Anger, Wexit and Frustration

At the heart of Alberta’s Wexiteers is anger. Anger and frustration.

They are angry that, even though they pay very little tax (of any kind), they feel like they pay a lot. They also see their municipal taxes rise as needed infrastructure gets built after many years of neglect and decay. They are frustrated that the Provincial and Federal government spend money on things they don’t like and do not spend money on the things they want them too – like better care for seniors, more day care for children and pharmacare.

They are angry that a key sector of the Alberta economy – oil and gas – is in recession and has been for some time. Oil prices are stuck below the costs of production for new oil sands projects and technology innovation and new ownership of oil sands is focused on massively improving productivity with less labour – a strategy that is working. It is also focused on getting Alberta’s oil to market through rail (using bitumen pucks) and pipelines, now being built but only after years of delay. They are not convinced that the Federal Government (of any kind) treats this industry seriously or, as importantly, with respect. This despite the fact that, so as to ensure that the Trans Mountain Pipeline got built, the Federal Government bought it for $4.5 billion, redid the public consultation and approved it. It is now under construction, despite ongoing court challenges. The expanded pipeline will increase oil to market by this means from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000.

They are angry that climate change – something we know to be real – is derailing the rapid growth and exploitation of oil and gas and they blame, without any real evidence, foreign influence and left wing environmental activists for this. This despite the fact that the oil and gas industry asked for a carbon tax (well, the big players did – the small ones who run CAPP campaigned against it) and pushed both the Conservative and NDP Provincial governments over emissions regulations and charges (which are still in place at $30/barrel). This despite the fact that oil production continues to grow and that revenues are increasing – they are just not hiring as many people.

They do not like to acknowledge that Canada is, on average, experiencing warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, and northern Canada is heating up at almost three times the global average. Nor do they acknowledge that the fastest growing cause of CO2 emissions (and other greenhouse gasses) are the Alberta oil sands.

They point to statements made by the Prime Minister about climate change and fossil fuels as evidence of his disdain for oil and gas. He has promised to phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry (alongside all G20 countries), work to develop a NAFTA style clean energy agreement, and has endowed the Low Carbon energy trust with $2 billion to help stimulate the growth of this sector (some of these funds have been allocated to Alberta oil sands companies). He has introduced a Federal Carbon Levy – something agreed to at the time by all Provinces but has since been opposed by some. This tax will apply to Alberta starting in January because an angry Saskatchewan person who is now Premier of Alberta repealed our own carbon levy and instead wants the funds collected to be controlled by Ottawa.

They are angry that Alberta looks to be treated differently than other Provinces, especially Quebec and BC, both of which oppose new or expanded pipelines. In a deliberate, and some may think malicious, misunderstanding of equalization Albertan’s think they pay money into a fund and don’t get any back, while their opponents (like Quebec) does. They know that the money for equalization is sitting in the Federal governments general revenues and is allocated according to a formula designed and developed by Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney. It is not Alberta’s money.  Just as Alberta doesn’t pay a portion of defence costs, we don’t pay a portion of equalization – the Federal government’s budgets don’t work that way and Albertan’s know it.

Some – a small number – of Albertan’s glorify a fantasy of Western separation, ignoring the fact that large parts of Alberta are owned by the Federal Government and First Nations, that we would “inherit” a portion of the Federal debt, that we have no access to global markets (except the US) without having a trade with Canada and we are not viable as a nation state, whatever rye you drink. A new Wexit nation would begin with debts that make current debt levels of Western Canadian governments look like chicken feed.

As the Premier of Manitoba said, Provinces are married to Canada and, as in all marriages, one has to work at the relationship. Canada is not perfect, but it is worth fighting for and working for. Rather than being angry and threatening, Albertan’s should develop clear, specific proposals for all of our future within confederation. Let the anger out and replace it with sense-making and imaginative ideas.

If you want to know what Wexit would actually look like, look over the pond at Brexit. It is not exactly a picnic.