An interesting thought experiment.
The coverage of Encana’s move to ditch their Canadian connections, rebrand, and move to the US has gotten a bit of coverage in the establishment press.
However, that coverage has been relatively subdued, lacking much urgency or an understanding of how serious it is.
So, let’s just take a second to imagine what would be happening if Bombardier was planning to move their headquarters out of Montreal and into the United States.
All hell would have broken loose, and the federal bailout cheque would almost certainly have already been sent.
It would be a crisis, with the Prime Minister and the Quebec Premier holding crisis meetings, calling up the executives to ask them to reconsider, asking the executives what government support they needed to stay in Canada, and making it clear that they would do anything it took to stop the move to the United States.
And that wouldn’t be the wrong thing to do.
There’s nothing wrong with a country protecting historic companies in the national interest, and keeping a company like Bombardier in Canada is a good thing.
But here’s the problem.
The elites and the Trudeau Liberals don’t extend that same attitude to Canada’s energy sector.
They should be in crisis meetings right now with Jason Kenney, they should be calling up Encana’s executives, they should be willing to make policy changes to prevent this move to the US, protect Encana’s Canadian heritage, and ensuring that the company – and all Canadian energy companies – can succeed in our country, rather than moving to other countries instead.
Yet, rather than taking the action I mentioned above, there’s just silence from the federal government.
No urgency, no desperation, no action.
This thought experiment on what would happen if Bombardier was planning to move is important, because it helps people realize why Western alienation is surging, and why that alienation is so justified.
The double-standard in our country is appalling, and everything is being rigged against Alberta’s energy industry and against Western Canada.
Spencer Fernando
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