From Quebec’s enviro-nationalists to Alberta’s old energy apologists, few are tackling the issue of TransCanada’s contentious Energy East pipeline with any semblance of balance. Some are even exacerbating what has now become a minor national unity crisis.
When the autopsy of this messy debate is conducted it will find at least three men responsible: Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and the CBC’s Rick Mercer. So consumed with their narrow interests, the politicians seem to have forgotten that Canada remains a federation, not a collection of fiefdoms, while the ranting comedian reduces Canada’s complex equalization system to a series of transactions between east and west.
“We all need this thing,” Mercer said, clever as always, but failing to demonstrate that we truly need this one particular oil pipeline as a magic bullet to rescue Canada’s sluggish economy. Mercer’s Québécois counterpart, Jean-René “Infoman” Dufort, joined a chorus of parody videos pointing out that receiving equalization payments doesn’t mean Quebec should “ferme sa gueule” and embrace new pipelines as British Columbia and the United States reject them.
While asymmetrical federalism can have its drawbacks, Wall expressed on social media last week that he would seemingly prefer a form of ransom-federalism, where an oil-empowered western premier acts as if he has the authority to hang federal equalization dollars over the heads of Quebecers.
“I trust Montreal-area mayors will politely return their share of $10-billion in equalization supported by west(ern provinces),” Wall quipped, to which Parti Québécois MNA Jean-François Lisée replied, “I trust the West will refund the $10-billion of Quebec taxes spent on big oil tax breaks and grants over the years.”
It’s a childish debate for Wall to ignite; one that fails to consider the purpose of federal governments. The Saskatchewan premier should know that pitting regions against each other fuels sovereignist hysteria and is counterproductive for the 100,000 workers who lost their jobs last year as a result of the downturn in the energy sector.
“Say thank you,” Coderre then tweeted, waving those same federal dollars over the heads of Saskatchewanians while Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose warned that Coderre’s rhetoric “isn’t in the spirit of national unity” (neither was Wall’s).
The Rest of Canada’s position is seen as paternalistic by some commentators in Quebec. “Colonialist schemes” are forcing Quebecers into a position of “constant submission,” wrote sovereignist penseur Mathieu Bock-Côté. Apparently eager to capitalize on Western missteps, Quebecor colleague Josée Legault even compared the Energy East spat to the failure of the Meech Lake constitutional reforms (wishful thinking)!
I trust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reminded his provincial and municipal counterparts that, on a handful of federal files like Energy East, it simply isn’t the prerogative of regions to set the tone of the debate. There is no need for such firmly entrenched stances on either side when the National Energy Board and Quebec’s Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement have yet to complete their work.
Communication on the issue has been so muddled that a source close to the industry mused to me that “the biggest question most journalists have is whether the pipelines will be underground or above ground.” (Energy East would be underground, even under the St. Lawrence River, which presents fewer environmental risks than transport over an overloaded rail system.) If journalists are so confused about the Energy East plan, the public at large is surely disconnected from the debate (making polls on the issue largely irrelevant).
The pipeline is a private endeavour that is TransCanada’s, not Wall’s, to sell to Canadians. It may be seen as necessary, but it is not free of risk and is certainly not an example of sustainable development.
While regional considerations should be just that, considerations, a final Energy East decision should be based on sound science resulting from rigorous consultation and evaluation; not what’s best for Coderre’s fiefdom or Wall’s. Conservative panic over a struggling oil industry, however, has backfired and placed TransCanada in a more disadvantageous position as the prime minister, among his considerations, now must consider growing discontent among Quebec nationalists.
Dan Delmar is an independent public relations consultant at Provocateur Communications and the host of The Exchange, Mondays and Wednesdays at 8-10 p.m. on CJAD 800 Montreal.
