The Monarchist has an excellent essay that’s getting the attention it deserves.
I am not a Quebecer. I have not spent much time in Quebec, nor do I identify personally with Quebec’s culture and history. In short, I do not readily identify with Quebecers; I do not naturally walk in their shoes. But over the past several months, as Gomery has dropped bombshell after bombshell, I have found myself quietly and steadily becoming outraged on their behalf. And I have been inspired to behold the rise of their quite righteous indignation. I have been encouraged by the resolution and grit of Gilles Duceppe and his party, as they have stepped up to refuse, on behalf of all Quebecers, to be tarred by the Liberal manure. And I was proud to see the Conservatives join with them in an attempt to bring this disgrace of a government to the ground. Belinda Stronach accuses Stephen Harper of siding with separatists. I would say, rather, that the Conservatives chose to side with men and women of integrity and honour, against those who lack both, and that Belinda went where she belongs. Duceppe and the Bloc represent their people faithfully. Martin and the Liberals represent only themselves, and a view of how a country should function that no decent person can share. So from now on I say: Quebecers, save yourselves; take your birthright, take your beautiful land and heritage, take your pride and your self-respect, and go. I will be cheering you from the other side: cheering your courage and character, and cheering the death blow you will be delivering to the rotten structure that Canada has become.
To Albertans, and indeed to all Western Canadians, I now say: what are you waiting for? Can you now doubt that Ontario will never, ever, give you a seat at the table? Your money is taken from you, year after year, and not only have you no say in the matter, but under the current order, you never will. Make no mistake: with the new precedents of irresponsible government just set, what has been true in the past will be even truer in the future. And dissecting the events of the past two weeks, this has become clear to me: that the Stephen Harper who so closely represents you, your beliefs, and your aspirations for your future in Canada, is hated in Ontario precisely because he represents you, your beliefs and your aspirations. What does that tell you? This is the outcome of your twenty years of work in building a party, a platform, a cause that would bring you into Canada. This is the answer to �the West wants in�. So I now truly hope that the West will want out. Really, what is there here for you? Do you really want to continue to be taxed without representation, especially when so much of what you pay is handed over to others? Do you really want to continue to be despised and mocked? Do you really want to continue to elect senators who will go nowhere while Ontario Liberals send hacks of their own to the red chamber to “represent” you, and laugh in your face?
Read the rest. Then, send it on to every Liberal apologist you know.
off topic, but have you seen this at ctv.ca?
“Chretien drops bid to remove Gomery from inquiry
Canadian Press
OTTAWA � Jean Chretien has withdrawn his Federal Court bid to have Justice John Gomery removed from the inquiry into the sponsorship scandal…”
wtf? was he watching QP today?
But if recent news accounts are to be believed, Duceppe is ready to sell out Quebec’s long-term interests for some short-term budgetary amounts.
Has it ever been decided with certainty how a province can withdraw from the Confederation? Is 50% plus good enough? I’m more familiar with SK than AB, but I don’t think you could ever get 50% plus in SK, and just talking to a few friends in AB, I don’t see how there are 50% plus votes there. People are just too scared to vote that way. There’s too much uncertainty for them. Perhaps over time more will move to AB that think that way. Maybe if Quebec left, AB would have incentive to do the same. As an outsider looking in, it seems there is no way to oust the Liberals. Even with all that’s happened, people still support them according to the polls. The latest CBC poll really shows suppoprt for all politicians eroding rather than just the Liberals.
I think Chretien et al realize that since Gomery cannot name names or assign blame that every witness is scott free anyways. That is why they sit there and lie with such impunity.
There is no fear – there is no shame. There is no charges pending or even perjury or criminal charges pending in this feeble “Gomery Mandate”.
And, if you read the Gomery mandate closely this “report” is to be made ONLY to the Privy Council. Not even all of Cabinet. Not even the Opposition. Not to the media. Not to the public.
So a judge who cannot pass judgement makes a report on a public inquiry that will not be seen by the public.
The only details or names any of us will ever see is on CPAC and little snippets in the media and these blogs.
Liberal Justice? Liberal smokescreen? Liberal “clever” public relations?
Liberal deceit?
You be the judge.
“Righteous indignation”- of a province that is:
1. Canadian headquarters of the Mafia
2. Stolen car capital of Canada,( shipped from Montreal).
3. Lap/towel dancer supplier to the whole of North America.
4. Smut capital of Canada. ( Quebec does not recognize nor adhere to our federal anti-porn laws.
5. Crooked politician capital of Canada.
6. Major recipient of our defense budget.
7. Whackjob/nutbar supplier to the whole of Canada.
Apologize- for what?
Dave – I am truly offended by the inflamatory smears and obvious scorn you have for millions of our fellow Canadians in Quebec.
Not just offended, furious. That labelling and demonizing of entire populations is the very Liberal tactic that has fractured our country pitting region against region;
I am from Alberta – do you have some caustic vile sarcasms about your 3.4 million fellow Canadians in this province too?
Les Quebecois have been standing up to the feds for a long time. It could be their cultural differences, it could be their proximity to the 600 lb gorilla, or it could be they reached a critical population mass sooner, regardless they are ahead of the west in standing up to the feds. The negative feelings many in the west have towards Quebec are not really a result of Quebecer’s actions but of the actions of our federal governments. for decades our government has gone out of it’s way to promote animosity, fear and hatred of our fellow Canadians. I have for a long time been telling people that we need take a page out of the Quebec book, don’t trust the old line parties As for the Bloc, they are simply doing what you would expect mps to do in a democracy. As for those polls we need to be asking for proof that they are accurate to within 3.1% 19 times out of 20. To accept them as truely accurate requires a massive leap of faith
Kent – re Polls:
I agree with you . My opinion is that unless a poll is peer reviewed by unbiased third parties that it is dishonest and irresponsible for the media/political parties to use them top sway public opionion.
The methods to manipulate the answers are so numerous that one even learns them in Market Research 101. You are supposed to learn how to create an “unbiased” representative study but the unscrupulous know how to make the numbers say whatever they want.
So, when the “Polls” say the Liberals are up it makes the public think maybe they are out of step with the mainstream.
Did you know that the Liberal party used YOUR tax dollars to do a poll every night?
More untendered contracts you say?
The Opposition party’s do not have their hands on your money so cannot even begin to play in the same leagues in polling and manipulation.
I love Red Ensign Blogs. The Monarchist rocks.
My offer is still open – We give Canada the New England states, complete with the Kennedy clan, in return for Everything from Alberta West.
It’s true allison… Fact of life… Don’t gettin’ all persnikity…
Did someone mention hacks?
??????????????????????????????????
The column he might wish he hadn’t written.
I spent election night on the set of CTV, along with former NDP premier Dave Barrett. Upon hearing projections that STV would not be approved, he, a red-underwear politico, and I, a former public servant who had advised his political foes, shook hands under the decision desk.
— Norm Spector celebrates the defeat of proposed electoral reforms in B.C. in today’s Globe. His main point — that having lost the referendum, however narrowly, the Yes side cannot simply carry on as if it had won — is fair enough. But he mars his case by gratuitous slurs on his opponents (Rafe Mair’s “ratings are not what they once were,” leading Yes supporters such as Gordon Gibson are people “whose political careers had not prospered under the existing rules”).
Then there’s that ill-chosen anecdote quoted above. It’s intended as a picture of two public-spirited men putting aside their political differences to oppose a measure they consider harmful to the province. But the point would surely have been better made had they shaken hands above the desk.
http://www.andrewcoyne.com
STV is not SCTV.
Nuthin like celebrating 100 years of Liberal tyranny, than with the queen. Now… don’t touch.
Duceppe is a socialist, looking for any edge he can find.What I want to know is if the West puts in more in revenue than it pulls out of Confederation.The author implies a royal screwing, yet I don’t know.AFAIC, Ontario carries the country,regardless if its robbing Peter to pay Paul.As much as I sympathize with Western angst, as an Ontarian, if I’m helping to carry the indigents in the Maritimes, to Quebec, to all parts of the West, I sure don’t want to hear how I’m screwing over Canada.
Great essay.
This is the message that needs to be circulated.
Canada hasn’t survived because of the Libranos.
It has made it this far in spite of them.
Alberta would be totally justified in walking, although I suspect it is the humiliation the Liberals have inflicted upon Quebec that will send them packing first.
The final nail, one way or another, will be another big Liberal win in Ontario this winter.
The idiots in Ontario are sleepwalking toward their worst nightmare.
howie meeker,
Alberta gives 11 billion in transfers to Ottawa with a population of 3 million, so the per capita contribution is higher then Ontario.
We here all the time how Ontario carries the country, but it’s just cause they aren’t told the whole story.
http://www.fin.gc.ca/FEDPROV/images/eqpe.gif
shows chart, per capita contributions etc.
hope the link works 🙂
cheers 🙂 majere
Damn roger,
No wonder I’m so damn tired…. that’s depressing seeing it visually.
Other than the fact I am an avowed republican and reslute anti-monarchist this piece could have been written by this life long resident of Ontario.
A country this cynical (or stupid) deserves to (and will) fall apart.
Great post Kate
Too bad there aren’t enough people in Ontario to see it. MSM needs to drill this point home – but they won’t because they simply don’t get it. The Liberals are not the party to save Canada – another Liberal victory gaurantees a dissolved confederation. Ontario has to get that eventually – but it may be too late.
Someone above said that Alberta wouldn’t be for Separation – I wouldn’t bet my last dollar on that. The outrage out here is visceral. I have never known it to be so open and hostile and I’ve lived here my whole 40 years.
Just on issues – the feds have done nothing to support re-openning the border to cattle – infact PM has done even greater damage to the already bad Canada/US relations so we can’t expect much there.
Grain sales – Ontario Farmers can sell anywhere -western farmers are forced to sell to the wheat pool!
So that’s alot of PO’ed farmer – rural AB
The oil business has always been the place the the government goes to for taxes. Kyoto will do the same regardless of how we try to insulate ourselves from it.
Softwood lumber in BC – no headway.
Gun Registry … how many more issues do you think we need …
Quebec sepratism is very bad for Ontario. It is not so bad for the West. Also, the Ontario economy depends on alot of stuff that the West abhors … like gay tourism, and cheap immigrant labor. Alot of that corrupt advertising money the liberal were throwing around found its way into the ontario based main stream media, and keeps alot of people around here in a pay cheque.
Unfortunately, the largesse does not flow west. As you may have noticed.
The Bloc is unpopular here, and Harper aligning with them to fight corruption is not seen as that here. Ontario is corrupt, and the Liberals are their party. Got it?
So Fenris,
How does that message get driven home enough in Southern Ontario to make change?
I, like shella, have never seen the move to get out so large, and I went through NEP. People here are getting ready now, because they know if CPC fails, were going to get nailed with the other scandal… kyoto ..
CTV News’ Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reports that the Prime Minister knew of the negotiations.
According to Fife, the full four hours of transcripts of Grewal’s taped conversations with a top Martin aide and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh show:
* Martin was ready to talk to Grewal about defecting like he did with Belinda Stronach.
* Grewal was offered a government position two weeks after the vote.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Bribery in high places in Canada?
I heard something about the CAIS program (Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization) that totally floored me…
apparently, (and this is hearsay, and I’d appreciate it if anyone can back it up) of the 100’s of millions that’s being pumped into the program, 48% of the funding is paying for administration of the program. If this is true, this has got to be one of the most impotent, ineffective use of public funds currently in existence.
I read it Kate..thinking about it to and it was good…I linked it to CQ…are turn to get the message out…..guns and butter eh!..better to spread it around….not to worry no guns.
48% of the funding is paying for administration of the program. If this is true, this has got to be one of the most impotent, ineffective use of public funds currently in existence.
Um no, that’s probably a bit better than many government programs. Of the 52% that is actually paid out as welfare – ERRR farm stabilization sumpinorother – how much of that money actually goes to deserving parties? And how deserving is someone of welfare – ERR I mean stabilization – who is a fit, healthy, intelligent and educated adult, but who makes a claim for funds from the program, because they allegedly are too stupid to put aside a little cash in the fat years?
All I’m saying is, stop trying to examine, audit, target and equalize government programs that were nasty and insulting from the get-go. Just cut the damn stupid government spending and watch the farms and factories flourish. Some of those bureaucrats who are currently sucking away 48% of the farm welfare will make pretty good hired hands – once their attitude gets adjusted.
“Some of those bureaucrats who are currently sucking away 48% of the farm welfare will make pretty good hired hands – once their attitude gets adjusted.”
ROFLMAO oh oh oh my GOD I think i’m going to puke I’ve laughed so hard. Holy S**t that’s funny.
seriously though I read once in a business text that each and every beurocrat that is employed is a direct and opposite factor to productivity. Essentially what this was getting at is that you don’t need to anylize every little thing in business, just enough to know where things went wrong if you fail and other than that if it ain’t broken it doesn’t need fixing. The point of all of this is that I have been saying for years that the number one problem with our civil service is that is quite simply is about ten times to large for this country’s population base. As well the point is 100 % spot on concerning welfare payments of all varieties. Unfortunately with our current level of taxation those welfare payments can be considered a no interest bank account to which you have to make up paperwork involving some vampiric beurocrat to get access to the money. If we disposed of about 90% of the useless beurocracies in this country we would be able to drop our taxation level to something resembling the cayman islands. Of couse this mean that a whole lot of useless people will have to actually produce something useful for work instead of shuffling and reshuffling paper.
It’ll never fly too many gov’t workers would vote against it, and lets face it that’s why the Liberal party made so many of them.
D//
Nationalism north of the border in on sentence.
1. Anglo-Canukistan nationalism; WE ARE NOT AMERICANS!!!!
2. West-Frogistan nationalism; WE WERE BEATEN BY THE ABOVE.
Just a Yank throwing a brick at a CANUKISTAN WASP NEST and a WEST FROGISTAN LILY PAD.
Kate you are lovable in many ways. However you are not always correct. Right yes, correct no. If Quebec suddenly struck oil, you would want them to stay within Canada and allow equalization to flow the other way.
No, when tourists come to Canada they expect French as well as English. They expect Maple Syrup without borders. I expect the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the St. Lawrence River, Moncton, Charlottown and Saint Johns without boders.
Folks from Cornerbrook, Halifax and Fredricton expect to Visit Ottawa, Toronto and Kenora’s Lake of the Woods without two sets of border checkpoints duties customs and tarriffs.
God no! The last thing we need in Canada are sets of borders around Quebec and Alberta. That’s marching backwards. Common sense tells you so.
Borders are no fun. North and South Korea and the sparkiest of all borders, Israel.
Kate you are adorable, but we all have faults and we can not just let Quebec freeze in the cold. Besides there is no way to move my part of the Seaway or Quebec Hydro here to Vancouver Island.
This is all just debate right? Just spreading thoughts out on the table. We agree to leave the heated expletives with the impulsive children of the commons. Those teen like people who blurt out terms like KKK and worse and then wish thay could remove those actions from the record.
73s, TG
48% – and that’s just a subsidy for farmers – (a relatively small percentage of Canadian) just think what the percent will be for the new childcare program. (A relatively large percentage of Canadians are parents and require some form of child care) Most of those billions are not going to the daycares providing the child care or the parents needing the child care. Welcome to the creation of yet another bureaucracy.
I just can’t wait to see the boondoggle this is going to become. So far the provinces have accepted all kinds of money and they don’t even know what they have to do with it. Furthermore, I’m still wondering why my retired parents (who paid there dues to the country and paid for their own child care) should be taxed to pay for this. And exactly how do “stay-at-home” parents get any benefit from this. The tax bias for child care claims compared to the very small deduction a single income two parent family gets is already way out of line.
So what exactly IS Alberta waiting for? Would an engraved invitation from W to become the 51st state get the ball rolling?
For the record – I believe equalization should be abolished, the civil service and government “services” cut in half, and the flow of manpower and investment be allowed to move where it is wanted and needed.
Simple? Simple.
Naked Ape:
If Alberta does eventually decide to pack up and leave, it’s not going to happen overnight. Seeing as we just had a provincial election, we’re looking at another 2-3 years before we go to polls again. If the anger against the federal Liberals remains this high until then, you will see a dramatic rise in the popular vote for a party like the Alberta Separatist Party. However, even then, I can’t see them getting more than say, 15-20%, if even that. However, that could be enough to get the ball rolling.
The average Albertan still doesn’t know much about the concept of separatism, and of course, doesn’t really want things to go that far. For myself, I don’t think that our federal system works. I’m still not completely sold on the idea of separatism either. However, I would definitely cast a vote for the ASP just to show my disatisfaction with the federal government.
If Albertans can be shown that there is growing support for separatism, I think that support will then start to grow exponentially. It’s just a matter of selling the fact that it is an actually possibility.
Despite the fact that some of us like aspects of the US system better than the Canadian system, I think it would be a harder sell to get Alberta to want to join the US. The CBC has been somewhat successful in their bid to make us rabid anti-Americans, even in Alberta. So it would be much easier to sell the idea of gaining independence for Alberta, rather than state-hood.
Alberta shouldn’t join the US. Seperating is a chance at a Utopian society, and we all know that the US is not that.
If the separation of any Canadian province were to occur, it will most likely be primarily due to economic necessity rather than political anger. I, as an American, don’t wish this to happen, and I truly believe most other Americans are of the same bent. We don’t need any new states, certainly not any that have primarily developed outside of the American system (hence, unlike Alaska, Hawaii, New Mexico, etc.). Like it or not, Quebec remains the actual linch-pin to Alberta’s future and Canada’s as a whole. Any reliance upon anti-Americanism to maintain a status quo is a fool’s errand.
It’s very difficult to become a U.S. state anyway. It doesn’t just happen. IIRC it takes at least 20 years. There would be no reason to become a state realistically. Your national defense would be provided at no cost under the free rider clause. It’s likely there would be little restriction of movement across the respective borders.
No – Albertans would not join the US, we would be our own happy little counry. Still bigger in land mass than most Eurpoean countries and if BC and Sask came for the ride we would have a relatively decent population base. (If nothing else we don’t want President Hillary Clinton!)
I totally agree with Shabbadoo – the idea is taking hold and it will only take about 20% of the electorate the first time round to give the idea true legitimacy in the minds of many more. Remember this is the heart of “Reform” country who swept the province the first time out … and there have been no reforms … Also if Quebec is in referendum mode the idea will be even stronger out here. Alberta and Quebec have historically been allies – not enemies; vitually all First Ministers conference will show this pattern. We have different issues than Quebec but the central point has always been more independence less Federal government.
National Unity plays very differently in Alberta than MSM has ever understood.
As an American, I’d be more than happy to welcome Alberta as a state, but I don’t think that would be best for Alberta. A new country I think would be the way to go – bring along Sask* if you want, but I think a seperate country would be the ideal.
After things have well settled you can consider statehood.
*If you want to be a state, we have to get Kate. I think that’s in the Constitution.
Tony the Guitar has been strumming his inane tunes on other blogs and I think his character and wisdom can best be summarized by quoting his own words.
“We Canadians are not going to allow Oil men with horses and Quebec men who carve Ice Castles in Ice to throw in any towels.”
And
“The vast majority of misdirected Adscam wealth is still within Canada and not lost offshore.”