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But Premier Alison Redford was quick to deep-six B.C.’s suggestion a share of Alberta’s energy royalties or tax revenue could be on the table.

At the end of the Council of the Federation meeting Friday, Clark walked out and vowed B.C. wouldn’t co-operate with other provinces in developing a Canadian energy strategy — Redford’s major policy plank — unless the dispute is resolved.

Very rarely have we seen in Canada this kind of provincial to provincial kind of dynamic … it’s quite remarkable

Oilpatch historian David Finch said the dispute is fundamentally different from the pipeline wars of the 1950s, or Alberta’s long struggle with Ottawa over jurisdiction of natural resources in the 1980s.

The sheer magnitude of the oil sands — the third-largest reserve in the world — makes it a strategic resource that has drawn attention from all corners.

“Who’s going to decide what will be in the best interest of the country?” he asked.

“Here’s a huge new resource being developed and you’ve got a bunch of people saying we want to have a say in this process. Back in the 1950s and ‘60s certainly no politicians were talking about environmental issues around pipelines.”

Alberta has fought more than its fair share of energy brawls in the past.

In the 1970s, the Peter Lougheed government turned off the supply of natural gas to Ontario in a dispute with Ottawa over the development of secondary products.

By the end of that decade, Alberta and Ottawa were at war over the National Energy Program, the Trudeau government’s attempt to wrest a larger share of oil revenue and lower prices in Eastern Canada.