Quote:
Originally Posted by Makarov
Let's just accept, for the sake of argument, that Alberta is prepared to essentially nationalize energy exporting in Alberta. And let's also suppose that, for some reason, the federal Crown lacks the constitutional authority to charge a tariff to a provincial Crown (I have no idea whether or not this is true - I don't see any obvious reason why it would be true but I'm not going to spend any time thinking about it because of the following).
If those two things are true, the federal government will just achieve its policy goal (of inflicting economic harm on the United States) by prohibiting the export of energy to the United States.
Masterfully played, Premier Smith.
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They are constitutionally prohibited to do the first, for sure. One gov't cannot tax another gov't.
I'm not certain of the facts, but I think may be constitutionally prohibited from doing the second. It would probably get litigated, either way. Also, I believe prohibiting export is physically impossible, as that's not exactly how pipelines and oil production work. But I'm not sure on this point. Either way, the idea of stopping delivery of oil is a much more aggressive stance than just taxing the export. I doubt they would consider it.