ECA Review - 2019-06-27

6 J une 27'19 HAnnA/COROn ATIOn /STe TTLe R, AB. e CA Re VIe W
OPINION
The opinions expressed are not necessarily
the opinions of this newspaper.
EDITORIAL
Kenny, “It’s
all about me”
Brenda Schimke
ECA Review
Seventy per cent of Canadians support
the construction of the
TransMountain Pipeline (TMX) and
see it as an economic benefit to the
whole country. Yet listening to Premier
Jason Kenney and his $3-billion ad
campaign you’d think the opposite was
true.
When the not-surprising approval of
the TMX was given by the federal government
on June 18, Kenney’s
statement that the pipeline approval
“isn’t a victory to celebrate” was just
weird for a Premier of a province that
will benefit the most from that federal
decision.
“
His attempt to
distort the facts is
showing signs that he
wants to be another
Doug Ford - uncaring
and dogmatic.
Kenney, since elected, is showing a
side of narcissism that we never witnessed
when he was a federal minister
of the Crown. Then he was seen as
moderate, cooperative with the
Opposition, respectful of immigrants,
and far less confrontational than most
of the front bench of the Harper
government.
Today he seems focused on baiting
anger, jealousy and alienation amongst
Albertans towards fellow Canadians.
His attempt to distort the facts is
showing signs that he wants to be
another Doug Ford—uncaring and
dogmatic to the majority as he panders
to his personal and industry friends.
One gets the strong impression that
he really wants the TMX construction
to fail simply because its success would
validate the federal Liberal and provincial
NDP governments’ strategy of
diplomacy, compromise and rule of
law.
When Preston Manning led the last
separation movement, “The West
Wants In”, he had the four Western
provinces on side. It was also before
the United States became energy
self-sufficient and a net exporter of oil
and gas.
Today we have one province in the
bag, Saskatchewan, and perhaps
Manitoba.
Without British Columbia we would
be a landlocked country surrounded
by two foreign governments. If
Manitoba joined our country, we’d
have access to a port at Churchill, but
that would be an expensive option with
seasonal access.
Frankly, what incentive would B.C.
have to facilitate, ever, the shipment of
a breakaway country’s petroleum
products?
Granted the breakaway of Alberta
would hurt all of Canada, but the costs
of nationhood and the added difficulty
to access foreign markets for our
petroleum and agricultural products
would crush Alberta’s strength and
wealth.
It would be equivalent to what’s happening
in Britain as they line up to
crash out of the European Union
without a deal.
Every Nobel Prize winning economists,
the Governor of the Bank of
England, Canadian Mark Carney and
the Organization of Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD)
say throwing 50 per cent of their tarifffree
trade away would hurt Europe but
would unequivocally cause catastrophic
consequences for British
citizens.
The United States doesn’t need
Canada anymore. They are energy
self-sufficient. We’ve already seen the
bully of bullies, Mr. Trump, unsuccessful
or uninterested in delivering
the Keystone pipeline.
Then there’s the current protectionist
attitude of the governing
Republican Party. They have no
interest in befriending Canada or any
of their traditional allies so the hope of
them befriending Alberta is indeed a
pipe dream.
Kenney’s approach to promote separation
from Canada rather than
cooperation and his skepticism
towards the TMX construction are
incongruent with Alberta’s current
vulnerable economic situation. We
need all the friends, allies and support
we can get.
Unfortunately, herein lays the
problem with the UPC leadership. If
Kenney isn’t getting the glory, it matters
not whether it’s beneficial to the
majority of Albertans or not.
“
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MAIL BAG
Professional on the subject
Dear Editor,
After reading the letter from George
Thatcher titled “Fact checking
needed”, I would just like to clarify
some misleading information in his
letter, specifically that Dr. Tim Ball
should not be considered an expert on
climatology.
Dr. Tim Ball received a PhD in
Historical Climatology from Queen
Mary College, University of London,
England.
He also has an extensive research
and publishing record including 23
peer-reviewed articles, co-authored
“Eighteenth Century Naturalists of
Hudson Bay” and “Slaying the Sky
Dragon”.
He also wrote “The Deliberate
Corruption of Climate Science” and
‘Human Caused Global Warming”, two
thoroughly researched works.
He is obviously a professional on the
subject of climate, in my opinion and
that of many others. That’s my conclusion
from the facts I have researched.
Linda Gerlinger
East Coulee, Alta.
Picking winners and losers
Dear Editor,
Editorial opinion of June 13, titled
Jason’s “War Room”, pg. 6 graphically
illustrates how different views are of
the left from the right.
Regarding Shell and Exxon Mobile
endorsed the leadership plan of the
NDP, it is more likely that they were
anticipating the subsidies they would
receive to convert to other sources of
energy.
This is illustrated by the fact that
they so quickly reverted back to the
free enterprise model when they realized
that under the new
administration those subsidies would
be gone
The writer finds the synchronization
of government and industry
appalling but seems to be quite in
agreement with Rachel Notley’s
administration destroying an industry
in order to comply with the political
agenda of those who want to stop the
climate from changing.
Nor was the NDP sympathetic to
100,000 workers that they put out of a
job.
There is a vast difference in synchronization
of industry with
government than government getting
into bed with the labour unions.
Unions like the political left as they
are only interested in their next wage
increase.
They have no interest in what it
takes to build an industry that creates
their jobs.
They do not appreciate the risks
taken by industry or entrepreneurs to
create the jobs they depend on.
It is my opinion that the NDP government
has no money other than that
they first have taken from the taxpayer,
to manipulate industry and the
consumer, with subsidies and grants
The editorial talks about the greed
of the corporation versus the wellbeing
of all citizens.
This ignores the fact that corporations
are made up of citizens that hold
shares in the corporations and are the
risk takers that create the jobs for
unions and nonunion workers.
Corporations and private entrepreneurs
in Alberta have for many years
been in the forefront of developing
alternate industries outside of the oil
and gas sector.
Comparing Jason Kenney’s support
for the oil and gas industry with
Trudeau wanting to protect the SNC-
Lavalin CEOs, simply illustrates that
the political left has little sense of what
is right or wrong.
Trudeau had no problem compromising
the law to save 4,000 jobs, but
felt no guilt in destroying an industry
and killing 100,000 jobs.
Supporting corporations and private
entrepreneurs does not mean that governments
should not have the
possibility of oversight, but governments
right or left, should not use
taxpayer money to pick winners or
losers.
George Friesen,
Lacombe Alta.
REast Central Alberta
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