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The hardest thing to do at times when confronted by a bully, a bore or that infuriating frenemy who haunts you at social events, is to bite your tongue as he launches into his latest misguided diatribe.

By that measure, it is impressive there was no blood on the floor of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s news conference Tuesday as she stickhandled her way through the news that Quebec has filed a court injunction against the Energy East pipeline project until it has complied with Quebec’s environmental laws. This on the eve of the first ministers meeting on climate change in Vancouver.

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This pipeline, with the support of an East Coast ally in New Brunswick, was supposed to be the least complicated route to get Alberta’s landlocked oil to customers around the world. Tuesday served as the latest reminder that it just won’t be so, even though much of the pipe is already in the ground.

The temptation for a knee-jerk reaction to Quebec’s injunction play is indeed powerful.