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No, the federal government is not to blame for the post-2015 decline of the Alberta economy, or the perilous state of the province’s finances: the world-wide collapse in the price of oil did that. Yes, the federal carbon tax is good policy in the national interest, and may even prove to be in the oilpatch’s in the long run. Yes, it is the courts and activist groups, not the Trudeau government, that have been the primary obstacles to construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline project, and no, there wouldn’t seem to be much of an economic case for another, probably for some years.

This idea of the federal government as a kind of national protection racket has a certain logic to it

But for goodness sake: it is hardly unreasonable for Albertans to feel themselves besieged — blockaded on either side, so it seems, by their fellow provinces, only to be subjected to a non-stop, six-week campaign of vilification of their major industry (aka “the oil lobby”) in which the Liberals, not to be outdone by the NDP, the Greens and the Bloc Québécois, took eager part.

Perhaps some of their anger will dissipate once Trans Mountain is built. But the sense of having been treated unfairly — or worse, disrespectfully — will linger. If, after all, the oil were in Quebec and not Alberta; if it were Quebec that wanted a pipeline built through Alberta, and not the reverse; if it were Alberta in favour of a carbon tax and Quebec opposed, I think we can guess how different the federal response would be.

Still, there is the “problem” of Alberta not being represented in cabinet — if not exposing it to “lashings” from a vengeful Liberal government, then at least leaving it without a “seat at the table.” This is a problem, that is, if you accept the prevailing view, that the purpose of cabinet is to mirror the country, rather than to govern it; that cabinet ministers are to be selected not for their talent or competence but their geo-demographic representativeness.