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Finally, she was explicit, many times in every public forum, that she agreed with the “necessity” of social licence as a precondition for pipeline approval. In other words she went the whole mile. All this, it is worth a second stress, in the one province where it was politically, most difficult, most perilous, to take precisely the stand she took.

Now it was not all altruism, though Notely’s commitment to the environmental cause is as strong as anyone’s — as Elizabeth May’s, Trudeau’s, or even, dare it be said, Weaver’s. There was some reasonable expectation that the needs of the Alberta economy, the salvaging of some jobs in the oil industry, and the Trans Mountain pipeline extension, would — in return for her brave environmental advocacy — receive reciprocal consideration. That those who had made Alberta oil their chosen enemy, and the emblem of all that was wrong in the climate world, would moderate their immoderation.

And what did it get her? The rhetorical back of the hand from Weaver — the kingmaker du jour of the next B.C. government. And, the unkindest cut of them all, from a fellow NDP leader, soon-to-be premier, John Horgan. He signed the pact with the three Green MLAs, the essential core of which was a vow to “kill” the already approved pipeline plan.

The Horgan-Weaver pact was a laser-guided missile at Notley’s government. Jason Kenney and Brian Jean probably held an early political Christmas party this week

What does this say about green politics and social licence? That the former is absolutist — it talks compromise but acts fundamentalist. That the latter is a tactic, not a concept. That every precondition set down by green lobbyists, foundations, or political parties before any action can be taken on oil and the economy is always one in an ever-extending series. A series, that by definition, can never be ended.