Ms. Redford, that's not a bad idea. Too bad the product is crap

Alison Redford would like to create a National Energy Strategy™. Of course, to a huge bunch of people stumbling out of Ceili's on 8th Ave in Calgary that sounds awfully like National Energy Program. That causes a collective penis shrivel amongst the soft-handed downtown lot crawling into their BMWs (after falling out of Ceili's).

“Our country is a global energy player in a world market, but can no longer operate as individual provinces and territories as we head into that future,” Redford said in a speech at the Shaw Conference Centre.

“Every Canadian jurisdiction must have control over its own resources and I would never propose any plan that would take away provincial sovereignty over those resources. I think we in Alberta know far too well how important that is to us as a province. But we also know we can’t get our products to market without infrastructure the crosses other provinces.”

All very well and good, except that what Redford is suggesting is that we all get behind Alberta, it's tar extraction industry, its shitty environmental stewardship and its ability to make tons of money.

And the idea makes a lot of her own downtown Calgary crowd very nervous.

Redford’s comments come days after prominent Calgary economist Jack Mintz publicly attacked the idea in a speech, saying it was“highly dangerous” and should be abandoned.

Mintz, who heads the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, said the plan could “backfire on the provinces that jealously guard their constitutional rights over resource development,” the Globe and Mail reported.

Jack Mintz. Where have I heard that name before?

Oh right! That Jack Mintz!

What Redford really wants is right-of-way legislation. For pipelines. And she has already figured out that is going to come at a hefty price if she expects other provinces to get onboard.

The goo-grabbers aren't going to be all that enthused with that idea. They would rather that every barrel of crude, tar, ashphalt or anything else that qualifies as a refinable liquid carbon is, after the royalties are paid to Alberta, theirs.

What Redford wants to avoid, aside from the nasty looks she gets from Ontario and Quebec, is the strategy of people who believe that, given the political makeup of the country today, the pipelines are coming anyway.

What's the threat?

This.

You want to ship your dirty product across my territory and out of my seaport? You pay and you pay big.