War Between Have-Not Ontario v. Have-Alberta: Don’t Rule it Out Yet

Prime Minister Paul Martin and other federal officials are trying their best to avoid making yesterday’s news about Ontario’s impending have-not status look like an impending fight between Alberta and the Rest of Canada. Martin and Anne McClellan made soothing sounds telling people that that making Alberta “share its wealth” would be divisive. Yeah, as if that argument’s going to convince the likes of Layton, McGuinty, and others who are eyeing Alberta’s patrimony to lube their socialistic schemes.

But notice the legerdemain offered by Ontario’s Marie Bountrogianni, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs:

“This isn’t about Ontario and Alberta,” she said. “This is about Ontario and the federal government.”

She knows this is b.s. because the “federal government” is funded by taxpayers, and when you’re talking abotu one have-province and 9 have-nots, it’s not hard to figure out where the “federal government” is getting its funds to bankroll socialism in other provinces.

Yet, her boss, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, begged to differ when he referred to the recent premiers’ meeting in Banff:

The topic, described by Mr. McGuinty as “the elephant in the room,” was not on the agenda during the premiers meeting and Ontario officials have no formal action plan to pursue it.

Meanwhile, to federal Liberal strategist David Herle is bullish on the chances for a Liberal majority in the next election:

The Liberals now occupy three of 14 seats in Manitoba, one of 14 seats in Saskatchewan and one of 28 seats in Alberta.

Mr. Herle also said there is a “paradigm shift” in British Columbia, and said, “B.C. could move to us,” according to one source.

There are 3 have-not provinces (I guess BC is now officially a “have” again? someone confirm this?) that can benefit from a move against Alberta. Don’t forget that BC Premier Campbell has mumbled something about export taxes on Alberta oil and gas to punish the US over softwood lumber. And this is what Herle expects from Ontario:

He predicted the Liberals could win between eight and 10 seats in the Prairies and make “real gains” in Ontario, said the sources.

The articles goes on to report that many Liberal MPs who attended his presentation thought it was “shallow” - it seems a lot of it was Herle’s own boastful attempts to be the next “big fish” in the Liberal war room (after David Smith). We’ll leave that up to the Liberals themselves to figure out.

Anyway, you can see how the Liberals view their strategy for the next federal election. Grab Alberta’s wealth and generate anti-Alberta hatred to lubricate the socialist plans and of the other provinces.

Meanwhile, one should note that the other “elephant in the room” at the premiers’ meeting in Banff was news that US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s visiting the Alberta oilsands in September. Memo to the Liberal cabinet, McGuinty, and others: do you think it’s prudent to target the largest supplier of oil and gas to the US? How do you think Ontario’s auto industry, BC’s softwood lumber industry, Nova Scotia’s cod industry, etc., would fare if the US got concerned over the security of its oil supply?

The question answers itself.

Crossposted to Civitatensis.