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It took a New Democrat to stand up for responsible economic development in the face of unreasoned environmental fears, and it took a premier of Alberta to call for a robust assertion of federal authority in the face of provincial intransigence. These are indeed strange times.

So be it. Last week’s declaration on the part of the government of British Columbia that it would restrict crude oil shipments through its territory, whether by pipe or rail, until yet another panel of experts has delivered yet another report on the associated environmental risks, did not mention Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by name. But it was a significant escalation in its rhetorical assault on the project. It was also an outrageous overstepping of its constitutional bounds, asserting a power the province does not possess.

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Someone had to call them out on it. You might have thought that someone would be the federal government, the government with actual constitutional responsibility for interprovincial pipelines — the government whose powers the government of B.C. was attempting to usurp. Alas, neither the prime minister, though he was conveniently in the region shortly afterward, nor the natural resources minister, Jim Carr, could quite find the right words, preferring instead to issue pro forma statements of support for Trans Mountain while noting that B.C.’s proposed regulations were as yet only a proposal. The prime minister added he was not one to get involved in “disagreements between provinces.”