Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan took a break from his trip to Charlottetown, where he has been trying to catch the eye of premiers, to issue a press release calling Premier Danielle Smith a coward for refusing to use Alberta’s oil as a bargaining chip in Carney’s trade war.

Alberta has been one of the only positive lights in Canada’s economy for years and is responsible for 80% of the nation’s job growth. While Eastern Canada languishes in an economic mire, Alberta has continued to shoulder the load as a massive, net economic contributor to the federation.

McGowan’s proposal to tariff or constrain oil exports from Alberta would be economically catastrophic and would lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and billions in government revenue.

When a labour leader is demanding a course of action that will cause massive job losses, it indicates the motivations are partisan rather than principled. Clearly, McGowan’s interest isn’t really in protecting the livelihood of working-class Albertans.

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If McGowan was concerned for the well-being of Albertan workers, he would share the pragmatic approach of the government in dealing with its largest trading partner, which has shielded the province from most of the fallout from the ongoing trade war. Instead, he works to try to score political points on behalf of the NDP he recently failed to win the leadership of.

McGowan will never be an ally of the UCP government. But as an ostensible representative of Alberta’s working people, he should put the interests of labour ahead of his partisan interests.

Economic acumen has never been one of McGowan’s strong points. Nuanced communications tend to elude him as well and are demonstrated in a press release peppered with statements such as “Smith will continue sucking up to the bully instead of standing up to him.”

Perhaps it's time for Alberta's labour unions to seek more effective representation from the AFL.