Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr isn’t taking Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall’s criticism of how the federal government handled TransCanada’s (TRP.TO) Energy East pipeline approval process lying down.

In an interview on BNN, Carr emphasized the decision to terminate the planned project was TransCanada’s alone, and refuted Wall’s claim Ottawa’s actions may sow doubt Central Canada really values the west.

“I guess I could remind Premier Wall that we have created 22,000 jobs in Western Canada through the pipelines that we have approved. I could remind him that the steel for those pipelines, actually, will be largely manufactured and distributed from a company in Regina that will create hundreds of jobs,” Carr said.

“In any event, I don’t think there’s much in it for the country to have regions pitted one against the other.”

The war of words is just the latest waged between the Prairies and Parliament Hill, dating back to the firestorm that erupted when Pierre Trudeau introduced the National Energy Program in 1980. In a statement, Wall said the long history of disagreements at his jurisdiction’s expense simply can’t continue.

“Something needs to change,” he said. “For the west to continue on like this in our federal system is the equivalent of having Stockholm syndrome.”

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