Before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet, he had meetings the week before with the leaders of the various federal parties represented in Parliament, and a couple of provincial premiers – including Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe.
When Mr. Moe met the media afterward, he was disconsolate. The Prime Minister, he said, had offered nothing new, not a scintilla of hope for the downtrodden people of his province.
“What I heard was more of the same,” the Premier would later tweet. “The PM may have abandoned SK but I will not.”
The Prime Minister must have been shocked by Mr. Moe’s account of the meeting, because soon after, his office released a detailed account of just what was discussed in their hour-long confab – something it rarely does.
More of the same? As it turns out, Mr. Trudeau had reinforced the federal government’s commitment to four energy projects now in the works, including Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement, which will go through Regina. He said he was open to improving Bill C-69, which Alberta Premier Jason Kenney calls the “no more pipelines law." On equalization, he suggested Mr. Moe use his position as current chair of the Council of the Federation to build consensus on potential changes to the formula. In other words, he wasn’t averse to altering the rules if the provinces can reach an agreement.
It didn’t matter. All Mr. Moe was concerned about was leaving the impression that a) the Liberals don’t care about the Prairies and b) he would have his people’s back even if that evil left-wing government in Ottawa wouldn’t.
It was all about the headline, a stunt to make Mr. Moe look good back home.
I mention this to underscore what new Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is up against in her role as the great national unifier. Despite their welcoming words to the new cabinet, Mr. Moe and Mr. Kenney have so far proven to be obstructionists, more interested in furthering their own partisan agenda than helping make the country work better.
Much has been made of Ms. Freeland’s Alberta roots. I’m not sure how far that will get her. W. Brett Wilson, the former Dragon’s Den star and Calgary entrepreneur, has already mocked her appointment on Twitter. “I wonder when the [mainstream media] will be allowed by @gmbutts [former principal secretary Gerald Butts] to drop mentioning that one of his top puppets #ChristinaFreeland [sic] was born in Alberta,” he tweeted to his 190,000 followers.
He said if her appointment was meant to make the West feel better, it was a total failure.
Mr. Wilson’s is just one voice, of course, but he represents a vibrant, like-minded constituency in Alberta. They will be ready to pounce at every opportunity, which I’m sure won’t be long. After all, what does Ms. Freeland have to offer that Mr. Trudeau did not before the election?
Is the government going to suddenly get rid of the carbon tax? Take the environmental protections out of C-69? Foist a new equalization formula on the country for the benefit of Saskatchewan and Alberta? Approve a new pipeline through Quebec and another to the West Coast?
Ms. Freeland said her government needs to listen to the complaints of Albertans and the people of Saskatchewan. Well, it’s all in any speech of the past three years from Mr. Kenney, and more recently, Mr. Moe. And everything they desire is fundamentally at odds with a national government committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and that needs to form a working relationship with federal parties (except the Conservatives) that insist on the same thing.
So tell me where Ms. Freeland has room to move to satiate the likes of Mr. Moe and Mr. Kenney. Two people, it needs to be said, who are ideologically opposed to nearly everything for which the federal Liberals stand. Who, truth be told, want the Liberals to fail generally, and continue to fail more specifically in their two provinces.
The greatest thing Ms. Freeland has going for her is she’s not Justin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau triggers something profound in the Prairie premiers. Maybe it’s his famous last name. Ms. Freeland won’t carry that baggage.
It doesn’t mean she won’t be weighted down with the same inexorable differences that exist between her government and the ones in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
And that makes any détente almost impossible.
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Gary Mason