CALGARY — Michael’s has the best pizza in Canada. One of the best places to talk politics, too.
That’s why we me and my two Calgary high school buddies were there. The pizza is amazing, and the conversation is pretty good, too.
After Flames games, you’ll see lots of NHL players here. Signed hockey sticks and jerseys adorn the walls.
One of my friends is an engineer in the oil patch. Owns his firm. The other friend is a lawyer, and he works for a big construction and engineering company just outside of Calgary. It’s just before Election Day, and we get to debating Alberta politics.
Talking to my buddies, and talking to just about anyone else in Calgary, here’s what you get:
— They all respected Rachel Notley but disliked her party.
— They didn’t really like Jason Kenney but figured they’d vote for his party.
— They thought the rest of Canada didn’t give a damn about them.
— They deeply hated Justin Trudeau.
And when I say “deeply,” I mean deeply. One of my fellow Michael’s fans even suggested that it would be a bad idea for Trudeau to travel to Alberta. Because he might be placed at physical risk.
Seriously.
The conversation continued. My lawyer buddy, who works at a major construction and engineering firm, was unhappy about Trudeau’s sycophantic devotion to the fortunes of the oily Quebec-based construction and engineering firm SNC-Lavalin. He looked at me.
“You know,” he said, “my firm had to lay off more than a thousand guys last year. No one back East noticed. No one. If that had happened to SNC-Lavalin, it would’ve been all you’d hear about.”
He was right, of course. If something bad happens in the Centre of the Universe, in the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto axis, the whole country hears about it for weeks. But if hundreds of families lose their livelihood in Calgary, nobody in Ontario cares, basically. Certainly not Trudeau, who has repeatedly claimed to support Alberta — and then repeatedly done precisely nothing to help Alberta get oil to market.
Later on, I tweeted what my friend said about those layoffs, and Ontario and Quebec’s total indifference to same. Kenney was one of the many who retweeted what I said.
And that, really, is the main reason why Kenney swept the much-admired Notley from power: Resentment. Resentment about Trudeau, resentment towards Canada’s perceived indifference towards Alberta’s plight.
Other factors were at play in Tuesday night’s vote, of course. Kenney brought together the warring factions of the right, and avoided the vote-splits that helped Notley’s Crue sweep to power four years ago. And, while the NDP leader was herself admired, her caucus wasn’t. Notley had a Safeway employee, a yoga instructor and a bunch of twenty-somethings. Few had real political experience.
But, mostly, Notley lost because of Trudeau. She trusted him, as did other Albertans. And she shouldn’t have. His early promises to Alberta were deceptions. They were intended to win him seats — but Trudeau clearly never had any intention of helping Alberta families survive.
Trudeau may not have been on the ballot in Alberta, but he surely helped determine the result, more than any other Canadian politician. He’s ruined the Liberal brand in the West. And he elected Kenney and he defeated Notley.
He did that.
My engineering buddy looked at me.
“Alberta hates Justin Trudeau,” he says. “He’s going to be taught a painful lesson, like Notley.
“Now pass the pizza.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
