The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that April 24 could go down as a pivotal moment in the B.C. election. The Globe's Gary Mason writes it was on this day that U.S. President Donald Trump announced duties of up to 24 per cent on Canadian softwood-lumber exports. In British Columbia, where Christy Clark is in the midst of a tough, close election battle, the Liberal leader and her strategists smelled an opportunity. Two days later, Ms. Clark announced she was requesting the federal government ban the export of U.S. thermal coal through ports on the West Coast. She went further: If Ottawa refused, the province would do it alone, applying a ruinous, $70-a-tonne carbon levy on thermal coal being shipped through B.C. ports. Most of that coal moves through Westshore Terminals' operation in Delta. From that moment on, Ms. Clark's central enemy on the campaign trail became Mr. Trump -- and who is the best to lead the fight against the rising tide of protectionism south of the border. The carbon levy would also apply to product from Alberta. The early estimate by some in the coal industry there suggests that it would cost $300-million in revenue and mean 2,000 lost jobs.