Jason Kenney says If Justin Trudeau says no to Teck mine project, then the Liberals are signaling they want to phase out the oilsands – February 7, 2020,
Maybe as an investor, I have a habit of attempting to look into the future, but I personally don’t understand Western Canadian politics. I don’t understand the current position of Jason Kenney, however, maybe I’m beginning to understand it now. I read an interesting article, written by Jason Kenney, I now I’m feeling less of a need to visit Alberta this year as quite possibly I’m beginning to comprehend what Jason Kenney was doing politically, taking the position he took.
According to the National Post, Jason Kenney used the following words:
“If they say no to this project, then they are signalling … that he (Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) wants to phase out the oilsands,” Rex Murphy: The Liberals are pouring kerosene on the flames of Western separation | CBC
Did you read into those words in the same manner I did? What I read is similar to the conclusion Rex Murphy came to when he titled his article The Liberals are pouring kerosene on the flames of Western separation. The people of Alberta gave Kenney a very simple mandate and he’s met it, however, there comes a time when you draw a line in the sand and take a step back.
What I read into is that Jason Kenney won’t be a part of the Western separation, he won’t be for Western separation however he will use Trudeau’s policies as the trigger for it. This is an interesting position that I actually agree with. Why? Because as I’ve stated all it takes is for the Western Separatists or the People’s Party of Canada to win 1 seat and Canada could organically start to change.
People are fearful of change, people don’t want change happening too fast, but gradually change sparked by something organic, that’s an event that creates people who challenge the status quo. I’ve been saying this for years now, Technology jobs are not the same as manufacturing jobs, you need years of training to work in the tech sector, working in the energy sector, these in many instances are entry-level positions in which an experienced person can move up the economic ladder.
In tech, even when Elon Musk recently made his announcement that he’d be willing to hire a person without a college or university degree, the catch was the individual would have to have extensive knowledge in the vision Elon has for SpaceX. There is no high paying entry-level tech job, it doesn’t exist, not yet anyway and what this equates to is a huge economic challenge for Alberta and Canada as whole, because here’s the thing a lot of people forget, Alberta is one of Canadas more Fiscally responsible provinces and if Oil sands are phased out Albertans still might be fiscally responsible but with fewer collected tax dollars.
This would obviously put into question the need for Equalization payments to Quebec if Alberta indeed is forced to yield to Quebec and phase out the oil sands, why then should Alberta finance the Quebec economy? This has been my personal position from the very start, I personally don’t see Alberta the way most Canadians see Alberta, I invest in Alberta, primarily because of their government spending as opposed to other provinces in the Federation.
My belief is that Albertans were opened to equalization payments as an olive branch to eastern Canada to allow them to grow their economy. However if the edict from Ottawa comes in that the oil sands will be phased out and let’s say that Albertans don’t have the fight in them to leave the Federation, well, they can use their fiscal responsibility as their tool to release the equalization grip of Ottawa.
In the United States, recently people in California have been fleeing to Texas, many of these Californians bringing their politics with them, now, I personally don’t suspect the same thing would happen in Canada, in which Canadians would flock to Alberta, because they’re fiscally responsible, however, what would happen in the event Alberta decides to unify, is that more businesses, in Canada would more than likely make Alberta their home.
Alberta has a favorable business atmosphere and in my opinion, their separatist movement in the event the oil sands are phased out, could simply become a fiscally responsible movement. Requesting that the have-not provinces be more responsible with how they finance their public sectors. You get what you’re willing to fight for, I personally don’t have a problem with pipelines, I’m also not a big an of them either, I’m neutral on the topic. If Albertans want to save the oilsands they will save them, if they don’t they won’t save them.
I don’t believe Ottawa should get in their way, however, Ottawa is in their way and I don’t see that much push back against Trudeau. TheRebel.media does an excellent job covering this topic and I personally don’t see the level of push back against Ottawa that I’d like to from Albertans, so for myself, I’ll let the Albertan people lead their own charge and voice my truth from the sidelines. To the best of my knowledge, Rex Murphy is a Liberal, but he’s usually neutral, his article is worth the read.
Rex Murphy: The Liberals are pouring kerosene on the flames of Western separation | CBC
Interesting times ahead