I want a new one.
An independent Alberta would control access to its land mass as well as the skies above it, requiring Canada’s federal government to negotiate rights for, say, Vancouver-to-Toronto flights over Alberta airspace. Canada would also need Alberta’s agreement to have trains and trucks cross its now-international borders. Threats of tolls and tariffs could abound as needed to chasten those perceived to be wronging Alberta, whether Quebec, which exports dairy to B.C., grain interests that now commandeer rail to the detriment of Alberta’s oil shippers, or the B.C. ports that depend on commodities going to and from points east. Anyone thinking that Alberta would be unable to police its borders needs to be reminded that, for the past 70 years, Alberta’s patrols have made it the continent’s only rat-free jurisdiction.
They’d only need to police the west side.
Solomon makes a great case, although, as an Easterner, it saddens me.
And let’s face it, the picture of that smirking piece of trash with the article would probably be enough.
“…it saddens me.”
What saddens me is that virtually no one in this Country from the private sector has stood up and pushed back against arseholes like turdo, Notley, Wynee, McGuinty, etc.
Everybody sat back and pissed and moaned and typed away as the Liberals nutted and gutted Ontario. Notley has brought her province to its knees in much less time but downtown Edmonton has yet to be paralyzed by protest and traffic on the TransCanada flows uninterrupted. And nationally, turdo the simpering tit has thrown the Tonka trucks out of his sandbox and plays instead with transgendered barbies….and no one even attempts to galvanize any significant segment of “the right” into the kind of angry protest that the present abysmal situation has long demanded; a situation I might add, which the gutless leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has contributed to by his craven and resolute inactivity.
There are only two choices:
(a) wait it all out in the vain hope that by lucky circumstance a real leader will emerge and hold on to power for the years it will take to remedy things, or
(b) rise up in angry protests, sufficiently large and sustained so that everyone – even our corrupt and co-opted media and our cowardly backbenchers – will wake up and say, “Geez, things are getting really bad – things have to change.”
Recently in a column for the Western Standard, Mark Steyn argued that the socio-political collapse of Europe is imminent, and that Canada — “an honorary member of the EU” — may soon suffer the same fate. I wouldn’t bet against it. As a ship of state, Canada is structurally unsound, sailing aimlessly in a perpetual fog, captained by an endless succession of faux-genteel poseurs, pilferers, con artists and outright crooks. Sooner or later, it is bound to end up on the rocks and founder, and there is nothing we Albertans can do about that. But there is no reason for us to go down with it.
Any naive hope one might have placed in the reconstituted Conservative party has been short-lived. The depressing spectacle of its desperate efforts to avoid doing or saying anything that might upset the welfare mentality of the Maritimes, or provoke the wrath and ridicule of the so-called national media (actually the public voice of the Toronto-Montreal axis), while vainly pandering to the sensibilities of Quebec, simply confirms for the umpteenth time that nothing short of regime change can salvage political decency in Canada as a whole. But there’s no chance of that.
One can hardly blame the Conservatives, for they’ve done the math: two-thirds of the seats in Parliament are at the disposal of voters in Ontario and Quebec, people cowed and corrupted by two generations of degenerative Liberal maternalism and endless streams of self-righteous propaganda. And being politicians, the federal Conservatives wish for success now; they have no stomach for spending years in the wilderness vainly striving to reform the moral posture of that decisive sector of the Canadian electorate. The basic facts determining the distribution of political power will not change, hence the “me, too” character of their public policy positions. And, hence, the practical impossibility of structurally reforming the Canadian regime, wherein the Liberals have every reason to regard themselves as its natural rulers in perpetuity, and so can and do treat the whole country as their fiefdom.
For anyone who understands the political reality of Canada as presently constituted, “The West wants in” is a foolish irrelevance; our slogan should be “the West wants out!” Why stay? Why fritter away our resources to remain in association with eastern provinces so alien to us that demonizing Alberta — portraying it as rustic, benighted, intolerant, selfish — is the Liberals’ most effective electoral strategy (as the recent federal election once again clearly showed).
Why stay? Consider Canada’s position internationally: it has become such a nonentity that there is no advantage in remaining a part of it, and some serious liabilities resulting from the souring of our inescapable relationship with the United States. The federal Liberals have done enough stupid things of late to attract all the wrong kind of attention to Canada. Nor were these merely temporary lapses on their part; the gratuitous, and largely ignorant abuse of the U.S. issues out of a petty, resentful mentality that has been long and deeply cultivated, and is now the permanent mind-set of a majority of eastern Canadians. Simply compare Canada’s standing in the world right now, repeatedly disparaged by its NATO allies for its feeble contribution and despised by the nation it relies on to protect it. Compare this with the status of Australia, a robust, loyal, and active ally of the most powerful nation on earth — and as such, respected by all nations. Were we on our own, would we not be able to have a far more productive and wholesome relationship with America?
Why stay? This is a serious question, and it deserves a serious answer — not vacuous platitudes and emotional rhetoric, but sober, solid, rational analysis addressing the economic, moral, cultural, and political advantages of staying. I do not believe a case for staying can be made. And whatever temporary dislocations would attend separation are negligible compared to what we risk by doing nothing, allowing ourselves to drift further into the morass of contemporary Canada.
Our province, having been a distinct political entity of a hundred years existence, with an established institutional and geographic integrity, our focus must be on achieving independence for Alberta. We should not, that is, become mixed up with some amorphous “Western separatism,” which to succeed would require creating an all-new political entity, a prospect subject to endless practical difficulties. If other provinces similarly opt for independence, that is their business, and we would wish them well. Or, if other provinces, or parts of provinces, should later wish to join an already sovereign and flourishing Alberta, that would be a matter for subsequent negotiation. In the meantime, our personal relationships with friends and family elsewhere in Canada need not be in the least affected by our becoming independent.
We should undertake a move toward independence with a whole-hearted intention of achieving it, not as simply a tactic whereby to get (temporarily) a “better deal” from Ottawa (i.e., get some of our money back, provided as a sop to assuage “western alienation”). What Albertans have to understand is that the present Canadian reality is profoundly prejudicial to the interests of our children and grandchildren — economically, culturally, morally, politically — and that there is no realistic prospect of it ever getting better in their lifetime. Quite the contrary: there is every likelihood that it will only get worse, as Canada goes the degenerating way of Old Europe: stagnant, corrupt, spiritless, impotent.
Independence is not an impossible dream. It would take time and planning. The first step should be enactment of something like the “firewall” agenda: establish our own provincial police, collect our own taxes, take charge of our retirement and health care systems, etc. Equally important would be a sustained effort of public education to get the Alberta populace used to the idea (overcoming anxiety about its consequences, appealing to pride and a sense of enterprise and adventure, detailing ad nauseum the incorrigible moral bankruptcy of Canada as presently constituted and governed). Ultimately, success will depend on the emergence of some committed, shrewd, attractive political leadership. But if the ground is sufficiently prepared, someone of suitable political qualification and ambition will see the opportunity it presents, and seize it. Alberta has produced such leaders in the past, and can again. Build it, and they will come.
The single greatest obstacle to our declaring independence is sentiment. As the whole contemporary world bears witness, sentiment, and emotions, generally, are of massive importance in politics. Hence, rationality in politics depends on people coming to feel what their reason indicates they ought to feel. We ought to feel indignation. But for now, Albertans’ sentimental attachment to Canada remains very strong. A succession of polls have shown that Alberta is the most patriotic province in the country; this is part of our virtue, and we should be proud of it. But we could as easily — and far more justifiably — be proud, patriotic Albertans. For the Canada that Albertans love is partly one of an illustrious but (sadly) bygone history; mainly, however, it’s the Canada we know firsthand, and that is Alberta — truly a distinct society unto itself in the alien context of the New Canada fostered by the political establishment of the central provinces.
We need have no fear of what could be a great adventure: founding a new country. Think of it. Think of the adventure of becoming masters of our own political house. Is this not an enterprise that could engage the spirit of Albertans, young and old? The only real obstacle is in ourselves: our misplaced sentimental attachment, which must and can be transferred from a weak and pacifistic Canada to a sovereign Alberta, strong and free.
LEON HAROLD CRAIG
IS A PROFESSOR EMERITUS
OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA.
This year, Alberta is celebrating a century of existence as part of the Canadian federation of provinces. What better time, then, to take stock of Alberta’s place in this arrangement, of how well it’s been served in the past and what are its prospects for the future? The moment is especially propitious, since the whole country is being treated to a rare public exposure of how corrupt the federal government, historically dominated by a Liberal party centred on Ontario and Quebec, actually — routinely — is.
To be sure, the $250 million of graft involved in the Adscam racket is but a small portion of Alberta’s annual donation to keeping Quebec tenuously tethered to the rest of Canada, barely a week’s contribution of the $12 billion Ottawa sucks out of Alberta every year in “equalization” payments (which the Liberal party then uses to buy votes east of Cornwall), a mere $60 of the almost $3,000 that every man, woman and child in Alberta pays per year for the privilege of remaining in a federation governed for the benefit of Ontario, Quebec and cronies of the Liberal Party of Canada. Kept here, that same money would provide every family of four a $35,000 car every three years. I’d rather have the car.
Better still, use the $12 billion to reduce the taxes on Alberta’s citizens and businesses by that amount; let people spend their earnings as they please, and transform Alberta, already the most vibrant part of Canada, into the most attractive economic environment in all of North America. True, the population would double within 10 years, but Alberta is a big place, of almost unlimited potential. However, to realize that potential, we have to do one small thing: Declare our independence — withdraw from the Canadian federation, become an independent commonwealth with our own sovereign government, directly answerable to no one but the people of Alberta.
The political reality Albertans need to face is that the sponsorship scandal is not an aberration, but the epitome of the Liberal party’s secret of perpetual success; it is its norm, and unusual only in the combination of brazenness and clumsiness that allowed it to come to the public’s attention. However, it is the reaction of that public that reveals the depth of Canada’s sickness. For as is now clear to even the meanest intelligence, the problem is not merely one of an arrogant, cynical ruling party that uses every unscrupulous and several criminal means to maintain its grip on power; nor that the bloated federal bureaucracies are thoroughly politicized, led by careerists who understand their self-interests to be wedded to Liberal party fortunes; nor that something similar is increasingly true of both the national police and the military establishments; nor that the opposition parties offer no credible alternative (as has become painfully obvious). All that is true, but what makes Canada’s political sickness practically incurable is that a substantial majority of the citizens east of Thunder Bay are essentially debased.
Like many hard truths people would prefer not to face, this bears repeating: a majority of eastern Canadians are not worthy of their civic heritage, as is shown by their passive acceptance of the revelations of the Gomery commission and their casual indifference to the Liberals’ squalid shenanigans in Parliament. Doubtless many Albertans naively presumed that the vast majority of eastern Canadians would be thoroughly disgusted by Liberal party hacks skimming and outright looting public money under the guise of promoting national unity. Or at the very least, that they would ashamed to admit to pollsters that they would still vote for a party led by people who should be in jail.
But obviously they are not. Thoroughly propagandized in the fantasy that Canada is the greatest country on earth, they are too cowardly to admit the fact that it’s become a third-rate nation, a disgrace to its own history and traditions, and is governed like a banana republic. And so they haven’t the gumption to throw the rascals out. If ever there was a people that got the government it deserved, Canada is the place. But it doesn’t have to include us: we are not like them, and have no wish to become like them.
An independent Alberta would be every bit as politically and economically viable as Norway, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand and several other advanced countries of comparable population (but of far less natural resources). Begin with the economical considerations, which fall into two broad categories.
First, what is the cost of remaining within the present Confederation? The costs are very high. And what is the money we pay for the privilege actually being used for (besides Adscam and other Quebec payola)? Gun registry, bilingualism, aboriginal affairs mismanagement, the Kyoto scam, etc. In the short run, the savings in transfer payments — to say nothing of the enormous expense of supporting another whole level of unnecessary government — could be used to defray the costs of our transition to independence. But shortly thereafter, the saving applied to tax reduction would make Alberta the most economically attractive locale in all of North America.
This bears directly on the second set of considerations, the viability of an independent Alberta. Professional economists have repeatedly shown that it would flourish, which our being able to offer the most attractive tax regime in North America would only further enhance. Even now north-south trade is as important to the Alberta economy as east-west trade. Among other consequences, our population would increase dramatically within the first decade, as disaffected Canadians of enterprise and sensible social views moved here, replacing several times over the incorrigible Liberals sentimentally attached to Canadian Welfare Nannyism — who (one hopes) would move to Ontario, where they would feel right at home. You can’t beat that: a perfect “win-win” outcome.
However, the economic benefits would not be the most significant advantage of independence. Far more important is the fact that we would gain effective control over the social and political culture in which we live our daily lives. We would no longer be subject to the dictates of Liberal appointees to the Supreme Court of Canada pursuing a political agenda Albertans would reject were they given the chance to vote on it. Instead, as what could then be a genuine democracy, the laws and policies of a sovereign Alberta government would reflect the views of the people who live here — on crime and punishment, on marriage and other family matters, on environmental protection, on religious freedom, on wildlife management, on firearm regulation, on narcotics, on immigration, on relations with the U.S. — all without regard for whatever “higher enlightenment” happens to be in fashion among Toronto’s pontificating class and the mandarins of Ottawa.
We can establish a social environment that will nurture the qualities of character that we naturally admire — self-reliance, enterprise, honesty, fairness, attachment to liberty, loyalty to friends — and thus belong to a country we can be justifiably proud of, one that is tolerant but principled, that actually stands for something positive, governed by one primary concern: the common good of Alberta. That is, our legislators, in framing laws and policies, would no longer be saddled with the necessity of keeping one eye on the feds, on their use of our money and absurd Charter interpretations to manipulate our affairs. We could leave the problems of Canadian federalism and its endemic corruption behind us, once and for all.
Whereas, if we remain subject to the decadent cultural and moral influence of central Canada for another generation, we will ourselves become increasingly infected with the qualities that since the Trudeau era have come to define Canadian “national” character — sanctimonious, resentful, whining, spiteful, hypocritical, preening, cowardly, feckless, weak. Some basis for pride. And what a contrast to the Canadian character of the preceding century, now sadly forgotten and even mocked by a majority of the population elsewhere in the country.
Let’s get while the gettin’s good
By Leon Harold Craig (Distributed courtesy of the TruckSpeaker)
I am absolutely in Line with the sentiments you have described Professor Craig. I will also include the Maritime Province(s) evne if this sadly included Newfoundland & Labradour. I have always felt these wonderful Persons will remain self-sufficient for a while longer, but not another generation of Liberal brokerage politics.
As a possible solution is recognition Ontario is really not Ontarario of the Gimby pied piper of old. The Ontarario does not include Northern Ontario. The Ontario north, except when the franco Ontarians are not seeking to have their children become employed in Ontario will tend to support the N.D.P.
However the existence north of Sudbury is demanding enough to raise children who must be self-sufficient. The wise Ontario north also recognize their bi-lingual children will rarely rise above a cubicle denizen level. The Quebec Liberal Party of Canada and their seldom acknowledged political party as the First among all liberal party__ Branches__ in other Provinces.
The Ontario North existing separatist party will surely examine any effort to become part of Manitoba. Will the Cree across the present Quebec province actually want to stay with the Nous Quebec when the process of dismantling becomes the focus? My guess is no. The Continent of Canadian Values can remain ocean to ocean to ocean through Ontario north and Cree lands to Labradour.
One can also be comfortable with bringing a large part of Ontario South and the Lake Huron; Niagara Peninsula west to Windsor with the segments desirous of the Toronto/London Cabal removed. Premier Doug Ford is fighting the very difficult task of resurrecting Ontario’s former self-sufficiency of the above two Cities; but the reality of remaining in such a manner after Doug Ford is questionable. A dedicated effort to bring the Niagara Peninsula and South Central Ontario into a different/replaced Ontario.
to join with
Moving West Professor Craig; one needs to address British Columbia and the bulk of this province’s population. How will they fit a new configuration for Canadian self-sufficiency? A suggestion should includ the American call of “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”. Only in reverse. The new Canada’s borders would actually leave Vancouver/Victoria and Coast plus Islands; to join with Washington and Oregon. The fit is natural. Prince Rupert North brings British Columbia North as {part?} of Alberta North or whatever?
Is there more to discuss and learn? Absolutely! However let’s start a dialogue; as you have stated ___ It is Time__ Cheers; Mike Sr.
one needs to address British Columbia and the bulk of this province’s population. How will they fit a new configuration for Canadian self-sufficiency?
As I’ve mentioned numerous times on SDA, I travel frequently to NE B. C. while I’m settling my father’s estate. That region has more in common with Alberta than Lotusland. I’m sure that if Alberta were to withdraw from Confederation, that part of B. C. would ask to be included.
Hongcouver doesn’t care about the Peace River region, even though it provides Lotusland with power and natural gas. The only time LL pays attention to NE B. C. is when there’s an election.
Well said, and thank you.
The strength of Western separation is having Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba work together! Justin Trudeau”s policies are ruining Canada!
Unfortunately this has to be said ! Representation by population has left the West out! A true Bicameral system where there would be an elected Senate to control the House of Commons ( might work).But this idea failed when Prime Minister Harper tried!
I find it counter productive to suggest Alberta go on it’s own, and in my opinion we have a Leader to lead us Brad Wall !
I disagree. There is only one choice. (B).
“I disagree. There is only one choice. (B).”
Then, we agree.
The choice is (B) for sure, nothing else will work in this dystopian dominion.
The only question is, how long can we wait?
I am absolutely in Line with the sentiments you have described Professor Craig. I will also include the Maritime Province(s) evne if this sadly included Newfoundland & Labradour. I have always felt these wonderful Persons will remain self-sufficient for a while longer, but not another generation of Liberal brokerage politics.
As a possible solution is recognition Ontario is really not Ontarario of the Gimby pied piper of old. The Ontarario does not include Northern Ontario. The Ontario north, except when the franco Ontarians are not seeking to have their children become employed in Ontario will tend to support the N.D.P.
However the existence north of Sudbury is demanding enough to raise children who must be self-sufficient. The wise Ontario north also recognize their bi-lingual children will rarely rise above a cubicle denizen level. The Quebec Liberal Party of Canada and their seldom acknowledged political party as the First among all liberal party__ Branches__ in other Provinces.
The Ontario North existing separatist party will surely examine any effort to become part of Manitoba. Will the Cree across the present Quebec province actually want to stay with the Nous Quebec when the process of dismantling becomes the focus? My guess is no. The Continent of Canadian Values can remain ocean to ocean to ocean through Ontario north and Cree lands to Labradour.
One can also be comfortable with bringing a large part of Ontario South and the Lake Huron; Niagara Peninsula west to Windsor with the segments desirous of the Toronto/London Cabal removed. Premier Doug Ford is fighting the very difficult task of resurrecting Ontario’s former self-sufficiency of the above two Cities; but the reality of remaining in such a manner after Doug Ford is questionable. A dedicated effort to bring the Niagara Peninsula and South Central Ontario into a different/replaced Ontario.
to join with
Moving West Professor Craig; one needs to address British Columbia and the bulk of this province’s population. How will they fit a new configuration for Canadian self-sufficiency? A suggestion should includ the American call of “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight”. Only in reverse. The new Canada’s borders would actually leave Vancouver/Victoria and Coast plus Islands; to join with Washington and Oregon. The fit is natural. Prince Rupert North brings British Columbia North as {part?} of Alberta North or whatever?
Is there more to discuss and learn? Absolutely! However let’s start a dialogue; as you have stated ___ It is Time__ Cheers; Mike Sr.
Canada more or less worked up until PET. He began centralizing all power into Ottawa and began forcing his plan on western Canada, more and more. His Constitution scam was the icing on the cake. Forced Bilingualism, forced UN Multicult, ever expanding control of very weak Premiers. Forced Equalization basically a pure Communism, and all the weak Premiers agreed with the Communism, Now the country is broke. Canada no longer works for Alberta. It is demonized constantly because of its oil resources. Imagine a country demonizing a natural blessing and punishing those people for being blessed with a great natural resource. The fake Trudeau Constitution was never allowed to be accepted or rejected by legal voting age Canadian Men or Women of Canada. Nothing important in Canada was ever accepted or rejected by Canadians because they have never had a voice in the long history of Canada. Liberals picked the flag. Not Canadians in a free and open vote. Liberals picked the Constitution and every thing in it, not Canadians. No Canada does not work. Canada has less people than California and around 6 Trillion in total public debt now. That is more debt than almost all the EU. combined, Italy, Greece, Spain, etc all added up is less than Canada’s debt. Where was all that money spent. Alberta is demonized as the worst polluter in Canada yet Quebec Hydro Dams are far worse. Even worse all the media is State Owned. Canada has become Cuba North under the Trudeau’s and Quebec’s uneven control of the rest of the country. We do not even have 1 equal vote for each man and woman in Canada. PEI only has the population of a small town yet with the crooked system reaps huge benefits through selling influence. You want their vote you have to grease them. And Alberta has to supply the grease. Alberta could have had a Heritage fund of close to 1 Trillion dollars now but all the money is taxed away through various scams like Equalization and handed to Quebec and points east to buy votes for the ruling class in Ottawa. Until Alberta shows some muscle and exercises its power it will not change. Alberta needs to shut rail traffic east and west, blockade the highways east and west, with truck inspections etc, quit buying anything from BC or east of Manitoba, Send an envoy to Trump to consider accepting Alberta as a state, start kicking ass and taking names. Canada is supposed to be and is a Confederation of Sovereign States, not subservient to Ottawa an equal. That is what the BNA says. The SCOC has no say in this, but under international law, Alberta can declare a UDI, this is what Kosovo did and it is legal. Alberta does not have to go through an elaborate extortion scam like Quebec, in endless referendums. Alberta could have its own Constitution Limiting the power of Ottawa under the BNA section 45 but like all Canadian Provinces chose not to do that, in fact I wrote many letters to Prime Minister Ralph Klein suggesting he do just that, but he was far gone by that time. Yes I called him Prime Minister, deliberately, because that is what historically they are Prime Ministers, not the French Premier, slight of hand to brainwash the people into believing that Ottawa is superior. Edmonton should draw up the papers for a UDI and submit them to Ottawa. Canada no longer works for anybody even those robbing the rest of the country west of Ontario. http://www.truckspeaker.com/index_files/Page608.html
As a nearly life long Alberta Separatist I tend to disagree with you when you say that Canada basically worked up until PET. I don’t believe ‘Canada’ ever worked. I think that Canada has always been Southern Ontario and anything outside of Southern Ontario is simply there to support Southern Ontario. Kind of an economic empire with the ‘realms’ providing markets and goods to keep Southern Ontario in the lifestyle to which they have become comfortable. It didn’t matter if it was tariffs or the wheat board or the lack of funding for Alberta oil it was all to benefit Southern Ontario. I had my eyes opened when I was a teenager and went to Ontario for six weeks and found out that as a proud Canadian from Alberta I was not welcome because I was an Albertan and not really a Canadian at all. My son used to laugh at my rants about Southern Ontario until he spent a summer there and discovered exactly the same sentiment.
I was not welcome because I was an Albertan and not really a Canadian at all
That’s the attitude I got from most Lotuslanders when I moved to Vancouver to start grad studies at UBC nearly 40 years ago. They thought that I was some unsophisticated backwoods hick who just fell off the back of the turnip truck because I was a conservative.
When I started a new job in Saskatchewan in the early 1980s, I was made to feel the other way around. They thought I was a snob, being from Alberta. Most of the Stooners I met were the hillbillies and proud of it.
Being an Albertan back then didn’t win me too many friends.
Well actually you are right. Even during the Great Depression. Albertans did not receive 10 cents from Ottawa. Because Alberta would not bow down to Ottawa’s demands. Albertans were forced to face all those years of the Great Depression alone. Every other Province and Jurisdiction received aid except Alberta. And when they Marched on Ottawa, they were faced with the RCMP in the streets of Winnipeg and shot down. Just like in Czarist Russia. Hungry men with no work and no help from the Ottawa B*stards, attacked and shot for daring to ride the rods and empty boxcars to tell Ottawa their families were starving. In Alberta’s hour of great need they received truncheons, jail and bullets from the RCMP. in Winnipeg that day. And I also rec’d ignorance and contempt, when we travelled to Ontario to visit the wife’s family. It was an election year, and Preston Manning was hyping his BS, The West Wants In. I went outside the restaurant and bar for a smoke, and was beset by an arrogant POS, because I was wearing my cowboy hat. I was a rancher from Alberta. He proceeded to tell me how Ontario and Quebec run the show, and how I just needed to learn to accept that, a true eastern pompous ass Liberal. Yah so I agree I was wrong. From that day forth I was a Separatist. But I dislike that word, I always believed in Freedom and Liberty and prefer Alberta Patriot, and Independence. A Free Man in a Free Alberta.
Louis Riel was smarter than many and saw the problem of Eastern control years ahead of the rest of us. The real question now is if there is enough political will in Canada to fight another uprising. In 1885 it was easy for the Rocking Chair Rangers (aka the Royal Canadian Regiment) to bring their Gatling guns to bear on civilians with buffalo rifles but is it the same today?
Watcher,please use some white spaces,your posts are almost unreadable.
Why You, you. OK I will try to remember getting old and out of school many many years my grammar teacher would have my knuckles raw if she saw me now. ha ha ha. You must have had more beatings than me because they turned you into a dreaded Grammar Nazi….Now go hold an egg in your mouth and don’t talk.
Watcher, Don’t be ignorant.You make some good comments,but when you jam ten paragraphs into one long messy screed, your message is lost.
It has nothing to do with grammar, but readability, if you want you message to be read, print it with spaces between each paragraph,then you’ll have some hope we can figure out what you’re trying to say.
And don’t bother with puerile insults, anyone who does that on the internet won’t be taken seriously anyway.
I hope Saskatchewan leaves too. The dictator hates us as much as he hates Alberta. And believe me the feeling is mutual.
If Alberta separates then Saskatchewan has a better bargaining position in Canada because Ottawa knows that Alberta and Saskatchewan have more in common with each other than with the rest of Canada. Losing Alberta and Saskatchewan is a big chunk of Canada gone. I doubt BC would stay in Canada very long once it’s geographically isolated from the rest of Canada. BC is rich enough to go it alone, too.
Silver lining: the remaining Canadian provinces can wrap themselves in the warm, fuzzy feeling of a having carbon tax that saved the world from climate change and the moral purity of importing middle eastern oil and not receiving any dirty oil sands revenues.
Ok, Ok Don I apologize.
There would not be much point for Saskatchewan to stay in Canaduh, because then they would have to supply oil to the rest of Canada. They would have even less power than Alberta does now. Also, the population is Alberta is probably 30% born in Saskatchewan if not more, so we are a natural fit. Saskaberta also did not sign the UN Compact on Migration, so we could be merit-based in immigration matters. This would stop the Liberal plan to overwhelm the existing population with refugees from the worst places on the planet. However, time is of the essence.
“Alberta’s patrols have made it the continent’s only rat-free jurisdiction.”
Technically that’s not true, otherwise you wouldn’t have an NDP government.
Make
Alberta
Great
Again!
2019.
I am shocked that western and Quebec separatism aren’t rising due to our Dear Leader Justin of Papineau’s division of Canadians.
I lived in Edmonton while Ralph was smartly reshaping Alberta nearly 25 years ago. Not sure how they got Rachel nowadays…
Alberta needs to separate. Countless eastern PMs have savaged Alberta and denied its citizens for far too long now. It’s up to Alberta to make the move for a sovereign and distinct nation serving its own interests and prosperity. I would also deport some recently arrived immigrants. To revive the oil sector will be key. Alberta dies a little more daily under Trudeau.
How did it happen? As explained to me by a leftist 25 years ago (who thought I was on his side), it was useless to push the NDP. Instead infiltrate the conservatives. Push leftist policies. That is how Klein was ousted and paved the way for Fascist Eddie and Allison the Red. Once the left started undoing what Klein accomplished and began the corruption and downward slide, it was easy for the left – aided and abetted by a union controlled media – to get the dippers elected.
The damage has been done. It will take years to undo it and chances are slim it will happen. Internally and externally, we have been turned into a metaphorical abused spouse with no means to get out of the toxic relationship.
A national government led by a ‘man’ who loathes huge swaths of the country should be the tipping point for The Alberta Free Nation, but I believe PM POS needs, and will get, another term to finally push the spine of the nation out.
It will be his legacy, The End of Canada, and he will rightfully take his share of the blame in the history books; at least those written by people who love liberty.
Neo-Marxist Canada is here, get out while you can. Most of the eastern bastards deserve to freeze. They are selfish, thieving scum.
And, if fate lets me, in not so many years I’ll flee and bring my wealth and retire in The Alberta Free Nation.
Most of the eastern bastards deserve to freeze. They are selfish, thieving scum.
So is Lotusland. Personally, I think NE B. C. should throw the switch at its Peace River dams and cut off the power to Hongcouver. Then, it should shut down the compressor stations along the pipeline that starts somewhere around Fort Nelson.
The problem is the climate’s so mild there that the commies, hippies, and granola-munchers who live there won’t freeze. Then again, lots of them would be completely zonked out of their gourds that they wouldn’t notice.
If Alberta separates, it could also take NE B. C. with it. The Peace River region has more in common with Edmonton than it does with Lotusland. In fact, that was discussed a few times in the past, even as far back to when I was in high school nearly 50 years ago. But that’s as far as it went.
Lotusland loves its natural gas and electricity from that part of the province, but, other than that, it sees the NE corner as hillbilly country. The problem is that there are enough Lotusland sympathizers there to make independence with Alberta unfeasible.
Alberta should have said no to joining Canada in 1905 and become a new country then. Imagine what we’d be today. Moving here is one of the best things I ever did.
We need a legal right- of- way to tidewater, or join the United States as long as it doesn’t go full blown Communist.
The smirk on that piece of trash of a fruitcake ………is enough.
Dear Alberta
Take your friends in the Kootenays too!
The west wants out!
Where does the Okanagan sit on this issue? I heard they are usually pretty conservative. And full of expat Albertans.
Becoming more leftist all the time.
It is controlled more and more by the unions. Kelowna General Hospital is a major employer, plus all the spin-off businesses who are dependant on that Mothership. The #23 School District is union based there with all the unionist teachers and support staff. UBCO is left leaning and spinning out the Marxist at a regular rate. (One of the Profs was a heavy Dipper who taught my son – UNBELIEVABLE how much influence he had over his students and a major anti-pipeline crusader).
I hope no one thinks that some Canadian provinces could join the US. No one in the US wants them, none of them. All Canadian political parties are leftist, and even one Canadian province would cede control of the US Senate to the loony left forever.
You’re on your own, whatever you do.
PS. We don’t want leftist immigrants either, so stay home and fight it out on Canadian turf.
It could apply as a territory.
Remember Alaska was a territory for a long time before it became a state.
Biggest difference is territory residents are’nt US citizens.
“Biggest difference is territory residents are’nt US citizens.”
Yes they are. They don’t get to have Senators or voting Congressmen or vote for president.
If they can’t vote then how are they citizens. They do get non-revocable US passports.
I am now for Alberta separating. But I would not want to be part of the US. The looney tunes on the US east and west coast are not for me. Even Rachel Nutbrain Notley is not as left as Octavio-Cortez.
Solutions should be market based IMO. Instead of griping about control from the East, the West should be griping about control from the South. At the end of the day it is Houston which dictates what happens in the Oil Patch, not Canadian jurisdictions. It is in their interest to keep the Oil Patch landlocked using conduits controlled by them, thereby ensuring a cheap supply for their refineries. If crude oil economics dictates that it can be shipped by rail, surely an Alberta refined oil product can be economic to ship by rail also. Direct to market by rail, bypassing Houston. This is the real threat the Oil Sands represents, and which is why we are arguing about (Houston derived) solutions that never really address the core issues and keep the major US players in control of pricing.
Build it and they will come.
On the menu, a couple of nuclear reactors, and refineries, with shipment by rail direct to US markets through their existing gasoline pipeline system ( Yes, there is a vast network of regional gasoline pipelines for car and aviation) already in place.
Watch the Houston funded opposition come crawling out of the woodwork to tell you this is economically insane. I counter with this tidbit of information from here https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=MT
From the webpage… “Montana has four operating oil refineries with a combined crude oil processing capacity of about 205,000 barrels per day. Three refineries are in the Billings area, and one is in Great Falls. Those refineries receive crude oil mainly from Canada and Wyoming and produce a wide range of refined products, including motor gasoline, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels, aviation fuels, butane, propane, petroleum coke, and asphalt.”
If they can build refineries in Montana to refine Oil Sands crude, why can’t Alberta do the same. The question not being asked.
Your comment is economically illiterate. Oil of a given grade delivered to Houston receives the same price , regardless of origin. “ Houston “ does not get any break on oil sands oil. The price discount is due to the transport bottleneck. And the refiners do not own the pipelines. In short, “ Houston “ derives no special benefit from the landlocked crude. You might have noticed, the key to cheaper transport, keystone xl , was held up by Obama, no one else. As far as major US players controlling pricing, if they are so powerful, why couldn’t they stop fracking? Gas price drop in the US was due strictly by increasing supply. No doubt those major players would have preferred keeping the price around $4 US per gallon, but they couldn’t.
“If they can build refineries in Montana to refine Oil Sands crude, why can’t Alberta do the same. The question not being asked.”
The question is repeatedly asked and answered. Landlocked gasoline is as problematic as landlocked crude but a lot more dangerous to transport. If it were economic to refine oil surplus to Alberta’s needs, someone would have already done it.
..It is in their interest to keep the Oil Patch landlocked using conduits controlled by them, thereby ensuring a cheap supply for their refineries….
AGREED. As shown clearly by Vivian’s investigations. Every US Trust fund invested in Oil and those invested in Rail are the CLEAR beneficiarys in this and in most cases the source of funding for the various ENGO’s in trashing our product – strangling our access. CRIMES in my opinion that were never even considered by our Eastern masters.
However, a FREE and Separate Alberta, particularly if joined with Sask and Mb….we could concievably ship our product world wide, build & Refine locally while Generating Electricity via Nuclear means…Long long overdue.
Whomever will start this process of “ADIOS MFo’s”….let me know, am retired, have the time and energy to invest in a FREE Alberta.
IMHO, if the Grits/Trudeau win another term to continue/accelerate their trapping/fire sale of Alberta crude, to “leave it the ground,” while simultaneously forcing Western Canadians, including BC who is getting a bellyful of Dipper/Green socialism, to bankroll eastern Canadian bribery for votes and pay for statist largesse at their expense, this country will break up.
The only question is how Newfoundland will figure a way to get out of our fatally injured federation.
It’s ironic that Alberta woild have better leverage with Ottawa by being outside of Canada. Without being hobbled by federal equalization, taxes, regulations and court rulings the ball and chain of asymmetrical confederation would be removed. Not just from energy but also agriculture.
No more egg and dairy marketing boards. No more made in Ottawa regulatory barriers. The opportunity to negotiate its own trade deals. Significantly lower energy prices, lower income/corporate taxes and a shorter, more transparent permitting process would spur investment and higher per capita income. Alberta’s was already the highest in Canada and one of the highest in the world at over $59,000, which was between Norway and Switzerland in 2016. The Canadian average was quite a few pegs down at about $42,000 (conference board of Canada). Alberta is also the highest per capita contributor to the federal treasury in Ottawa and gets the least per capita transfers from Ottawa. All that money currently going to Ottawa would stay in Alberta.
More money, more freedom, less abusive bullshit — what’s the incentive to stay in Canada? Learn from the errors of Brexit though. Make a cleaner , quicker break.
Shorter summary : Alberta separatist’s job would be to show how much better off financially Alberta would be without Canada and the numbers on that are pretty convincing. Ottawa federalists would have the unenviable task of convincing Albertans that being treated like a piggy bank, pariahs and second class citizens by the rest of Canada has some mysterious advantages.
I’m not sure appeals to sentimental nostalgia will be enough to prevent separation and Quebec (Ottawa’s true master) will never allow any of the concessions needed to keep Alberta in Canada.
I am an Ontarian, and I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you decided to separate. I think maybe it’s time for Canada to all come apart. Ontario certainly has it’s own challenges as well, but nothing is going to be fixed with the way we do business now.
Tristan Hopper wrote a piece in The National Post outlying all the reasons Alberta can’t separate.
I wrote a point by point rebuttal for Poletical.
Looks like Lawrence read it.
http://www.poletical.com/alberta-separatism.php
And when we go, it would be nice to have the Peace country in BC and a strip to Kitimat and Prince Rupert. Those could be very bust ports. Give the Indians there a million apiece to buy it outright. That would only be a few $billion. That’s a lot of beer and pickups.
The First Nations in the Kitimat area are very on side with the new ($40 billion!) natural gas shipment facility being built, they are stake holders in at least one of the facilities, with an ongoing agreement of future employment with the multi corporate overseers of this. I doubt they need “beer and pickups” given to them, and I think this agreement was contingent upon them having employment guarantees in place.
There’s a lot more wealth in having earned your own beer and pickup, than having these given…
(I’m certain you know this, just wanted to point it out, and not trying to give you a hard time over it…).
https://canada.chevron.com/our-businesses/kitimat-lng-project. (one example).
I’m in complete agreement with you on the strip of dedicated access to Kitimat / Prince Rupert. Makes more sense to have pipelines, highway, a train? that can be accessed in 1 corridor in a hurry if there is a leak or spill.
Sure it’s expensive, easily expensed when the eastern flow of billions subsides.
The minute Bay Street realize that they might lose their cash cow, there will be Canadian troops in the streets of Ednonton using live ammunition on the Albertan “rebels.”
The UK was only spared similar treatment because Britain has atomic weapons. Alberta doesn’t.
Letting Alberta walk away would remove whatever ability Ottawa still had to pay its debts. The Canadian dollar would go to zero, wiping out the mortgage debt of all Camadians.
Do you really think our masters will let their white debt- and tax-slaves escape alive? Any of us? No. Either we fight them togather, or we’ll be hauled off to the slaughterhouse together.
I call BS on Canadian Troops in Edmonton. Canada only has 5000 combat ready troops at any given time. That would be the biggest mistake Ottawa ever made. Alberta should declare a UDI and not even go the route of the SCOC or referendums like Quebec. Ignore Ottawa and the SCOC, and say we vote for Liberty, Freedom and Independence. Let the Ottawa Czars stroke. Bunch of inbred POS anyway.
I suspect the troops in Alberta would come onside quickly. Are they really going to shoot their brothers and cousins to keep them enslaved?
I was in the CAF during the PET depression Alberta suffered through. As a junior officer I would sometimes overhear the senior officers discussing politics etc. During one such evening I was listening in on the base commander as the topic of what would happen if the PM gave the order to impose martial law in Alberta. The commanders response was he would order his troops to stand down. I suspect the CAF may not be a reliable weapon in the hands of Jr.
Count me in.
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba united and separate would be great. Ontario north of the French/Mattawa might want in too, as well as the few sane parts of BC left.
Canada was only created to go against 1800’s United States expansionism “Manifest Destiny”. Looking back, another mistake by Canadian politicians.
Canada as a useful entity has run out, time to write up the divorce papers and get on with it.
“Canada as a useful entity has run out, time to write up the divorce papers and get on with it.”
TBF this is just as true of America. And Spain for that matter. Large conglomerate-states aren’t working out.
Fuck me UnMe, we actually agree on something! Personally I believe any state with more than about 8million people is basically an empire…
Ironic that it always seems to be someone from Quebec who is working ate destroying Canada.
According to Trudeau Canada is now a post national state with no cultural values.
Be still, my thumping patriotic heart!
If Trudeau’s post national nonsense is true then the debate becomes simply a matter of economics.
..It is in their interest to keep the Oil Patch landlocked using conduits controlled by them, thereby ensuring a cheap supply for their refineries….
AGREED. As shown clearly by Vivian’s investigations. Every US Trust fund invested in Oil and those invested in Rail are the CLEAR beneficiarys in this and in most cases the source of funding for the various ENGO’s in trashing our product – strangling our access. CRIMES in my opinion that were never even considered by our Eastern masters.
However, a FREE and Separate Alberta, particularly if joined with Sask and Mb….we could concievably ship our product world wide, build & Refine locally while Generating Electricity via Nuclear means…Long long overdue.
Whomever will start this process of “ADIOS MoFo’s”….? let me know, am retired, have the time and wiill INVEST ALL my energy in a FREE Alberta.
Short of separation, Alberta (and Saskatchewan and Manitoba) should do everything it can to push the feds out of their jurisdiction. The provinces, like Quebec, could take over the collection of GST and remit it (or not) to Ottawa. Quebec is pushing to collect ALL taxes by the provincial government and then remitting (or not) to Ottawa. The prairie provinces should push this model as well. The provinces should also impose their own immigration standards….like Quebec. Get rid of the RCMP and set up either a provincial or a prairie regional police force which would report to provincial governments rather than some ideological morons in Ottawa. Set up our own pension plans (like Quebec). It other words, push the feds the hell out. And ignore them at every turn when possible. And start doing it….NOW!
Great idea. For what it is worth I am going to write my fake conservative Premier Pallister here in MB and tell him no more go along to get along. We have to do whatever it takes to distance ourselves as far as possible from the hunk of crap Trudeau and his kind.
This present government is dividing the country like no other. We have the country being “run” by some un-elected agenda driven brain “trust”. We are represented by the front man named Trudeau who hasn’t really grown up, he didn’t have to, who doesn’t have the smarts to figure out what is really good for the country and what isn’t. He’s programed , he delivers the poop fed to him, when he attempts to answer questions he stammers and makes really dumb statements. Just ask the construction workers!
I’d be swell of President Donald J. Trump to recognize Western Canada / Canada West as an independent country upon the declaration. That’d put to rest any thought of the imbeciles in Ottawa raising the alarm with the Canadian Army base in Edmonton. They’d stand down, yet at the ready, immediately.
The SCOAMF in Ottawa, would have nada.
Actually, he may just announce it here: https://twitter.com/POTUS
Battered voter syndrome…
https://youtu.be/tNMPvFZctIA?t=4
I would like to invite all to check out my blog at
https://thepoliteseparatist.com/
In particular, you might want to read this
https://thepoliteseparatist.com/a-better-way/
Solomon is so dumb and awful that he can actually make an independent Alberta look bad. No thanks, not interested in living in a walled-off square. There should be borders, and they should be open.
In any event this is all pointless wankery. I’d love Alberta to separate; would also love a unicorn.
Sooooo… Why is that impossible? It was done in Ireland, and Czechoslovakia, and South Sudan, and almost in Quebec. Open borders are fine. But massive tarrifs on Canadian goods passing through. Call it the Eastern Laurentian douchebag tax.
It’s not going to happen because Albertans are just not interested. They should be but they’re not.
” But massive tarrifs on Canadian goods passing through. Call it the Eastern Laurentian douchebag tax.”
Feel free to pay them yourself.
A new country could learn some lessons from Ireland and remember some old ones, the celtic tiger plus the Alberta Advantage. Have low income and corporate tax rates, cheap energy and stop smothering the bold entrepreneurial spirit of prairie people.
In all my years, 75, I have never heard anyone belittle or verbally put down an Albertan. We are all Canadians and we hang together or hang separately. You have and are suffering the same thing I have seen in Ontario, our major cities due to government union employee and their indoctrination of our students had all become cesspools of Liberals and lefties like yours are. Until Doug Ford got Ontarians to see the light.
This was released today and may spell the end of our energy industry as we still have no way to ship our oil to foreign markets while the US has this new, massive oil field 7 times the size of the Bakken oil field and could supply the world. Trudeau and Butts have, as they stated in 2017, along with all the shits Vivian Krause exposed, successfully shut down the West’s energy industry and the leader of Quebec yesterday reiterated no Eastern Pipeline will go through Quebec.
Maybe it will take a few thousand “yellow vests” marching in our cities to tell these Laurentian Elites that we are sick of their taxes and arrogance. Media sources like TheRebel.media have over a million members and Ezra can mobilize us to protest and hit the Liberals with cutting out their money source as Macron folded when challenged.
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2018/12/07/largest-oil-and-gas-reserves-ever-assessed-found-in-west-texas/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=daily&utm_content=links&utm_campaign=20181207
Here’s some trivia : if Alberta and Saskatchewan separated and formed a new country, it would be bigger than the combined area of Germany, France and the UK. And bigger than Ontario. (Wiki)
The GDP per capita of Alberta alone and a combined AL-Sask is higher than every OECD country except Luxembourg and Norway.
A separate country would be big, wealthy and rich in natural resources (oil, natgas, uranuim, grain, oilseeds, livestock, potash, lumber, legumes, maybe even diamonds etc.) to export.
Solomon is just…cringe at this point. I cannot believe the FP actually lets this guy write his fanfics in their pages. And that’s what Solomon’s writing is when it’s not just scientifically illiterate lies: fanfic. He was seriously forecasting expanded GOp control of Congress several months after Trump was inaugurated and hated by most of the country. He’s one of these idiots who seriously believes Trump is ‘successful’ and popular as President. He’s also one of these idiots that believes trade deficits exist.
Albertans need to clean their own house. Never mind what this area or that wants or has to say. Fix the goal the one goal in every Alberta man and woman’s and child’s head. Freedom, Liberty and Independence. Then start working towards that goal. Use the existing BNA division of powers to drive out the Feds in every Provincial Jurisdiction inside Alberta. If Sask. wants in later fine, or Northern BC fine or Manitoba fine. But first lay the cornerstone and take your stand Alberta. Get up off your knees and stand up straight and fight back. If it means yellow vests in Edmonton every day do so. If Nutley won’t listen drive her out. Blocade the Ledge until they get out. And accept no namby pamby wishy washy sops from Ottawa. Have 3 Basic Demands. Freedom, Liberty and Independence. Accept no less. “A Slave is a man who waits on another to set him Free.” Get up of your knees and do it. You do not need anyone’s blessing or permission. And do it Peacefully if they have the good sense to let you.
Ah, separatism – the knee-jerk reaction of all political crybabies.
Rave on, folks. I don’t doubt you’ll all feel better once you’ve got it off your chests.
Must be a lot of crybabies on here then as so far yours is the only comment that likes to take it dry, the rest are fed up.
I think it might be time for SDA to sponsor a poll to get the lay of the land. There could be a possibility of a preference cascade about to happen. If you are interested Kate, might I suggest the following for a frame work. Please feel free to edit as you wish.
Given the political and economic fallout to Alberta, Saskatchewan and northern British Columbia due to the overt and covert refusal of the federal government of Canada to facilitate and ensure the timely construction of pipelines to transport crude oil to domestic and world markets, discussion has begun as to whether these provinces should remain in confederation. In order to resolve this situation which of the following proposals would you favour?
1. Alberta, Saskatchewan and northern British Columbia should immediately put in place a mechanism to determine the favourablity of separating from the rest of Canada (TROC) and form an independent, separate country.
2. Alberta, Saskatchewan and northern British Columbia should take steps to remain in Canada but commence negotiations with the federal government and TROC to eliminate existing political and economic impediments that hinder their potential economic success.
3. I am happy with the current situation and do not want to see any changes.
Count me in for #1 with Manitoba included! They are part of this Western movement ! Start the bus!
Sunny ways or the doorway.
Probably the answer to all this would be two terms of a Max Bernier government, no carbon taxes, pro-business, pro-civil-liberties (free speech in particular) and rational immigration policies.
I hope Max does well in his organizing, the main thing he needs to avoid is getting tagged as a white supremacist sympathizer which would happen if he wasn’t too careful about who was running as candidates under his banner.
Max himself probably isn’t anything like that, but the left and the media play the guilt by association game very well, if you even give the time of day to a white supremacist, then suddenly you’re part of the SS.
I wouldn’t want to see this separatist movement gain any traction, not because I don’t sympathize, but the entire country could benefit from the same political changes, and in any case, just by separating there might not be the instant improvement expected, I’m sure rest of Canada would play hardball and the actual economic benefits would be negated by conditions even worse than what Alberta faces now.
My advice would be, stay calm, appeal to the moderate side of B.C. politics and wait until the BC Liberals are back in power, then go all out to negotiate a pipeline deal. It’s only a couple of years or so, this NDP-Green alliance won’t hold very long and then we’ll be forced into an election ahead of schedule. As to Trudeau, he can be outlasted also, but it’s either all-in on Bernier for our side, or demand a better leader and merge the two groups back together. Scheer is worse than useless and he was a bad choice. Time to accept that, get the elites who run the CPC to step aside and stop messing around with our political voice. If they want so much to be thought of well by Liberals, then get out and join the Liberals.
I disagree Peter, all the hoops have been jumped through for years. All the scams have been scammed, all the pleadings and forelocks have been tugged, this has gone on for years and years. All no avail. There is no appeasing a tyrant. Cut the cord and make a clean break.
From a southwestern Ontario (Stratford) perspective, I think it could very well happen (not that I want it to, by any means — I don’t), to wit:
– The Province of Ontario has a basic financial problem: its structural deficit, even after the autumn update delivered by Mr. Fedeli, stands to be larger than GD(P)P growth, for the foreseeable future.
– This means, of course, that the Province’s debt (all-in, including municipalities, the electric utilities, the “Green Energy” contracts, etc.) will become ever larger as a percentage of GD(P)P. I think we are nearly 50% debt-to-GD(P)P now, or soon will be, on present course.
– There is no certitude, whatsoever, IMO, that the really hard decisions will ever be taken that could make a stab at arresting and reversing Ontario’s decline in this regard.
– Who wants to be subsidizing this scene, exactly? If Ontario can’t get the job done, forget about Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces.
– While Mr. Trudeau, Sr. was seen (not by me, certainly) as a “strong leader” and “intellectual force”, in his time, mostly because he “took on the separatists” from his home Province of Quebec, but also because of his purported educational accomplishments and authorship, no such characterization is even remotely plausible in respect of his son: when does “Trope-ism” become “Trudeau, Jr.-ism”, precisely? Or, did I miss that?
– There used to be a few provincial premiers and national party leaders around that could make the case on some of this stuff. Not so much now, I’m afraid.
I have always thought that if Western Canada, given its relative economic power, developed a sense of nationhood in the same way that Quebec has done previously, the results could be pretty powerful.
There used to be a few provincial premiers and national party leaders around that could make the case on some of this stuff. Not so much now, I’m afraid.
Indeed.
Some 40 years ago, there was Peter Lougheed in Alberta. He was the sort to roll up his sleeves, spit on his hands, and duke it out with PET. B. C. had W. A. C. and his son Mini-WAC Bennett didn’t hesitate to tell PET to get lost. I also recall that Bill Davis butted heads with Ottawa, back in the days of the Big Blue Machine in Ontario.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens if and when Kenney wins the next Alberta election.
(What is this obsession reCaptcha has for traffic lights?)
As Ted Byfield stated many years ago…”only when we decide to get out will they do anything to keep us in”!