Pierre Takes No Position And Feels Little Pain For The Time Being.

Let's start with a minor but important point: I sometimes agree with Curious and I think he is bang on here: there is no way in Hell that the next election will be about the carbon tax. Not a chance so Poilièvre might as well give it a rest. All Canadians are already sick of it anyway as Pierre would no doubt admit in private.

Now, let's tackle both sides of the Poilièvre coin: to begin, until Trump is in office and has enacted tariffs by passing them through Congress, Pierre doesn't have to take a position on that as regards future Canadian tariffs which would come into force in reprisal. Under present circumstances, Pierre doesn't have to choose between Ottawa and Alberta. That's not a choice that he willingly wants to make. That much is crystal clear. Of course, the other side of that coin is the downside: you know how that goes about true leadership taking a position early and coming on strong with a clearly articulated national position that all or most parties would be in favour of. At least on the margins, Poilièvre is already paying a political price for being silent. 

Now let's move this ahead to when American tariffs are actually in effect. As a future prime minister, Pierre will have no choice but to embrace the national consensus and sideline Smith and her positions on energy. If we go the cutoff route, nothing gets carved out or exempted:  we cut off oil and gas, electricity, hydropower and any other energy source we can come up with. Period. The pain must be felt on all fronts and in every applicable jurisdiction. So, Pierre has got to get it now, we're not talking about the NEP here. If he fails TheCanadaTestTM, his party's numbers will suddenly be in jeopardy.