This week in politics, Mark Carney signed an MOU, a memorandum of understanding, with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to support a pipeline. As you can imagine, this is great news in theory for a lot of us who have been screaming to develop our resources and undo Liberal legislation that has kept our precious resources in the ground.

Many Canadians are well aware that unleashing our resources will create independence, prosperity, sovereignty, and wealth. But for Liberals who vehemently oppose pipelines, oil, and gas, this announcement has created a lot of anger and division, not only within Carney’s caucus and cabinet, but also among loyal Liberal voters.

So let’s start with Steven Guilbeault. Guilbeault, the radical former Liberal environment minister who once scaled the CN Tower and was arrested as a Greenpeace activist, resigned from Mark Carney’s cabinet over the signing of this MOU. And just for reference, an MOU is exactly that, a memorandum of understanding. It doesn’t actually put shovels in the ground.

So Steven resigns from cabinet because he can’t possibly stay in a cabinet that goes against his anti-pipeline morals and “integrity,” but he’s totally fine staying in caucus?! Not sure how you square that circle, since the caucus is still Liberal and still advocating for the pipeline?

Now let’s move on to the online reaction to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s MOU. Many of his voters are very upset. I came across a post on Facebook from David Morton, and for those who don’t know, he is as loyal a Liberal as you can get. He was a senior corporate executive who took over leadership of Red Leaf Communications, the Liberal Party’s main advertising consortium, after Jerry Grafstein.

As you can see in his post, he’s furious. So what is Prime Minister Mark Carney supposed to do now? This is quite a predicament for him, and frankly, it proves what we’ve said all along: Liberals pander. They tell one group of people one thing and say the complete opposite to another. This time, they’re caught red-handed (pun intended). This is not leadership. It is not integrity. And it is not standing by your voters.

I fully commend Premier Danielle Smith for doing what she did because, in my opinion, she called Mark Carney’s bluff. She’s basically saying: “We’ll extend an olive branch and give you one more chance. Ottawa has screwed us over so many times we’ve lost count. So here it is, Mark Carney: build this pipeline and do what you say you’re going to do, or you answer to Albertans.”

I think Danielle Smith is executing tremendous leadership in this instance and absolutely called his bluff.

Regardless, Mark Carney is not in a good position. He is not the leader many people voted for. He is not the man many believed he was. He has shown repeated arrogance, especially toward women and anyone who questions his authority. Just recently, he snarkily replied to a reporter, “Who cares?!” when asked if he had spoken to Donald Trump. Mr Carney, Canadians care a lot. Many are relying on you to get the best deal as you promised, but instead, we have thousands of steel and auto workers losing their jobs and major corporations heading south instead of doing business in Canada.

Mr Carney is proving he’s a CEO who expects people to do as he says without questioning him. That is not what we need in a Prime Minister, and it’s causing division among Liberals.

For those who support these “conservative” policies, they have a seat and an invitation to join the Conservative movement that believes in integrity, accountability, and making Canada the wealthiest country in the world.

Drill baby drill!

Michelle Ferreri is a political commentator, strategic communications and media consultant, and the former Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha.