Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sure stirred up the hornet’s nest and upset the apple cart.
The whiners, the moaners, the hysterics are on full display, pounding their drums and mouthing into their megaphones from their social media outposts.
As the clock ticks, the intensity grows.
Can you believe it? Did you see it? It’s incredible even for her, they say.
She’s hit a new low, they say.
What a horrible human being.
Treason!
Lackey for Big Oil!
Go join your friend Donald Trump!
The hashtags are created by the keyboard warriors and the scolds do what they do best.
Whine.
One day they tell us it’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre destroying the country. The next day, it’s Smith or some other conservative politician.
In reality, the folks they admire have been running the country for years.
How is that working for us so far?
God forbid anyone challenges the social media mob.
They too are guilty of treason. They too are sellouts. They too are not worthy to be considered Canadians.
The hours pass.
Deep thinkers shake their heads and wag their fingers.
Danielle Smith has really outdone herself this time, they say.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse it just did, they say.
Politicians who never liked Smith congratulate themselves on their patriotism.
It is all theatre.
What happened Wednesday is simple.
Smith didn’t sign on to Team Canada’s declaration to fight incoming American president Donald Trump and his tariffs against Canadian goods.
Smith does not want Alberta oil bound for the U.S. blocked by the federal government or taxed by the federal government.
The premier committed what some consider an unforgivable sin.
She stood up for Alberta.
She worried about Alberta being sacrificed on the altar of so-called national unity.
It has been before, you know.
Smith did not fall into line with the two people driving the Team Canada train.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford really did look like quite the pair as they lectured the rest of us on what is and is not the right thing to do in the situation Canada now finds itself.
Trudeau, hounded out of office, a man out the door in less than two months, a man who does not enjoy the confidence of the vast majority of Canadians, leads the charge and it makes many Albertans sick to their stomach.
Team Canada. Trudeau talks about Team Canada. Ford talks about Team Canada. Others across the country talk about Team Canada.
What is this Team Canada they’re talking about?
Where was Team Canada when Alberta’s oilpatch wanted to expand its markets beyond the U.S.?
Where was Team Canada when Alberta faced what is known here as the No New Pipelines law?
Where was Team Canada when Trudeau’s green guru Steven Guilbeault time and time again made life way more difficult for oil and gas?
Where was Team Canada on all those occasions when Alberta was the whipping boy of this country?
Where was Team Canada when Albertans wanted to be heard, hard-working, tax-paying folks in a province that is the biggest contributor to Confederation?
Where was the call for unity at those times?
No, Albertans were called crybabies.
For the record, after much struggling, getting one pipeline does not wipe away the grief.
Now, it is Team Canada. Now Alberta is told to step up.
Now Alberta can join Team Canada.
In fighting Trump, oil is the biggest weapon in the Canadian arsenal.
Block oil from going south and Americans suffer.
Put a tax on oil going south and Americans suffer.
Come to think of it, put a tax on oil and Ottawa makes a lot of money.
Do your part, Alberta. We’re all in this together.
And, as we were reminded by Trudeau on Wednesday, no part of the country will be singled out for unfair treatment.
Trust us.
Really? Pardon us for our scepticism.
So let’s all settle down.
We don’t know what Trump is going to do.
We can disagree about where we go from here.
The unknown can be scary. We live in some pretty scary times.
But a couple things are known.
Danielle Smith is not a traitor and Albertans aren’t either.