By Bruce Pardy, published by the Western Standard
In Brief
Alberta just handed Ottawa a free pass. On October 19, 75% of voting Albertans told the rest of the country they’d stay in Confederation no matter what. Ten days later, Liberals killed a bill to lift the northern B.C. oil tanker ban. Coincidence? Not according to law professor Bruce Pardy.
Pre-referendum gestures from Prime Minister Mark Carney (including talk of a pipeline) were temporary responses to the vote itself; once the threat evaporated, so did the incentive to accommodate Alberta.
Real grievances remain—equalization drains, Senate under-representation, decades of federal foot-dragging on oil and gas. Alberta leaders spent years floating firewalls, Triple-E Senates, and referendums. Nothing moved. The unspoken edge to Western alienation was always the exit threat: push us too far and “we’ll leave and take our oil and gas with us.”
But not anymore, writes Pardy, “the credibility of Alberta’s ongoing beef” has been “neutered.”
Coming down the pipeline inside Alberta: Pardy predicts the 25% who supported an independence vote is large enough to create lasting trouble for Premier Danielle Smith and her United Conservative Party.
Bruce Pardy is executive director of Rights Probe and professor of law at Queen’s University.
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