Western premiers fume as Mulcair sticks to ‘Dutch disease’ guns

[Joe Shlabotnik]

3. I think the way the discusssion is unfolding is wrong.

Lougheed was right. Mulcair surely knows it. However true and serious the environmental concerns are though, approaching the problem of Dutch disease by saying 'part of the cure is slowing growth by internalizing environmental costs, and thereby creating innovative technologies and jobs to curb pollution' is a HUGE stretch of reasoning for most people. The public hears this and thinks 'curb growth = economy shrinks', 'internalize environmental costs = expensive gas'. Mulcair should not try to tie green jobs into this. What he is afraid to say is what needs to be said: 'Industrial policy', 'National Energy Plan', 'Sovereignty over resources'. All of which are traditional NDP policies. Either way he's never going to win over the hearts and minds of conservative Albertans en masse, or neoliberal globalists.