A Toronto Star columnist is treating Alberta's grievances as evidence of entitlement rather than evidence of unresolved political conflict.
Toronto Star columnist Linda McQuaig asks, "When will Liberal prime ministers realize appeasing Alberta will never work?"
That question assumes something many Albertans would dispute: that Ottawa has spent decades appeasing Alberta in the first place.
When exactly did that happen?
Was Alberta "appeased" when Pierre Trudeau imposed the National Energy Program, transferring billions of dollars out of Alberta's economy and devastating investment in the province's energy sector?
Was Alberta "appeased" when Ottawa introduced Bill C-69, dubbed the "No More Pipelines Act" by critics, creating additional regulatory hurdles for major resource projects?
Was Alberta "appeased" when Bill C-48 effectively blocked new tanker traffic from Alberta's northern Pacific coast, limiting export options for Canadian oil?
Was Alberta "appeased" when successive federal governments delayed, obstructed or cancelled pipeline projects needed to get Alberta resources to international markets?
Was Alberta "appeased" when equalization formulas continued transferring billions of dollars out of Alberta while the province received no equalization payments itself?
Was Alberta "appeased" when Ottawa capped emissions from the oil and gas sector despite the industry being Canada's largest export sector and a major contributor to federal revenues?
The problem with McQuaig's argument is that it treats Alberta's grievances as evidence of entitlement rather than evidence of unresolved political conflict.
Quebec has received constitutional concessions, language protections, asymmetrical federal arrangements, distinct immigration agreements and repeated national debates about its place in Confederation. No serious Laurentian commentator would describe those discussions as "appeasing" Quebec.
Yet when Albertans raise concerns about federal policies affecting their economy, their concerns are often dismissed as demands for special treatment.
Albertans aren't asking for appeasement. They are asking for fairness, market access for their products, equal treatment within Confederation and respect for the industries that generate a substantial share of Canada's export wealth.
The growing support for Alberta independence is not the result of too much accommodation from Ottawa.
It is the result of many Albertans believing they have received any at all.
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