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By Ian Urquhart

Alberta recently took its battle with British Columbia over Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline project to B.C.’s major daily newspapers.

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The provincial government’s full-page advertisement lamented the dispute between the Alberta and B.C. governments over the need and wisdom of the pipeline project.

Alberta’s advertisement urged British Columbians to see their error in judgment, to appreciate that Alberta really was taking “decisive action” on climate change. The Notley government had voluntarily capped greenhouse gas emissions since Albertans, like British Columbians, viewed climate change as a grave threat.

Alberta’s New Democrats had turned a climate change laggard into a climate change leader. As Environment Minister Shannon Phillips tweeted, the Notley government has crafted “a climate plan that sets the bar for the whole country.”

Little, if any, of these claims stands up to serious scrutiny. The reference to “decisive action” is to Alberta’s so-called Climate Leadership Plan.