Trump made clear early on in his presidential bid that he was supportive of Keystone XL. He vowed to give the pipeline a green light if elected, though he wanted a ‘better deal’ for the US. For Alberta, this almost certainly still represents more financial gain (specific to this project) than we’d muster under the anti-Keystone XL positions taken by both Hillary Clinton and outgoing President Barack Obama.

In Alberta, one of our greatest economic challenges is getting our oil to market. Not every pipeline is created equal, but any pipeline means a flow of oil outward and a subsequent flow of dollars into Albertans’ pockets.

Any carbon taxes in Canada will be all pain and no gain. By virtue of our size, any reduction in carbon emissions will not make a dent in global climate change, yet they will certainly make Albertans and Canadians poorer. Trump vowed to scrap the Paris climate commitments and is staunchly against a carbon tax. Imposing an enormous carbon tax in Alberta will not help the environment, but with Trump as president, it will certainly compromise our ability to attract business.

Trump’s election was predicated on widespread scepticism over NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump held responsible for the loss of American jobs. The U.S. is Canada’s largest trading partner and vice-versa, so any disruption to our trading relationship could have major impacts.

Trump has promised to slash business tax rates from 35 per cent to 15 per cent. Contrast that with Alberta, where Premier Notley raised general business taxes by 20 per cent as one of her first moves in office. Alberta’s NDP government later cut small business taxes after small businesses were closing their doors in droves across the province, but other tax increases and a minimum wage hike easily swallowed up that small bit of tax relief.

Trump also campaigned on collapsing seven income tax brackets into three, which again stands in stark contrast with income tax hikes from both Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Notley. Trudeau reduced income taxes in the middle bracket, but increased them for higher income earners, while Notley tore up Alberta’s single-rate income tax, which had long been central to the Alberta Advantage. All of these tax hikes compromise Canada’s competitiveness with our neighbours to the South.