How many times do Liberal prime ministers have to learn that coddling Alberta gets them nowhere?

Justin Trudeau learned that bitter lesson when he tried to woo Alberta by putting up federal money to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline — after private builders refused to — ultimately leaving Canadian taxpayers on the hook for $34 billion.

The memory of that wildly expensive pipeline — and the fact that it won Trudeau no favour in Alberta — should have been enough to make his successor, Prime Minister Mark Carney, wary.

But no. Once elected, Carney abandoned his pre-election climate talk, cancelling a number of Trudeau-era climate measures and signing a deal with Alberta committing to support a whole new pipeline.

Last week, Alberta premier Danielle Smith demonstrated that all this appeasement had won Carney nothing when she announced that Alberta will hold a referendum that opens the door to a future referendum on Alberta separation.

Carney has gone too far

There’s no reasonable way to satisfy the separatist cause in Alberta and Carney has already gone dangerously far in attempting to do so, sacrificing the minimal progress we’ve made in the climate battle — all in the interests of........

© rabble