If there weren’t already lots of reasons to dislike new U.S. President Donald Trump, he seems to be providing new ones each day.
Trump added to his bombast in his presidential inaugural address by suggesting that Americans were living in carnage.
Carnage? The U.S. economy has been on the upswing.
Were that not bad enough, Trump’s press liaison Sean Spicer harangued the Washington press corp. for its coverage of the crowd size at Trump’s inauguration, insisting Trump attracted the largest crowd ever.
It didn’t. Pictures clearly show more people in attendance at former president Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. Television ratings also indicate more viewers turned Obama’s swearing in.
For this to be even an issue that the U.S. President would be worried about is ridiculously petty.
After all, if the U.S. is in a state of carnage, shouldn’t that be Trump’s focus?
No sooner did the nonsense over crowd size die down-- an issue Trump raised in front of a memorial dedicated to Central Intelligence Agency officers who died in the line of duty-- when the new President alleged he would have won the popular vote, were it not for voter fraud and the millions of Americans voting illegally.
To this serious allegation, Trump’s spokesman offered absolutely no evidence.
This was not just an irresponsible thing to say. It demonstrated the ease in which Trump can be distracted.
However, such issues related to Donald Trump’s personality are issues for Americans … not us.
Our biggest concern should be how his presidency may impact us.
In that regard, it might not be all that bad for Saskatchewan and rural Saskatchewan in particular.
But with someone as protectionist as Trump is, saying he will be there is reason to be concerned.
At least Trump’s first decision looks like it could impact us in a positive way: the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
“This is a win for both our countries’ energy industries, for energy consumers and for energy security,” Premier Brad Wall said in a written statement mere hours after Trump’s announcement.
“I have said before that if Keystone had been judged on its merits and on the facts, it would have been approved years ago.”
Wall went on to say the project has always met U.S. criteria and “enhances U.S. energy security while feeding Canadian heavy oil to U.S. refineries that want it and freeing up rail cars for moving grain.
“It will help lower the price differential Canada receives for its oil – that differential costs our governments and producers hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” Wall said, adding it will mean about 2,200 jobs in Alberta and Saskatchewan; good news for a hard-hit industry.
And the Saskatchewan Premier added this was great news for Evraz in Regina, because the pipe manufacturer was all but shut down by the Barrack Obama administration’s refusal to approve the project.
However, consider what Trump said while signing Keystone XL’s approval: “We will build our own pipeline. We will build our own pipes.”
That does not sound like it bodes well for Evraz, which has 250 miles of pipelines stored and ready to go for this project.
And what might Trump’s America-first approach mean for Canadian oil exports?
Former Saskatchewan MLA Tim McMillan, now president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), expressed concern Trump’s approach could endanger Canadian jobs.
What of our trade deals? What will renegotiating NAFTA mean?
Most worrisome is Saskatchewan agriculture that’s previously endured U.S. country of origin labeling on beef and pork and tariffs on Canadian grain.
Trump has already freely thrown around the notion of tariffs on foreign cars.
But at least Trump’s first order of business is good news for Saskatchewan. Let’s hope it remains that way.
