Quote:
Originally Posted by Torture
This is doing a lot of heavy lifting in your sentence.
Can't believe that Smith went down to meet Trump with Kevin ####ing O'Leary. Undermine the whole ####ing country to protect O&G. This is perfect for Trump if he truly does want Canada. Divide and conquer baby. Canadians should be furious.
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My response was to the claim that the federal gov't can levy taxes on Alberta oil exports. If they tried, then that would immediately initiate a constitutional crisis, as that is within Smith's power to do.
In terms of "the whole country" and "divide a conquer", well that is already a massive problem. Alberta has been treated antagonistically by the rest of Canada for generations, has suffered from a poorly constructed democratic system which subjects the province to the tyranny of the majority in central Canada, and has had to contribute substantially more into the equalization coffers. It seems ironic and hilarious that now Canadians are talking about "unity".
Smith's job is to represent Alberta to the best of her abilities. If the rest of Canada wants to use Alberta oil as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations with the US, then Alberta should use this an an opportunity to negotiate with the rest of Canada in response. If I were Smith, I would tell Canada that they can put export taxes on Alberta oil temporarily, but in exchange, Alberta gets a resource corridor to each coast, which is not subject to First Nations regulatory appeal, and which is subject to Alberta environmental regulations.