The EconomistDecember 7th 2019 471T
he 700 peoplewho gathered on a re-
cent Saturday night at the Boot Scootin’
Boogie Dancehall in Edmonton, the capital
of the western Canadian province of Alber-
ta, came not to boogie but to vent. Baseball
caps for sale bore such slogans as “Make Al-
berta Great Again”, “The West Wants Out”
and “Wexit”. On stage, before a Canadian
flag held between hockey sticks and point-
ed upside down, Peter Downing recited the
grievances that drew the crowd: cancelled
plans to build oil pipelines, subsidies paid
to the rest of Canada and snobbery towards
Alberta from the central Canadian prov-
inces. The country’s prime minister, Justin
Trudeau, would get what’s coming to him,
Mr Downing pledged. Someone near the
back muttered, “Hopefully, a bullet.”
The anger at the Boot Scootin’ would be
easy to ignore, except that it will be one of
the dominant themes of Mr Trudeau’s sec-
ond term in office, which began when he
narrowly won re-election in October. His
Liberal Party was wiped out in Alberta and
in its equally resentful neighbour, Sas-
katchewan. Mr Trudeau appointed Alberta-
born Chrystia Freeland, the foreign minis-
ter in the last government, to be deputy
prime minister and minister of intergov-
ernmental affairs. One of her main jobs will
be to soothe western feelings. Canada’s go-
vernor-general was expected to outline the
government’s ideas for bridging regional
divisions, among other priorities, in a
“speech from the throne” as The Economist
went to press on December 5th. They are
unlikely to include a big reduction in Al-
berta’s net transfers to the rest of the coun-
try. But its drive for greater autonomy
could be a model for reshaping how the
federation works.
Alberta’s 4m people are Canada’s rich-
est. The province is a motor for the nationaleconomy when oil prices are high. It is a big
net contributor to the federal budget and to
other provinces. Alberta was also the ful-
crum of Mr Trudeau’s climate and energy
policies. He had hoped to win its support
for a national price on carbon by approving
the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil
pipeline to the country’s west coast. The
province rejected this grand bargain by
scrapping the carbon tax on consumers.
Though rich, Alberta has had a run of
bad luck. It began when global oil prices fell
in 2014, causing a recession and a jump in
unemployment to a high of 9% in 2016 (see
chart on next page). The economy has since
recovered, but Alberta still struggles to sell
its oil. In part that is because existing pipe-
lines are full. This forces producers to ship
oil expensively by train to the United
States, where it competes against cheaper
American shale oil, or to store it. Extracting
oil from Alberta’s oil sands consumes a lot
of energy, and it is harder to refine than
lighter crudes. Each barrel contributes
more to climate change than does one from
most other sources.
These problems have led to an exodus of
oil companies. Shortly after the election
Encana said it would move its head office
from Calgary, Alberta’s business centre, to
Denver. It is changing its name to Ovintiv.
In November this year Sweden’s central
bank said it would sell its holdings of
bonds issued by Alberta because its carbon
footprint is too large. Royal Dutch Shell hasCanada
“Wexit” doesn’t mean Wexit
EDMONTON
But Alberta’s secessionist movement spells trouble for Justin Trudeau
The Americas
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