Well, no surprise!
As usual, the voters in the East have re-elected a Trudeau Liberal Government. They seem to have an inward looking mentality. They just cannot understand that for the country to function properly the aspirations of all of the country’s citizens have to be respected.
They seem to think that by supporting progressive parties that exploit the resources of the West is fair game.
In my mind, the biggest issue this time around was climate change. I think you are all aware that it is a phoney and a fraudulent issue that I have discussed in detail in previous columns.
How people can be so stupid as to think that by destroying the basic economy of Alberta and Saskatchewan they will save the world from a climate crisis is beyond comprehension.
So instead of electing a government that could have put Canada on a sustainable financial future, they have elected a minority Liberal government that will continue to spend money like it is water.
Their answer is like previous governments dominated by eastern voters; exploit the West when there is a financial shortfall.
People in Western Canada are predictably very disappointed in the result of the Oct. 21 election and many are reacting with the cry we have heard before; lets separate from the rest of Canada.
In fact, there was a movement already in place before the election. It has the title of “WEXIT”.
The membership has increased exponentially since the election.
On the face of it, this looks like a simple solution to put a stop to the exploitation of these two provinces.
Back in the Reform days, the motto was “The West wants in”. The motto of this new organization is “The West wants out”.
If you think through the ramifications of becoming a sovereign nation it just isn’t that simple.
The real problem that we have now is that we are a landlocked entity. That is the reason that so far we haven’t been able to get a pipeline to tidewater.
Separating from the rest of Canada, would not change with independence, in fact, I think it would make that situation much worse.
What you would find is that the rest of the country would gang up on us.
While there is no doubt that Eastern Canada has taken unfair advantage of Western Canada ever since Confederation we would not be any better off financially.
If Alberta and Saskatchewan were to become a sovereign nation we would have to take on a whole new set of responsibilities.
Just to name a few…
Defence: that would require us to build and finance our own army, foreign affairs which would involve setting up embassies with ambassadors all over the world, a postal system and a banking system.
There are more that don’t come to mind right now.
All of these would require bureaucracies to run them. That would be in addition to the bureaucracies we already have.
Alberta now is running a large deficit due to an overpaid and blotted bureaucracy.
Sure we might save some money that is being unfairly taken from us now from an equalization system that is anything but equal but I am sure that it would not pay for the extra responsibilities.
The only positive thing that could come from an independence movement would be that the threat could assist in negotiations for some real change.
The real issues that require change are the equalization formula, our inability to get our resources to market [especially oil and gas] and this silly idea that Alberta’s oil and gas resources are the major risk to the world climate crisis.
We had better be careful what we ask for.
With Quebec nipping at the federal government’s heels again, we may be in a better negotiating position than we think.
by Herman Schwenk
