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Thursday, January 28, 2016

OK Children.... Behave

West vs East Fight Over Energy East Pipeline Leaves Little Room for Adult Debate



In the past week, many conservative politicians in Canada proved that they are not adults, but just infants cleverly disguised as adults. Consider the response to the Montreal mayor Denis Coderre's announcement that he (and 81 other municipal leaders) is not down with the construction of TransCanada's Energy East pipeline through his turf. Instead of simply saying, "Hello Denis, you actually don't have the authority as a municipal government to block the construction of the 1.1 million barrel/day pipeline as the approval process falls under the jurisdiction of a federal regulator," some of the country's most prominent right-wing figures essentially tried to blackmail him under completely imagined pretenses. In short, they've been playing rhetorical Calvinball.
Take Brad Wall, Saskatchewan Premier and rumoured Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate, who tweeted: "I trust Montreal area mayors will politely return their share of $10B in equalization supported by west." Or Derek Fildebrandt, finance critic for Alberta's far-right Wildrose Party, who babbled: "If Quebec has such a big problem with our energy industry, it can give back the $73B in Equalization." This refrain was also reiterated by Edmonton Sun columnist Lorne Gunter and "The Rebel" himself, Ezra Levant. But the idea that "the West" pays for Quebec isn't remotely close to reality.

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