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“The fundamental job of any Canadian prime minister is to hold this country together, to gather us together and move forward in the right way,” he said. “And anybody who wants to be Prime Minister, like (Conservative Leader) Andrew Scheer, needs to condemn those attacks on national unity.”

But, but . . . what attacks?

The premiers did not threaten unity in their letter. They said exactly the opposite — that Liberal legislation, by discriminating against resource industries, is what harms the country.

They urge the Liberals to accept all Senate amendments to Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act, and kill C-48, the so-called Tanker Moratorium.

But to Trudeau, it’s apparently a national unity threat even to challenge federal legislation, point out its flaws and warn of negative impacts.

His response bends the truth back on itself. It paints six premiers who represent more than half of Canada’s population as active dangers to Confederation.

Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia

They are Kenney, Scott Moe (Saskatchewan), Brian Pallister (Manitoba), Doug Ford (Ontario), Blaine Higgs (New Brunswick) and Bob McLeod (Northwest Territories.)

Kenney found out about Trudeau’s remarks while taking off to Montreal for a three-day trip to promote investment. He quickly started firing off airborne tweets.

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has no one to blame but himself for the current strains on national unity,” Kenney said.

“He has claimed the fundamental responsibility of any Prime Minister is to bring the country together yet his actions point to the contrary.

“He’s pushing legislation widely criticized by most provinces, industry groups, prospective investors in Canada and Indigenous leaders as clear violation of provincial jurisdiction and a profound threat to (the) future of natural resource development, economic growth and prosperity in our country.

“His government’s legislative actions have caused more division in Canada than we have seen for years, and today’s comments only further inflame those tensions.”