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“It’s basically just an empty gesture. We’ll turn it into a real law indicating to the New Democrats in Victoria that if they block our energy we are prepared to use that. With gas prices in Vancouver today pushing $1.70 a litre, this is a very strong point of leverage.”

That leverage is real, the B.C. government conceded in its first court challenge of the Alberta bill — which failed because it was not promulgated into law. Thejudge noted the Horgan administration’s position was that “reductions in reductions in supply from Alberta will cause shortages in British Columbia and that the result could be increased prices, lack of supply and civil unrest in British Columbia.”

B.C.’s weak spot is being exploited by Kenney on the campaign trail.

“The New Democrat mayor of Vancouver says that he wants a carbon-free Vancouver by 2040,” Kenney said. “Well, if he and the other British Columbia New Democrats continue to block our energy, we can give them a carbon-free Vancouver by 2020.”

It’s not an empty threat, Kenney insisted.

“The B.C. New Democrats are now appealing decisions against Trans Mountain, they are refusing to issue hundreds of permits that would facilitate its construction, their provincial mayors say that they are going to turn a blind eye from civil disobedience around the former Kinder Morgan work site in Burnaby,” he said.

“So there’s many ways through which the B.C. New Democrats are obstructing or slowing down. And that’s why we don’t have an inch of pipe in the ground. So we’ve got to use some leverage. Turn off the taps. We’re serious about it.”