Who Should Decide Alberta's Destiny? ROC, Trump or Alberta Itself?

When baseball labour pioneer Curt Flood was challenging baseball’s antitrust exemption that tied a player to a team for life, Howard Cosell asked him a question. “Hey Curt,” he said. “You say your situation is like slavery. But you’re making $90,000 a year. You play a kid’s game. How can that be slavery?”

Flood replied, “A well-paid slave is still a slave.”

Flood’s tart 1970 rejoinder to Cosell came to mind when reading an X post from national columnist Andrew Coyne. “Wait, so ALBERTA IS BOOMING … under the oppressive federal yoke? Under the Nine Bad Laws? You mean the richest province in Canada is getting even richer? Clearly there’s no alternative but to bust up the country.”

Essentially Coyne is saying Albertans should settle for Ottawa’s expectations of their future. “We’ll decide how much oil you can pump.” Alberta is a child that must be managed. Coyne’s colleague John Ibbitson captured Coyne’s noblesse oblige attitude. “… the result of that indifference and condescension from central Canada is this referendum on a referendum. We're responsible for that here in the centre.” 

That message doesn’t seem to be getting through. The well-heeled and well-compensated soldiers of the status quo remain locked in their Elbows Up/ TDS talking bot fixation. Gushing polls and graphics showing that Canada’s economy is the envy of the world. “GDP per capita is up. Foreign direct investment is near a two-decade high. Credit arrears and insolvencies remain broadly in line with historical averages. That is not doom and gloom. That is a record worth defending.’

Former Olympian/ Liberal parakeet Adam van Koeverden is brooking no opposition. “We have to stick to the facts here, Mister Speaker, Canada’s economy is growing.” Sure.

So much so that The Financial Times is reporting Carney has quietly shifted the trade strategy, pivoting from open defiance of U.S. tariffs to a "Fortress North America" pitch aimed at winning back a seat at the CUSMA negotiating table before the July 1 deadline. “Canada has been frozen out of U.S.-Mexico trade talks since Ontario Premier Doug Ford's anti-tariff ad campaign last October. Ford is now heading to Washington to promote regional economic integration, while PM Carney recently told Wall Street executives: "Canada strong will help make America great again."

Trump has replied, don’t call us, we’ll call you. This, ahem, small pivot comes after 18 months of calling Danielle Smith a traitor for talking to Americans. A prolonged sulk that boycotted travel to the U.S. as a grandstand play. A raging case of TDS retaliatory tariffs. Instead the forces of Elbows Up have now doubled their attacks on Pierre Poilievre who has never held power nor represented Canada at Davos or the WEF. He’s the Maple Maga. The angry guy who yells at his members. Who will— given a chance— sell Canada to Trump.

Actually, while Poilievre has been on the sidelines here’s what has been happening under extended Liberal rule. Says economist Jim Thorne, “Productivity growth has stagnated to near-zero levels, business investment has lagged OECD peers, and regulatory burdens, particularly in energy and infrastructure, have constrained the very sectors where Canada retains a natural advantage.”

“Instead of addressing these structural deficiencies early, policy discourse has largely normalized them. Two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth are framed as manageable. Declining output per worker is treated as an abstract statistic rather than a direct threat to living standards. Meanwhile, the public sector has crowded out the private sector for over a decade. Yet Bay St and the BOC say it’s but a flesh wound.” 

Then there’s the collapse of the Trudeau no-money-down equity real estate rodeo.  Mortgage broker Ron Butler describes the consequences.: “10% Of Homeowners Who CANNOT Refinance Is A Number That Will Grow. So many Homeowners in the GTA will not be able to increase their mortgage to pay debts, extend amortization to lower payments or switch lenders on Renewal. There's too little Equity.

Many people would like some debt paid at renewal, many want lower payments, many want to shop for a better rate deal than their Incumbent Lender's offer These options disappear with lower valuations. Which means a higher number of Mortgage Defaults .Yep, it's a Death Spiral.”

Does Coyne think a warm feeling in your pants is a reason to stay in a country where CPC MP Neil Paul Ho asking Canada’s Chief Science Advisor what is a man or a woman is “highly offensive during Pride month" according to Liberal MP  @JohnPaulDanko ? (This from the same government that demands job applicants answer a bunch of demographic questions for Equity reasons.)

No, Albertans get former NDP crank Charlie Angus demanding that UCP members who met with American officials be charged with treason. (List of times Charlie demanded the arrest on treason of the PQ and BQ for their consultations with French officials over "plans to break up our county". 

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Albertans deserve a chance to decide whether they want to take that ride with Central Canada or risk a different future with its opportunities and challenges. They’re prepared for the outcome. But the holy of holies condescension? Not happening.

Curt Flood could understand. While he lost his SCOTUS case in 1971 he lived to see baseball players become millionaires under free agency, making the game more vibrant and more prosperous. And, Mr. Carney, the owners who’d fought Flood got to see the equity in their teams skyrocket to the billions of dollars without artifical restraints on the market. So why not let Alberta make up in its own mind?

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his 2023 book Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, was voted a Top 20 greatest professional hockey books of all time by bookauthority.org . https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1770415300?linkCode=gs2&tag=uuid0a1-20 His previous book with his son Evan, Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. His new poetry collection In Other Words is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca and on Kindle books at https://www.amazon.ca/dp/106980270