Calgary Sun Letters, Monday, May 25: ‘U.S. looking to divide, conquer’

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Trojan Horse

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Albertans, who consider themselves Ottawa’s ‘cash cows,’ don’t think about the consequences of their possible secession. They should understand the province’s rich oil reserves make it a highly desirable target. Even if Alberta gains its long-awaited independence, it would immediately fall into the clutches of the U.S. With Trump’s arrival, the long-standing information pressure on Canada has only intensified. Washington is trying to interfere in Canada’s internal affairs in every way possible, spreading pro-American and separatist sentiments among the population of the ‘freedom-loving’ provinces. Both official statements and political support are being employed, as well as the anonymous, mass dissemination of disinformation on social media and YouTube. The thing is, the U.S. will not stop at Alberta. Its secession will create a domino effect, and Quebec will be next. A serious outflow of funds will result in the collapse of the country’s budget, causing Canada to lose its status as one of the world’s leading energy powers. Therefore, Alberta could become just part of a destructive chain, a ‘Trojan horse’ that could lead the country to ruin. The government should have long ago considered tighter control on external influence, as well as blocking the referendum on Alberta’s secession. While the local politicians should be stripped of some of their powers, as they are currently failing to suppress rebellious sentiments, and, on the contrary, just fuelling it.

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MICHAEL DEROME, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.

(Albertans wouldn’t see themselves as Ottawa’s cash cow if they weren’t treated as such)

Double standard

Well, isn’t that official opening a grandiose event? Carney stands up in front of a microphone and announces the official opening of a graphite mine at Saint-Michel-des-Saints in Quebec. Question, Carney … in meetings with you, did the Premier of Quebec have to grovel to get this project approved? During the construction period, will a CO2-capture facility be constructed to gather all the emissions admitted by all the heavy duty equipment working on site and later to gather the emissions from the mining equipment?

DOUGLAS CASSELL

(Too vote-rich an area to make them jump through hoops)

Hold the celebration

I am not sure how other Albertans feel about the proposed so-called gift of a new pipeline to the west coast but, for me, I am not celebrating. It will not be official until sometime this fall, meaning it is supposedly on the Major Projects List and shovels might be in the ground early in 2028? Help me understand why it is going to take until 2033-34 before it comes online? I believe the original Trans Canada pipeline from Edmonton to Burnaby took 30 months to build and come online. We still have the Impact Assessment Act, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, the NDP government in B.C. and First Nations in B.C. to deal with. Now, after all of these dealings, why is it taking five years minimum to build this pipeline? Surely with the advanced pipeline infrastructure technology we now have we could build the pipeline in less than 2.5 years? Hold the celebration. We still have the industrial carbon tax at $130/ton which automatically makes our oil less competitive. What private company wants to take on this project with so many possible blocks? Good luck, Alberta.

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GORD PETERS, Chestermere

(Yep, the MOU guarantees nothing)

Dark days past

(Re: Bell – ‘Danielle Smith referendum puzzle, she’s got some explaining to do,’ calgarysun.com) When former Liberal PM Pierre Trudeau rolled into Alberta with his dysfunctional National Energy Policy, Premier Danielle Smith was just a young teenage girl still living with her parents under their roof. Danielle really had no emotional leanings in those very dark days of Alberta’s history. If it weren’t for the political bulldogs in Edmonton led by Peter Lougheed, Trudeau might have shut down Alberta’s economy.

DONALD K. MUNROE, Three Hills

(A modern-day version of that battle is still being fought)

Spending problem

It is amazing to see how politicians proudly and loudly spend our money. Million here, billion there, all destined to promote themselves as responsible keepers of the public purse. It all amounts to a trillion dollars of public debt where the interest payable is more than we spent on health care. Do they talk about paying the trillion back? Of course not. They have no idea who and how it will be paid. Anyway, their indexed and secured pensions will remain intact.

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ZDENEK KUTAK

(A little respect for taxpayers would go a long way)

AI at work

So, according to the article ‘Money talks’ (Bryan Passifiume, calgarysun.com), Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne spent $12Gs, presumably taxpayers’ money not his, to a contractor to write his budget speech. He should have written his speech himself. But given that he wasn’t able to, he could have used Grok or one of the other AI websites, free of charge, to get a free budget speech that would most likely have been much better than what he spewed out on budget day. Or, as the article points out, Champagne could have instructed one of his many subordinates to write it for him. On behalf of all taxpayers across Canada, I am calling on Champagne to repay the $12Gs out of his own pocket and promise never to do it again.

L. THOMAS

(It really is shocking with the army of staff employed by the finance department that it couldn’t have been written in-house. What a waste)

Unflattering legacy

Ever wonder about the legacy U.S. President Donald J. Trump might leave behind when he is out of office? Besides being unpresidential, a grifter, a liar and burdening U.S. taxpayers with his big, beautiful White House ballroom that now costs over a billion dollars to construct, it would most probably centre around the war he started with Iran. Unfortunately, the regime changed for the worse and Iran still has nuclear bomb material. As a result of his blunder, Iran now controls all shipping in and out of the Strait of Hormuz that affects the entire world economy with higher costs for everything. Quite the legacy, eh!

R. MOSKAL, Winnipeg

(It’s something that continues to hit people hard)

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