Mark Carney’s election night victory speech. X/MarkJCarney
Is Donald Trump a radical revolutionary or just rude? A writer for The Economist posed this question back in April. The answer is quite simple, he’s both and more.
Some, but not all, of my neighbours who were once MAGA-curious now agree—Donald Trump is nuttier than a squirrel’s diaper. Sure, he has had a few good ideas, but you know what they say about the proverbial broken watch.
What is more intriguing is the one-sided cheerleading from the talking heads at the mainstream TV networks and the Liberal brain trust. The official party line is that Mark Carney will save Canada from the ravages of the Trump administration. Few, if any, ask who will save the oil, gas and pipeline industries and the people of the producing provinces from Mark Carney?
The federal Liberal caucus owe their political lives to Mark Carney. He saved them from political oblivion. Ironically, Carney owes much of his electoral good fortune to Donald Trump. If it weren’t for Trump’s on-again/off- again tariff threats and his ludicrous 51st state musings, Mark Carney might have been left hoping he could replace Klaus Schwab as the king of Davos.
Let’s imagine, for the sake of argument, that the Republicans in Congress persuade Trump to get back on his meds; and that talks about tariffs morph into tweaking the Canada, Mexico, US trade agreement; and that Trump admits the 51st state thing was just a joke—Mark Carney’s election-winning cause célèbre evaporates. Does the prime minister have another great cause in waiting, or is he just a one-trick pony?
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One of the least attractive, yet plausible scenarios, is that the new “boogeyman” will be the unpatriotic, oil-loving, emissions-belching separatists in Alberta and Saskatchewan who want to destroy Canada (their imagined words, not mine). The Liberals’ new mission could be reminiscent of the environmental movement’s 2008-21 anti-Alberta/anti-oil campaign. And it has the added benefit of allowing the Liberals to recycle the flag waving formula that helped them win the federal election.
The British have an uncouth, yet apt, term they use to describe people, especially politicians, who show overt displays of patriotism. They call it “flag-shagging.”
Despite the election winning appeal of flag-shagging in Central Canada, the Liberals were not all that good at putting together a campaign based on nationalism. They are lucky the legacy media did a lot of the heavy lifting for them. Encouraging nationalist sentiment and patriotism has not been a Liberal specialty for at least two decades.
Justin Trudeau spent nine years trying to expunge the words nationalism and patriotism from polite society. They are concepts out of step with Trudeau’s assertion that Canada is a post-national country which embraces all identities as opposed to having one. What’s more, being excessively nationalistic irritated people in Quebec. Hence the Liberal campaign’s clumsy, at times comical, efforts to come up with the right messages and images to link them to Canadian nationalism.
The Liberals had trouble filling halls for rallies during the campaign, so it’s no surprise they never achieved anything like fanatical Nuremberg level national chauvinism. Nevertheless, the Liberals, along with some genuine grassroots Canadian patriots, managed to generate a few newsworthy events for the mainstream news media to inflate into an explosion of nationalist sentiment.
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- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
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Flag-shagging flourished. And, the US anthem was booed at some hockey games. The Canadian national anthem was sung with greater fervor at some sporting events. The singing would have been louder if the words weren’t changed by the Liberals every couple of years in the name of political correctness. Many people are reduced to mumbling their way through the parts they are unsure of. The crème de la crème of patriotic images shown on TV were of spastic chicken dancers trying to emulate aggressive elbows up play in hockey.
Many people on the prairies are optimistic about the chances for a post-election national reconciliation. For that to happen the federal government will need to follow through on Carney’s pledge to see new tidewater pipelines built. The government will also have to make significant compromises regarding its pipeline blocking regulatory process. The supporters of conventional energy production in the West will also expect the Liberals to rethink some of their excessive and impractical emissions reduction plans.
Hopefully this is what happens. It would be great if worries about an assault on the producing provinces over separatist sentiments and a lack of fervor for emissions reduction are unfounded.
Still it would be comforting to know that if negotiations go sideways, there are talented people actively engaged in planning a multi-media campaign in support of the conventional energy sector and the people of the producing provinces. Alberta’s Allan report indicated that the Canadian environmental organizations had $1.3 billion in foreign funding to attack the oil sands. Let’s hope those promoting the interests of Alberta and Saskatchewan have access to a substantial war chest.
Many readers will recall how energy sector leaders were unprepared for the environmental movement’s anti-Alberta oil campaign. Both the industry and the provincial governments failed to mount an effective defense in response to the attacks on oil and people’s livelihoods.
One failure more than enough.
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- 0092 Turnbull projects big and small0092 Turnbull projects big and small
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
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- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
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- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
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