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The NDP government had a bucket list of things Ottawa could do to quickly ease the massive oil price differential.

It got a drop in the bucket.

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Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau decreed capital cost writedowns of 100 per cent for Canadian manufacturing, including oil and gas.

That will be helpful, over time.

But there was nothing else in Wednesday’s federal fiscal update.

And there was less than nothing when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to visit Thursday.

No rail cars, no locomotives, nothing to speed up pipeline construction, no specific industry-targeted measures for a business and province in deep trouble.

I am trying very hard to imagine Trudeau declaring a genuine economic crisis in Ontario or Quebec, and doing nothing about it. Frankly, it’s unimaginable.

On Tuesday I wrote a column saying the Trudeau government is intentionally managing down Alberta’s oil and gas industry, just a bit quicker than they expected because external forces they encouraged have run out of control.