https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Liberals have rolled the dice by making anti-oil-industry rhetoric a key part of their election campaign. The messaging has become louder and clearer in the campaign homestretch.
Minutes into the French-language debate last week, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau spoke about standing up to oil interests. Tweets from Liberal candidates have taken aim at pipelines, while other messaging from the Liberals links Conservatives to “dark oil money.”
It’s no surprise that the Liberals have mostly given up on winning seats in Alberta. But the party’s decision to single out an industry that is inextricably linked with the identity of Canada’s main oil-producing province has the potential to be poisonous to postelection national unity.
The major downside of portraying any supporter of Alberta’s biggest industry as a J.R. Ewing-clone is that the message will percolate well after Election Day, no matter the outcome of the vote. Talk of Alberta separation, while still pie in the sky, comes up in casual downtown Calgary conversations with depressing frequency. This Liberal messaging to go hard on the oil industry makes it worse.
As attention to environmental issues has become more focused in the campaign, the NDP has delighted in reminding the Liberals that they are part of the oil industry with their purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
For the rest of this article: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-liberals-anti-oil-rhetoric-could-poison-national-unity/