HANNAFORD Sovereignty Act is all politics, nothing about law
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
134.10466
Summary
Nigel Hannevoort argues that if Alberta were not already part of Canada, who would sign up on today s terms of Confederation? 1. A better deal in Confederation for Alberta 2. Better deal in confederation for Canada 3. Straight talk about equalization
Transcript
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The people who say Daniel Smith's Sovereignty Act is unconstitutional may be dead right,
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but that's the whole point of it. It's not a law. It's a political document, an attention-getter,
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the kind of stick in the ear you use when all else has failed. And Albertans have tried all else.
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Premiers Jim Prentice, Rachel Notley, and Jason Kenney all have banged on Ottawa's door
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to none of them has it been opened. It's time to try something else. Let's face it,
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if Alberta were not already part of Canada, who would sign up on today's Terms of Confederation?
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Three things about that. First, the sheer unfair distribution of cost and benefit alone has been
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staggering. Since the mid-60s, Alberta has sent two-thirds of a trillion dollars more to Ottawa
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than it has got back in transfer payments. Do the maths. That averages out to more than $14,000
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for a family of four every year for 60 years. Who would vote for that?
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But we could shrug it off because what made Alberta strong and what made it possible
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as one of Canada's smaller provinces to bear the national equalization burden almost alone some years
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was its highly efficient energy industry. Which leads to the second thing. Since they took power
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in 2015, with their climate change fixation, the Trudeau liberals have been trying to kill Alberta's
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energy industry. You know, the No Pipelines Act, the No Tankers Act, the cancellation of the Northern
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Gateway Pipeline, the crucifixion of Energy East on a regulatory cross, carbon taxes, and more carbon taxes,
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and always more restrictions, more requirements, and targets for the beleaguered oil and gas industry
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to meet. Mr Trudeau says he intends to phase out the oil sands. Believe him. And God forbid that we
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should give Germany a hand by selling them Alberta gas. No business case for that. So here's the thing. The
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Fed's used to skim the cream and half the milk from Alberta's pail, but they still left half the pail,
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and Alberta had the highest standard of living outside downtown Toronto. But that's going to change.
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For Mr Trudeau to get what he wants, Albertans must become poor. Many of us already know what that feels
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like. Head offices quitting the province, tens of thousands of energy workers laid off, and tens of
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billions in cancelled investments. Get used to it. If Mr Trudeau has his way, that's our future.
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But here's the third thing. Do you ever get the feeling it's personal? That the liberals just don't
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like Albertans? Remember Mr Trudeau being interviewed in French while Mr Harper was in office, and he said,
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Canada isn't doing well right now because it's Albertans who control our community and
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socio-democratic agenda. It doesn't work. Really. Maybe it's our pickup trucks. But again, believe him.
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Now, it's not that Albertan governments haven't tried to push back. Jim Prentiss and later Rachel
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Notley tried to obtain social license. Premier Kenney asked for and received a mandate from Albertans
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to make Ottawa talk about equalization. But none of this went anywhere. So, how do you get Ottawa's
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attention? Maybe with a big fat political crisis. Danielle Smith's Sovereignty Act may not be
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constitutional. Hard to say until we see it. But it would be a political document, pure and simple,
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intended to embarrass Ottawa and to force change. That is, a better deal in confederation for Alberta.
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Now that makes a ton of sense. Let's see. Let's pass it. Let the Government of Canada signal that it
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doesn't want to play. Proceed as if it were signed. Establish an Alberta police force. Maybe start
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collecting our own taxes. Do things our own way. Then, if nobody is paying attention, and only if
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nobody is paying attention, do what Quebec does. Invoke the Clarity Act. That would start a conversation.
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And the conversation would start with straight talk about equalization. For the Western Standard,
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