T he U.S could have cap-and-trade legislation in place in a matter of months. Meanwhile, the Harper government is waiting to see what the Americans do before deciding what it should do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But Premier Ed Stelmach served notice recently that Alberta has a mind of its own when it comes to climate-change policies and doesn't intend to go along quietly.

In a speech to the party faithful gathered in Calgary for a policy conference, Stelmach made it clear that if the federal government imposes a national cap-and-trade system – effectively a carbon tax – Alberta intends to use its muscle to demand something in return.

Stelmach knows that if the federal government makes emitters pay, Alberta industries will have to cough up a lot of money because, per capita, Alberta spews much more carbon into the atmosphere than any other province thanks to all the coal-fired electricity, tar-sands development and other activities in the oil-and-gas sector. For Stelmach, and many Albertans, any kind of carbon tax is seen as an attack on the bedrock of the province's prosperous economy. High carbon counts are seen as a sign of success, not failure.

That argument has been used many times before as Alberta tried to defend itself from federal government policies such as the National Energy Program in the 1980s, and Canada's ratification of the Kyoto accord in the 2002. But this time around, according to Stelmach, Alberta has way more muscle.

There is no doubt, he told his audience, that Alberta is now the engine of the entire Canadian economy. Consequently, Canada is becoming more and more dependent on the taxes paid by Alberta industry, and individual Albertans, to fund pensions, health care and national defence.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Stelmach said. "Over the past decade Albertans made a net contribution to Canada of $117 billion. In 2008 alone, 3.5 million Albertans – that's less than the population of Toronto – sent to Ottawa over $17 billion more in taxes than we received back in services and transfers. On a personal level, it's as if every man, woman and child in the province wrote a cheque to Ottawa for $4,800."

According to Stelmach's numbers, a decade ago Albertans received 70 cents out of every dollar collected by the federal treasury; last year they received barely 50 cents.

The trend is clear, the premier said. If the federal government chooses to damage Alberta's economy with a carbon tax, "who buys lunch"? Who will help Ontario as it struggles to adapt to new economic realities?

Stelmach made it clear that the costs of any national climate-change policy will have to be shared across the country. He didn't say exactly what he meant by that but the audience applauded thunderously; they didn't seem to want to continue picking up most of the tab, either.

Stelmach is obviously gearing up for a standoff with the federal government – whether it be Stephen Harper's Conservatives or Michael Ignatieff's Liberals. He seems to have conceded that there will in fact be a national carbon tax of some sort because that's what the Americans want. But he's not willing to simply funnel more money out of the province without a fight. It's not exactly a cheerful message for Canadians coping with the reduced expectations and daily frustrations that a recession brings on. But it's a message they can expect to hear from Alberta over and over again in the months to come.

Gillian Steward is a Calgary writer and journalist, and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald. Her column appears every other week.