Oh come on, can you be any more melodramatic! If the feds stop equalization payments, BC can stop collecting federal income tax and GST but neither scenario is going to happen because unlike this dispute where the province and municipalities feel they have a case about controlling their water, equalization payments and income/sales taxes are enacted very specifically.
Why do you think Trudeau keeps saying the pipeline will be built but letting BC and AB duke it out? He knows it's not black or white.
BC doesn't collect Federal income tax, the Feds collect BC income tax. The Feds could change the collection of GST by just telling businesses to mail them the check directly.
I'm not being melodramatic, Alberta feels it has been pushed to the wall. So far it has been just a war of words and lawyers but if it goes beyond that, Alberta will hit as hard as it can. I would.
Consider this. The existing trans mountain ships about 300,000 barrels a day, about 80,000 of that is dilbit for export. The rest is a mixture of refined products and conventional crude for the Port Moody refinery. All they have to do is go 100% dilbit and not only would BC not get the refined products, the Port Moody refinery would have nothing to refine. The full 300,000 barrels could be converted to dilbit, quadrupling exports with the existing pipeline.
Will things get this stupid? I wouldn't have thought so but now I wouldn't be surprised.
BTW, why aren't you pissed off at the fact Vancouver is the largest coal shipping port in North America?