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Premier Rachel Notley went in to this week’s annual premiers’ conference expecting to go toe-to-toe with Ontario’s Doug Ford.

After all, the two could not be further apart on the issues of carbon taxes and climate change.

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But while Notley was lacing up the boxing gloves, Ford was putting on the kid gloves.

He didn’t want a confrontation

That was a bit of a surprise given how clamorous he has been on the issue of governments putting a price on carbon. Shortly after taking office just weeks ago, he scrapped Ontario’s cap-and-trade system introduced by the previous Liberal government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

He joined in Saskatchewan’s legal challenge to Ottawa’s plan to force a carbon pricing system on provinces that don’t have one of their own.

And he arrived at the premiers’ conference in the New Brunswick tourist town of St. Andrews looking for more allies.

But he apparently wasn’t looking for a fight.