Premier Jason Kenney is set to deliver a speech at the Manning Conference in Red Deer, Alberta. I'm watching the livestream here: alberta.ca/news.aspx #ableg
Kenney is bringing up some historical context: Chief Justice Haultain of SK once wrote about western grievances, saying AB and SK could make "one big province called buffalo."
Alberta made itself a gem of the crown despite the "unwilling and inferior" circumstances of our place in confederation, he says.
Original articles of confederation are flawed. Those flaws are embedded in the structure of our institutions and the condescension of Laurentian elites, he says.
Comparing other parts of the country to Alberta now is false comparison, he suggests, because "other parts of the country did not have a federal government going out of its way to make a bad situation worse."
Thousands upon thousands of Albertans have lost their homes, jobs and the real cost is human, he said, evidenced by rise in rural crime, an opioid crisis, and an increase in crime rates in our cities, a 50 per cent high rate of suicide than in Ontario
"Some of the chattering classes claim that all of this adversity is just the result of low oil prices. Others claim that we are getting our just desserts." Others say we are hanging on to a dying industry, he says.
He counters this by saying there is an unprecedented boom in oil and gas investment, listing some American states like North Dakota. "It's not about prices; it's about policy," he says.
Retraining hundreds of thousands of rig workers, engineers and workers in the oil patch is unrealistic he suggests. "I don't know what kind of work they want these folks to do." Oil WILL be in demand in the future, he says.
Meanwhile, membership of The Fair Deal Panel has been announced "to secure a fair deal in the federation." This just in from the provincial government: 
Blames governments and politicians in many parts of the country for benefitting from the resources of Albertans while trying to impair us from developing those resources, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for "demonizing" oil industry
We have tried to address that unfairness in the confederation all throughout our history. When Preston (Manning) led a campaign saying the West Wants In. When Peter Lougheed "went to war to defend our vital economic interests" (winning Section 92(A) of constitution he says
In 1987, federal government capped the fiscal stabilization program. Fast forward to now: we should have received $1.7 billion - instead of the $200 million we received, he says.
This is the frustration that we feel: that we've made an outsized contribution to Canada, and all we ask is the right to develop our resources, he says.
We recognize that there are essential federal powers that must be exercised by the federal government, for example by taking control over interprovincial infrastructure like pipelines, he said.
We are the greatest champions of the vision of confederation, of the union. "We call on our friends from coast-to-coast to embrace that vision." Some westerners are expressing support for separation. Politicians must listen to sentiment that these people are expressing, he says
Kenney says he doesn't not see a benefit in isolating the province, particularly by withdrawing from free trade agreements like NAFTA or USMCA - but he's setting up a dichotomy between the federal government and a majority opinion from the rest of the country.
The election exasperated divisions. All we've ever asked for is a fair deal. Resource-based economies like that of Alberta and Saskatchewan were especially hurt by federal policies. "The Federal government has given up on a fair deal for Alberta," he says
"Albertans have a right to be fed up." Albertans are afraid. Nothing we are asking for is unreasonable, everything we are asking for is common sense, he says. Listing legislative things the province has done, Kenney includes hosting the Stampede meeting of like-minded premiers...
...the Calgary Stampede meeting that he's recently come under fire for chartering a plane to get to, a.k.a. the Premier's Pancake Plane Party. Bold move. edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…
He's listing what the panel will consider: how to advance economic interests of the province, including (not surprisingly) the construction of energy pipelines, but also the rewriting of a litany of provincial-federal jurisdictional agreements, from tax to police to pension
Here's my first file on Premier Jason Kenney's Fair Deal speech today at the Manning Conference #abpoli #ableg:
edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…
edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…
