stronger Alberta.

I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year, and that you're having a great 2022 so far.

While our team managed to find a little time to rest, Project Confederation didn't slow down too much over the holidays - there's always plenty of work to be done!

In fact, I even had the honour of being featured in a National Post column addressing the frustrations that we all feel regarding our place in confederation.

The Alberta Legislature finished for the year on Tuesday and the theme of the session might as well have been "all talk, no action".

Despite wave after wave of relentless attacks from a hostile federal government in Ottawa, precious little progress has been made to stand up for Alberta.

Given Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government have their foot on the throat of our energy sector, a strong response from the provincial government should be expected, right?

Winston Churchill famously criticized appeasers, saying: "each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last."

His point was that repeated compromise that allows your opponent to repeatedly shift the goalposts only delays your inevitable demise, rather than preventing it.

If the federal government and environmental radicals are today's crocodiles, and Alberta's energy industry is the meat, why are we still feeding them?

Last week, the results of Alberta’s equalization referendum were released: 62% of Albertans voted “yes”, in favour of removing equalization from the constitution.

It appears the result has ruffled quite a few feathers in Laurentian Canada — the political, academic, cultural, media, and business elite of central Canada.

Despite claims from many that the referendum was irrelevant, there were at least three major events this week that suggest that central Canada is taking the threat much more seriously than they’re willing to admit publicly.