Article content

Premier Rachel Notley has reshaped her image radically in the past 10 days. She’s gone from patient conciliator to fiery defender of Alberta, in the winning tradition of premiers stretching back to Social Credit and the Progressive Conservatives.

One thing she wouldn’t rule out Monday was somehow impeding or taxing B.C. natural gas shipments across Alberta. That’s a lot bigger than a wine boycott.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Braid: Horgan threatens to hurt B.C. far more than Notley can Back to video

The struggle may nearly be over, though, because B.C. Premier John Horgan’s claimed ability to control bitumen shipments is flatly illegal, unconstitutional and, as Notley says, “ridiculous.”

There’s also the fact that “success” for Horgan — cancellation of the pipeline — would be extremely damaging to B.C.’s economy.

One has to suspect Horgan doesn’t want to stop Kinder Morgan at all. His message is largely for Green Leader Andrew Weaver, who holds the balance of power: “I’m trying, Andrew, please don’t leave me.”