On the national interest

President Trump’s tirades against Justin Trudeau and by implication the Canadian people raises the issue again of our “national interest” something our prime minister had already been trying to bring forward before he was left with no other option but to nationalize the Trans Mountain Pipeline.  Alberta oil is sold at a discount to the U.S.A., and our neighbours to the south will always have the upper hand over our oil sands development as long as it remains land-locked and as long as we are unable to get our resources to tidewater.  In other words, it’s in the national interest to diversify and open up new markets across the Pacific. Of course, it’s vital that we do so safely, and with an eye on the environment.

But Trump’s tariff threats actually demonstrate the vulnerability of Canadian sovereignty.  I am afraid that the BC Green MLA’s, federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and BC NDP Leader Andrew Horgan – all of whom represent idyllic Vancouver Island ridings - suffer a twofold separation from the concerns of the rest of Canada.  They are out of touch with core national interests because the Strait of Georgia removes them from the continent.  And they, along with the rest of BC, including the Lower Mainland which suffers from a terrible case of NIMBY, are cut off from the rest of Canada because of the Rocky Mountains.

 

Given the degree of separation, and looking “back East” (as opposed to south of the border) British Columbia is more like Quebec, which former prime minister Stephen Harper recognized as a distinct society, or better yet, like Newfoundland, which is surrounded by water.  But because of this both the BC NDP and the BC Greens are a bit tone deaf on the “national interest” when it might be wiser to be more afraid of Washington than Ottawa.