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Column: B.C. could end up surrounded by right-wing governments. Then what?

As the Trudeau government continues to implode and a radical right-wing populist appears to be poised to take over the government right next door, you can forgive B.C.
Andrew Scheer
Federal Conservative Party leader, Andrew Scheer. Photo by Daisy Xiong/Richmond News

As the Trudeau government continues to implode and a radical right-wing populist appears to be poised to take over the government right next door, you can forgive B.C. Premier John Horgan if he is getting a bit apprehensive about what kind of relationship his government may have with future counterparts.

If the federal Liberals lose and Conservative leader Andrew Scheer forms government, it could be a major setback in B.C.-Ottawa relations.

Throw in the scenario that sees United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney win the Alberta election this month and the electoral map would show the BC NDP up against a wall of right-wing governments stretching to the Maritimes.

This bloc of right-wing conservativism could have serious implications for a number of issues, not the least of which is fighting climate change.

While the BC NDP is by far the greenest ruling party in the country, a string of governments that do not share its priorities when it comes to fighting climate change may frustrate many of its goals.

For example, should Scheer and Kenney both form government, B.C. will likely be the only jurisdiction with a carbon tax (and an ever-increasing one at that). That could have significant repercussions on B.C. remaining economically competitive with other provinces.

As well, you can bet on Scheer and Kenney (aided to no small degree by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe) aggressively pushing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to completion. Kenney, in particular, has vowed a form of aggression on B.C. if the pipeline is not built.

Kenney has threatened to include various options, including literally “turning off the taps” of Alberta oil sent into B.C. If you think the price at the pump is high now, just wait to see what would happen if a Kenney-led government reduced the amount of oil flowing into this province.

While Kenney, being a next-door neighbour, is potentially the biggest disrupter of the B.C. economy, the NDP government’s relationship with the federal government is in most ways more important.

As I have noted here before, Trudeau and Horgan have forged some kind of bromance that is paying off impressibly for B.C., particularly when it comes to jointly building infrastructure, such as the Broadway subway line and whatever transit line is eventually built in Surrey.

It is hard (no, actually impossible) to see Horgan have as strong a relationship with Scheer. The two men simply do not share the same values or philosophies.

This partly explains why I keep picking up from NDP caucus members a nervous apprehension about what is going on in Ottawa right now.

Having Kenney as a belligerent neighbour seems a foregone conclusion, but it seems to me that many New Democrats are cheering Trudeau to hang on and win again.

Keith Baldrey is chief political correspondent for Global BC.