I would push back on your characterization of the Firewall Letter. Almost all of its provisions are things that Ontario and/or Quebec have taken advantage of. And not necessarily by “Conservative Homeland” types in those jurisdictions. The Firewall letter (of which I was a signatory) was merely Alberta doing what the “Big Boys and Girls” of confederation were already doing. It contained proposals legislatively or constitutionally available to Alberta without requiring the permission or approval of any other jurisdiction (as you note). I would say it was profoundly Canadian, if you believe in a Canada composed of strong provinces and a weak federal government, as Firewall Authors all do!
Blaming Ottawa is a shtick that has served the Conservative movement going back to the 1930’s. Preston Manning made Ralph Klein’s miracle on the prairies possible by blaming Mulroney and resulted in the entire federal PC party being tossed out of Alberta; saving Alberta provincial conservatives. Then Harper was PM for 10 years and Alberta conservatives had to shut up about Ottawa. The result, Jim Prentice was defeated. The worst thing for Alberta conservatives is a conservative PM.
This year Alberta conservatives simultaneously complain about Trudeau killing the oil patch while the oil patch has record profits. Blaming Ottawa gets louder when the world wide price of oil drops. Alberta runs deficits and whines about Ottawa. It really exposes that we are a poorly managed petro province.
Lastly, the biggest whine conservatives have is about equalization. They never ask why Harper/Kenney did nothing about it. The current formula is the Harper formula. But we endlessly hear bleating about Lousy Trudeau.
Hi Lisa,
I would push back on your characterization of the Firewall Letter. Almost all of its provisions are things that Ontario and/or Quebec have taken advantage of. And not necessarily by “Conservative Homeland” types in those jurisdictions. The Firewall letter (of which I was a signatory) was merely Alberta doing what the “Big Boys and Girls” of confederation were already doing. It contained proposals legislatively or constitutionally available to Alberta without requiring the permission or approval of any other jurisdiction (as you note). I would say it was profoundly Canadian, if you believe in a Canada composed of strong provinces and a weak federal government, as Firewall Authors all do!
Best,
Ken
Blaming Ottawa is a shtick that has served the Conservative movement going back to the 1930’s. Preston Manning made Ralph Klein’s miracle on the prairies possible by blaming Mulroney and resulted in the entire federal PC party being tossed out of Alberta; saving Alberta provincial conservatives. Then Harper was PM for 10 years and Alberta conservatives had to shut up about Ottawa. The result, Jim Prentice was defeated. The worst thing for Alberta conservatives is a conservative PM.
This year Alberta conservatives simultaneously complain about Trudeau killing the oil patch while the oil patch has record profits. Blaming Ottawa gets louder when the world wide price of oil drops. Alberta runs deficits and whines about Ottawa. It really exposes that we are a poorly managed petro province.
Lastly, the biggest whine conservatives have is about equalization. They never ask why Harper/Kenney did nothing about it. The current formula is the Harper formula. But we endlessly hear bleating about Lousy Trudeau.