7 ms·

Alberta is the most US-like province. As it's not been hit by Trump tariffs, it opposes any change to the current situation. As it's based on oil revenue (wit

by jleyank 10d ago

Alberta is the most US-like province. As it's not been hit by Trump tariffs, it opposes any change to the current situation. As it's based on oil revenue (with some food production), of course it opposes renewable energy sources. Bit selfish, it is. I wonder how loud they'd yowl if "no trade with Canada" gores their ox?

cmrdporcupine 10d ago
Implicit in all the "we'll bring Canada to heel" and "we don't need anything from Canada" talk is an Alberta/Sask exception. They don't mean AB/SK. They mean the rest of Canada, which leans further to the left politically and has more of a manufacturing sector or agricultural / forestry focus. Also notably there are US states like Texas which are also extremely focused on fossil fuel production which aren't taking this aggressive anti-renewables stance. Alberta is actually further on this axis than any other regime in North America -- taking on a very explicit anti-renewables stance. Even effectively (through regulation) banning their use in large scale datacentre rollouts. The local elites there are extremely threatened by any renewable talk; they run an active disinformation campaign, and formerly the province had one of the fastest growing renewable sectors in the world. (Alberta gets a lot of solar hours and has high winds, too) Aside, I was coming back from Edmonton a couple days ago and in the airport there's a wine/liquor store with a sandwich board out front proudly proclaiming that they "have US wine & liquor for sale!" -- completely thumbing nose at the rest of the country as a business opportunity.
- nosioptar 10d ago
  The last bit boggles my mind. I'm american. There's not a single bottle of whisky made down here that can compete with Canadian whisky.
  - cmrdporcupine 10d ago
    Different product. Bourbon owns a lot of headspace with consumers, and is not available in most of the country right now. There are Canadian made Bourbon-like products, but nothing will fill that niche for purists. I imagine there's a similar thing going on with California wines. But less so.
    - nosioptar 10d ago
      I think you're right for most. I think Canada needs to come up with a trade name/standards for their Bourbon-likes.
  - mulderc 10d ago
    Try Westward out of Portland.
- llm_nerd 10d ago
  > Implicit in all the "we'll bring Canada to heel" and "we don't need anything from Canada" talk is an Alberta/Sask exception. They don't mean AB/SK. They mean the rest of Canada, which leans further to the left politically and has more of a manufacturing sector or agricultural / forestry focus. The paradox is that if we take the US administration at their word, that it is the trade deficit that is the problem they need to solve, then Alberta is 100% of the problem. Ontario, BC, Quebec have basically equal trade with the US. We ship a lot to the US, but we ship a lot of things we could make domestically from the US, though that is rapidly changing (for instance a major rail car manufacturing process is spinning up to replace that as an import from the US). Alberta is basically 100% exports to the US, with negligible imports from the US. So it's hilarious when Alberta says this isn't their trade war. Again, if we take Trump and his crew of stunningly incompetent self-dealing grifters and rapists at their word, it is completely Alberta's trade war. Apparently because the US buys Alberta oil, the rest of the Canada should be punished somehow? How spectacularly stupid. But yes, Danielle Smith is a vile human and is a traitor to Canada. I get why Albertans elected her -- there are legitimate grievances and a better "deal" to be had -- but she is going to do spectacular damage to the province.
  - cmrdporcupine 10d ago
    > Apparently because the US buys Alberta oil, the rest of the Canada should be punished somehow? How spectacularly stupid. I mean they clearly actually mean the opposite. And are doing the opposite. They're making moves to push Alberta out of confederation. I think at this point it should be clear the Trump regime funding and supporting Alberta "separatist" campaigns. At least giving it a megaphone far beyond its actual real local support base. So, yeah, one way of "dealing with" the "trade deficit" there is to simply push Alberta out of Canada. Another (longer-term) move is taking over Venezuela and getting an alternate source for heavy crude. Notably both paths are being taken.
    - anon7725 10d ago
      It seems like the pro-Canada side is letting Smith set the agenda, is not organizing much or being extremely present/vocal. Just hoping that polling is accurate and it’ll all blow over. It makes me very nervous in light of Brexit and the general unreliability of polls these days. I still think it’s a long shot, but why are they playing with fire here?
- expedition32 10d ago
  Canada could have asked the Chinese to build oil terminals, pipelines and refineries. Not one drop of oil would have crossed the border. Instead Canada chose to bind itself to the US.

by jleyank 10d ago

cmrdporcupine 10d ago

Implicit in all the "we'll bring Canada to heel" and "we don't need anything from Canada" talk is an Alberta/Sask exception. They don't mean AB/SK. They mean the rest of Canada, which leans further to the left politically and has more of a manufacturing sector or agricultural / forestry focus. Also notably there are US states like Texas which are also extremely focused on fossil fuel production which aren't taking this aggressive anti-renewables stance. Alberta is actually further on this axis than any other regime in North America -- taking on a very explicit anti-renewables stance. Even effectively (through regulation) banning their use in large scale datacentre rollouts. The local elites there are extremely threatened by any renewable talk; they run an active disinformation campaign, and formerly the province had one of the fastest growing renewable sectors in the world. (Alberta gets a lot of solar hours and has high winds, too) Aside, I was coming back from Edmonton a couple days ago and in the airport there's a wine/liquor store with a sandwich board out front proudly proclaiming that they "have US wine & liquor for sale!" -- completely thumbing nose at the rest of the country as a business opportunity.

nosioptar 10d ago
The last bit boggles my mind. I'm american. There's not a single bottle of whisky made down here that can compete with Canadian whisky.
- cmrdporcupine 10d ago
  Different product. Bourbon owns a lot of headspace with consumers, and is not available in most of the country right now. There are Canadian made Bourbon-like products, but nothing will fill that niche for purists. I imagine there's a similar thing going on with California wines. But less so.
  - nosioptar 10d ago
    I think you're right for most. I think Canada needs to come up with a trade name/standards for their Bourbon-likes.
- mulderc 10d ago
  Try Westward out of Portland.
llm_nerd 10d ago
> Implicit in all the "we'll bring Canada to heel" and "we don't need anything from Canada" talk is an Alberta/Sask exception. They don't mean AB/SK. They mean the rest of Canada, which leans further to the left politically and has more of a manufacturing sector or agricultural / forestry focus. The paradox is that if we take the US administration at their word, that it is the trade deficit that is the problem they need to solve, then Alberta is 100% of the problem. Ontario, BC, Quebec have basically equal trade with the US. We ship a lot to the US, but we ship a lot of things we could make domestically from the US, though that is rapidly changing (for instance a major rail car manufacturing process is spinning up to replace that as an import from the US). Alberta is basically 100% exports to the US, with negligible imports from the US. So it's hilarious when Alberta says this isn't their trade war. Again, if we take Trump and his crew of stunningly incompetent self-dealing grifters and rapists at their word, it is completely Alberta's trade war. Apparently because the US buys Alberta oil, the rest of the Canada should be punished somehow? How spectacularly stupid. But yes, Danielle Smith is a vile human and is a traitor to Canada. I get why Albertans elected her -- there are legitimate grievances and a better "deal" to be had -- but she is going to do spectacular damage to the province.
- cmrdporcupine 10d ago
  > Apparently because the US buys Alberta oil, the rest of the Canada should be punished somehow? How spectacularly stupid. I mean they clearly actually mean the opposite. And are doing the opposite. They're making moves to push Alberta out of confederation. I think at this point it should be clear the Trump regime funding and supporting Alberta "separatist" campaigns. At least giving it a megaphone far beyond its actual real local support base. So, yeah, one way of "dealing with" the "trade deficit" there is to simply push Alberta out of Canada. Another (longer-term) move is taking over Venezuela and getting an alternate source for heavy crude. Notably both paths are being taken.
  - anon7725 10d ago
    It seems like the pro-Canada side is letting Smith set the agenda, is not organizing much or being extremely present/vocal. Just hoping that polling is accurate and it’ll all blow over. It makes me very nervous in light of Brexit and the general unreliability of polls these days. I still think it’s a long shot, but why are they playing with fire here?
expedition32 10d ago
Canada could have asked the Chinese to build oil terminals, pipelines and refineries. Not one drop of oil would have crossed the border. Instead Canada chose to bind itself to the US.