Article content

Two premiers are now warning that western Canada could get stiffed by federal carbon price policy. Neither one of them is Rachel Notley. That puts the provincial NDP in a dangerous position.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark made herself the big story in Ottawa Friday by threatening to withdraw from the climate change accord unless there’s rigorous study of a big question: Will Ontario and Quebec get off easy?

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Braid: While two western premiers balk, Notley puts her trust in Ottawa Back to video

Some evidence suggests they might. A report from the respected Ecofiscal Commission says that when other provinces are paying a $30 per tonne carbon price in 2020, Ontario and Quebec will pay an effective rate of about $19 per tonne, because of their much different cap-and-trade systems.

That’s creepily familiar. Federal policy has often discriminated against western resources, since the days of the Crow rate and the National Energy Program.

One doesn’t pick over those ruins so much any more, but to forget them is idiocy. Despite huge demographic and social shifts, the political nature of the country hasn’t changed. The weight of population and power still lies in Ontario and Quebec.