Do Conservatives want the best for the West, or not?

The Conservatives complaining about the PM going to China for a trade deal are the same people who are begging for a new pipeline out to the coast of B.C. to sell oil to China.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a deal in China last week that has federal and Ontario conservatives foaming at the mouth, writes Erica Ifill. Photograph courtesy of X

Opinion

BY ERICA IFILL

January 21, 2026

CALGARY—Were it up to the Conservatives, the economy would be in the toilet, next to a pipeline. The ideology of anti-woke, pipeline politics has failed to produce any coherent and consistent policies conducive to economic success.

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