A manufactured national unity crisis

Scott Moe and Jason Kenney would like us to think we are in the midst of a national unity crisis. The reality is that Moe and Kenney are in the midst of a crisis of their own - a crisis of an agenda not being backed up by facts.

Scott Moe and Jason Kenney want to blame Ottawa for an exodus of investment in the fossil fuel industry. The reality is that low global oil prices due to oversupply and the worsening climate crisis has made the fossil fuel industry a risky and unethical investment choice. Investment funds all around the world are re-configuring their portfolios to diversify away from fossil-fuels. Why are we not doing that on the prairies?

Scott Moe and Jason Kenney thinks the Liberal government and "globalist environmentalists" are unfairly targeting our carbon-intensive industries. The reality is that carbon emissions have been dropping across Canada even before the carbon tax (albeit at a slower pace than it should be), except in Saskatchewan and Alberta, where they are rising. We can't ask the rest of the world to do what is absolutely necessary to fight the climate crisis, if we won't do it ourselves here in Canada, where we are near the top of the highest-per-capita polluters in the world, mostly thanks to our fossil-fuel industry. It is certainly fair to ask the biggest polluters to greatly cut back on their contribution to climate change.

Scott Moe and Jason Kenney want to blame Justin Trudeau for an unfair equalization scheme. The reality is that Stephen Harper was responsible for the current formula, while former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall, at the bequest of Harper, dropped a lawsuit started by the previous Sask NDP government that sought to make equalization more fair. Another thing Scott Moe and Jason Kenney won't tell you is that equalization comes from federal tax revenues collected in every province. No province sends money directly to another province for equalization.

Scott Moe and Jason Kenney like to say they are standing up for their provinces. The reality is that they are only standing up for their rich, corporate donors who want to continue extracting wealth from our provinces, while our people suffer from rising costs and worsening job prospects, thanks to an economy that is too reliant on a globally-priced commodity - a commodity that the world needs to use less of to fight the climate crisis.

Smart economics would dictate that during boom times we invest in our people and diversify our economy away from relying on commodity booms. Instead, the Sask Party lowered taxes and double-downed on investment in the oil, potash and trucking industries while doing little to invest in high-tech, green tech and higher-education. Since the commodity boom of twelve years ago, Saskatchewan's savings left by the previous NDP government were quickly drained and our public debt has tripled. Next door in Alberta, the UCP is lowering taxes and regulations and removing incentives brought in by the Alberta NDP to diversify their economy - hoping "trickle-down economics" finally works (hint: it has never worked, anywhere).

It is obvious that Scott Moe and Jason Kenney care nothing about Saskatchewan and Alberta and that they are manufacturers of their own crisis - that the rest of us are now caught up in.

So this holiday season, despite the gaslighting of Moe and Kenney, be grateful that Canada is one of the most stable, unified first-world countries today. This isn't to say we must not continue making progress by making life better for all Canadians, because we can certainly be doing better on that front. Real leaders have the courage to plant trees of whose shade they will never sit in. Scott Moe and Jason Kenney seem content with continuing to clear the forest while blaming Justin Trudeau for a lack of toilet paper.