You can take the kid out of Alberta, but you can’t take Alberta out of the kid!!

It’s one thing to be leaderless; it’s another to be seriously divided. Alas it appears that Trump won’t have to do anything; we will do it to ourselves. I was around for the National Energy Program and had it not been for a willingness of a very popular Alberta Premier and his very smart Deputy of Intergovernmental Affairs (both of whom I knew, the latter very well) to concede significant ground, there would have been a serious firestorm in the west.

More recently things have hardened in the west. The federal assault on the oil & gas industry along with a failure to strongly advocate for atomic energy and battle hard for the softwood business has left many, many people west of the Manitoba border wondering if it is really worth it. Is the concept of Canada actually working anymore. Oh I know that there are those who think the talk of Western Separatism is silly and immature. There are others who suggest it is irresponsible to even raise the thought of such action. But I am here today to say, block the shipment of any western energy and the forces for change will magnify.

The truckers’ convoy didn’t make a serious impact on the Laurentian elite: too bad or maybe too unfortunate! They may have been irksome; they may have been somewhat basic (or rudimentary) in their complaints. But they were trying to make a point (you don’t take a six-figure rig off its hauling duties unless you have a very deep conviction about something) that they didn’t think Ottawa was really even concerned about their well-being let alone listening to their political leaders. The next time, once western revenues drop precipitously and provincial governments have to seriously reduce services, even the green-sympathy types will realize how important oil & gas have been to their survival.

Alberta has been a big driver of the national economy since at least when I was in college. It would be a world energy leader now and not so beholden to the USA, if we had built two more pipelines, one to Prince Rupert and one to Saint John. Germany and Japan came begging and in obvious moments of mental failure, our PM said there was no case for such frivolity (my paraphrase). And look where we are now. Forget about improving our military; discard thoughts of better border protection. Perhaps we might have to let go our dreams of dentalcare and pharmacare, let alone a fiscally astute governmental future.

But most of these really are provincial responsibilities (exception of course is the military, though policing is certainly provincial even though we often forget that because we rent the RCMP in many places in the west). And it may be time for the western provinces to take them back fully and without regard for the Supreme Court’s latent permission that allowed the feds to intrude. How might this happen? Maybe Cascadia is too grand a scheme at the moment, especially with California facing a very bleak short-term future and Oregon dealing with a separatist faction that wants to see the eastern part of the state join Idaho. Thus a more immediate option is simply to rally the Canadian Great Plains to consider seceding. Let’s start with Alberta and Saskatchewan but with invitations to B.C. & Manitoba. And due to the major focus being on control of resources, inviting the Territories might prove beneficial as well.

Now for those who draw a significant distinction between Québec’s aspirations due to language + culture and Alberta’s (due to there being no language issue), I would suggest that such a distinction is weak at best. Alberta has a culture of its own: it called can do! And left on its own it will do whatever is necessary. And get beyond the notion that Saskatchewan is really different because it is the birthplace if the CCF; since that morphed into the NDP, Saskatchewan has evolved more towards the Alberta approach to life and economics. Without having to share any tax revenue with the rest of the country, without having to deal with eastern attitudes, the economic engines could unleash some significant power. There would be no need to consider battling the USA – simply work harder at negotiating with them as well as some renewed vigor in developing partnerships with Manitoba to build a pipeline to Churchill. Moreover the Aboriginal communities on the Prairies contain many entrepreneurs who could work effectively and quickly with their Manitoba counterparts to accomplish some new infrastructure in energy transmission.

If the east seriously thinks it doesn’t need the west, then let us go. Let us fall on our own swords. Be smug if you wish. Just let Alberta resume a vibrant leadership role, at least for itself and its neighbours.

Reflectively
g.w.