Trudeau says Conservative premiers are playing "petty politics" at Canada's expense

Not long after the cowboy hats and pancake flipping that marked a meeting of Conservative premiers, Trudeau has accused the provincial leaders of playing “petty politics.”

At a meeting with Trans Mountain workers in Alberta, Trudeau decried the reluctance of premiers like Jason Kenney to engage in infrastructure projects.

The push back against construction is particularly “unfortunate,” said the Prime Minister, because of his working relationship with the willing Mayors of Edmonton and Calgary.

"[The premiers] would rather have their citizens suffer by not taking advantage of this construction season than stand on stage to make an announcement with the federal government," Trudeau said.

At the meeting of the premiers, earlier this week, both Ontario’s Doug Ford and Kenney, praised the ability of “like-minded” politicians to meet and talk.

Part of this “like-mindedness” is a shared condemnation of Trudeau. A month ago, Conservative premiers banned together and penned an open letter to Trudeau condemning his energy policies.

Kenney told reporters at the conference’s debut that he and the premiers planned to “compare notes on how much opportunity and how many jobs have been lost as a result of… constraints to resource development and our resource sector.”

In June, tensions were further provoked between Ottawa and the provinces. On June 28 the Ontario Court of Appeal’s ruled 4-1 in favour of Trudeau’s carbon tax.

In a 93-page decision, the court found that Ford’s battle with Trudeau’s Green House Gas Pollution Pricing Act, failed to recognize that “without a collective national response” to climate change “all [provinces] can do is prepare for the worst."

“While we are disappointed with today’s decision, Ontario will continue to stand united with our provincial partners to oppose to the Liberal Carbon Tax,” Ford tweeted. His comments reiterated the existence of a “like-minded” union and what Trudeau has called efforts to “to pit one corner of the country against each other."