Do Federal Liberals Hate Alberta?

Ever wondered why the word ‘Liberal’ is a 4-letter word in the vast majority of Alberta households? Well, if you had forgotten, federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff just reminded us all why.

In what can only be described as bold faced attack on our province, the Liberals revealed a plan to introduce a massive cap-and-trade scheme, effectively ban oil exports to Asian markets, and establish a clean energy national partnership which sounds eerily similar to Trudeau’s National Energy Program of yesteryear.

‘Iggy’s’ plan (my apologies to Jarome), would see greenhouse gas emissions in Canada reduced to 80% below 1990 levels (sweet…time to break out the ol’ horse and buggy). In order to accomplish this idiocy, Alberta industry would have to pay literally tens of billions of dollars in carbon credits (we’ll call them Iggy-bucks) to other provinces and countries for the right to develop our natural resources. The fact that these other provinces and countries are the ones using the oil we produce is apparently not relevant to the geniuses at Liberal HQ.

Bottom line is should this Liberal plan be implemented, we would lose tens of thousands of jobs across the country, but disproportionally in Alberta.

Our province’s own Energy Minister – the happy and talented PC Ron Liepert – ‘fought back’ by stating (and I quote from the Calgary Herald) “a national price on carbon would provide clarity for industry as they decide how to spend their money on environmental initiatives, but the Alberta government has also expressed reservations about funds from a cap-and-trade system flowing outside of the province.”  Wow Ron – way to stick up for your province. Neville Chamberlain would be so proud.

Thankfully, the Federal Conservatives made it clear such schemes are nothing more than job killing policies aimed at attacking Alberta for the sole purpose of winning left wing votes in Central Canada.

Of course, the Libs didn’t end there. In a suggestion that puts the word “cave” back in caveman, Mr. Ignatieff has promised that if elected he would permanently ban oil tanker traffic off the West Coast of BC, thereby ending any hope of opening up key Asian markets for our province’s and nation’s energy products which, currently, are much too dependent on the United States.

As with most Liberal propaganda, the strategy here is to scare the life out of Canadians with pictures from the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska. Of course, they fail to mention the safety lessons learned from that disaster (the need for mandatory double-hulled ships and guidance from multiple tug and pilot boats for example). Clearly, with strict environmental and safety regulations, we could ensure oil tanker traffic off the BC coast was kept safe and secure.

So why do I rail on the Liberals instead of Jack Layton’s NDP who are proposing the same things? It’s about honestly. The NDP are socialists – they are open and transparent about it. They don’t claim to be otherwise. The Liberals, on the other hand, like to claim they are a moderate, left-of-centre, progressive party trying to appeal to centrist voters (much like what our provincial Progressive Conservative party has become).

The fact is the Liberals are not a moderate, left-of-centre party (which would be bad enough); they have instead become a far left party representing a minority mindset that if adhered to would send our nation back to the economic purgatory that was Canada during the Trudeau years. That was a time when our politicians pitted east against west against Quebec, and built a nanny state so large it almost bankrupted the country.

Canadians have no interest in becoming that kind of country again…someone ought to tell Michael Ignatieff.