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For almost three years now, we Albertans have put all our respect eggs in one basket the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

We have seen Trans Mountain as the ultimate symbol of whether the federal Liberal government respects our contributions to Confederation or places us behind their obsession with climate change and carbon emissions.

Its time to add a second basket.

By the end of February, the federal cabinet has to decide if it will approve the Teck Frontier oilsands project near (but not in) Wood Buffalo National Park north of Fort McMurray.

The project should be a slam dunk for the feds, if for no other reason than it will generate about $12 billion in taxes for Ottawa over its 41-year lifespan.

And Ottawa desperately needs new revenue sources.

The federal deficit this year is already going to be at least $8 billion higher than forecast in last Marchs budget $28 billion instead of $20 billion. And thats before any of the $57 billion in new spending promised by Justin Trudeau and his party during this falls election campaign.

Just to cover the Liberals higher-than-expected commitment to civil servant pensions would require the revenues from two new pipelines plus another Frontier-sized oilsands project.

Therefore, the fiscal case for Frontier is obvious from the feds point of view.

But the economic case is obvious, too.

Construction of Frontier would generate 7,000 jobs in Alberta and upwards of 1,000 more in other provinces. Long-term operation of the new mine would create 2,500 permanent jobs not only in oilsands extraction, but also in state-of-the-art cogeneration facilities that turn waste heat into electricity, world-class waste disposal, fish habitat protection, river water treatment, bridges, roads, an airfield and a workers camp.

According to the joint federal-provincial assessment committee that examined the Frontier application, the project would also add more than $12 billion a year to Albertas GDP and nearly $8 billion in family incomes in the province.

The Alberta government would receive nearly $1.4 billion a year in new revenues to help balance the budget or build new schools and hospitals. And municipalities in the area would receive hundreds of millions a year in property taxes.

It has been widely reported that the JRP (the joint federal-provincial review panel) said the project should go ahead despite the environmental harm it would do and the disruption it would cause First Nations. What the JRP actually said was that the national benefits outweigh the potential harm Frontier MIGHT cause.

Teck Resources, the mines developer, has signed benefit-sharing agreements with all 14 First Nations and Metis communities in the area, and has even scheduled land reclamation to ensure resident buffalo herds always have sufficient grazing land.

Frontier couldnt cross more Ts or dot more Is.

Yet already the Trudeau cabinet is getting squiffy.

The new Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson (the North Vancouver MP who Westerners were assured understood their frustrations because he was born in Saskatoon), has said hes wrestling with how to approve Frontier and still remain true to the Liberals emissions commitments to the United Nations. (And dont forget their commitments to Greta Thunberg!)

Understand that failure to build Frontier will not prevent a single gram of emissions from entering the atmosphere.

Worldwide oil demand will continue to grow until at least 2050. If oil-consuming countries dont get oil from us, theyll get it from somewhere else.

And since the JRP estimates Frontier will produce fewer emissions per barrel than at least half of the convention oil wells in North America, oil provided to international markets from other countries is likely to raise emissions.

But perhaps most importantly, if the Trudeau government says no to Frontier, that will add greatly to support for Alberta independence.

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GUNTER: If the federal Liberals respect Alberta, they'll approve Teck Frontier - Edmonton Sun