6 days Ago By Michele Jarvie
It’s true, as Premier Danielle Smith said last week, that the extent to which a Liberal election victory spurs any sort of national unity crisis all depends on how Albertans react. It’s also true, however, that our leaders have a considerable role in setting the tone for that political climate. If there’s truly a shared goal of unlocking and unleashing Canada’s economic potential — with our energy industry leading the way — there should also be a shared goal of avoiding acrimony and political instability.
In remarks last week at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa, Smith stressed the need for Liberal Leader Mark Carney to repair the existing “damage” to the relationship between Alberta and Ottawa. That, too, is true. But it is a two-way street.
While it’s fair to question Carney’s desire to improve that relationship, it is also fair to question Smith’s. We do seem to be getting ahead of ourselves in that we don’t know whether the Liberals will win this election. Between the various threats and warnings from Alberta’s premier, she’s acting as though this is over.
If Carney’s Liberals are indeed re-elected, we also don’t really know what his approach to all of this will look like. He was saying all the right things last week during his Alberta campaign stops , but much was lacking in the way of specifics. Recent polls have shown that Canadians are much more bullish on the need to develop new energy projects and infrastructure, and to do so with a greater sense of urgency.
It would be foolish for whoever is prime minister to disregard that sentiment. Understandably, the track record of the Justin Trudeau years would give way to skepticism about the likelihood of a new and bold direction under the Liberals. Mind you, Carney has already shown he isn’t beholden to Trudeau’s legacy policies, and the circumstances that might propel him to victory are much different from those of 2015.
There remains in Alberta, though, a vested interest in maintaining a combative posture with a Liberal federal government and a resistance to anything that would erode the UCP’s brand as Alberta’s true defenders, ready to fight Ottawa at every turn. But it’s not unlike how Smith has approached the challenge of dealing with U.S.
President Donald Trump: it wasn’t the government we wanted to see elected, we have to live with it, but we can still try to find common ground, and if we’re flexible and open-minded enough, we can secure some wins. If Ottawa chooses a fight instead, then we’ll have to adjust..
