Pity poor Jason Kenney, having to sit back and watch as Premier Rachel Notley take a strong stance for Alberta in the pipeline brouhaha.
Apparently Kenny had enough this week. Enough of Notley building Brownie points with voters. Enough of letting her take the lead. She was looking tough. Well Kenney is going to look tougher.
To that end, Kenney came out swinging this week saying he would be prepared to stop permits for the shipment of Alberta oil to B.C. through the Trans Mountain line, which pumps 300,000 barrels of petroleum products to Vancouver each day.
Yup, he’s gonna pull the plug, er.. actually he’s going to install the plug. You don’t want to help Alberta export oil, you don’t get any Alberta oil at all. Plus, you may also get a toll on B.C. Natural Gas shipments.
It’s not an empty threat. Despite Notely’s strong stand against B.C.’s pipeline actions, there is every chance Alberta will have a new Premier next year, and his name will be Jason Kenney.
“My message to John Horgan is: I may very well be sitting across the table from you in 14 months. And if you’re unable to come to an understanding with your fellow New Democrat Rachel Notley, just wait until you’re sitting across the table from me,” Kenney said.
That should send shivers down Horgan’s spine.
Notley, while talking tough, has also been quite civil. She and Horgan hale from the same party roots, after all. Kenny, genetically predisposed to mistrusting the Left, has now indicated he’s not going to be so nice.
He also said that everything Notley had done, he had urged her to do. In the words of the old song, “Anything you have done, I’d have done sooner.”
Kenny also compared himself and his stance to that of former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, who went toe to toe with the federal government over the National Energy Program back in the day. Lougheed’s memory is held in as great esteem in Alberta as Ronald Reagan’s is among American Republicans (meaning just below that of God himself). It’s no accident that Kenny put the comparison out there. Although i’d just like to whisper a word of caution… hubris, man.
And speaking of Republicans, I can’t ignore the elephant in the room. U.S. President Donald Trump, among all his other troubles, is being sued by a porn star. It seems that the great business man forgot to sign his payoff/non-disclosure deal with the adult film star, with whom he is alleged to have had an affair. The $130,000 payoff near the end of Trump’s campaign is already under investigation as a perhaps illegal campaign contribution, and now Stormy Daniels is suing, saying with no signature, she is not obliged to keep quiet.
This is the first time in history the U.S. President has been sued by a porn star. Not surprisingly, it is Trump who breaks that barrier.
Also speaking of elephants, the brief flirtation Trump had with compassion for elephants is over, as it was announced this week that the temporary ban on importing trophy hunted elephants to the states is a thing of the past. Cases will now be decided on an elephant by elephant basis. So I take that to mean it depends on who shot the elephant. Did you know that both the Trump sons, Eric and Donald Jr. have an elephant killing hobby? Just throwing that out there, doesn’t mean anything.
Also this week in Trumpville, one of his remaining staff was found to have broken the Hatch Act twice in television interviews. Kellyanne Conway was twice found to have promoted specific Republican candidates in TV interviews, something the Hatch Act forbids a government employee to do. However, the special counsel has left the disciplinary action to Trump, so yeah.. expect a big announcement on that soon.
Trump also lost his Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn this week over his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum. Also a former aide, Sam Nunberg, went live on a number of media outlets earlier this week, saying he would not abide by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s subpoena, and basically daring him to arrest him. He also said Trump knew about a meeting between some of his campaign staff and the Russians, something Trump has vehemently denied.
I have one thing to say about all this. Trump only hires the best people.