Click here for even more western alienation

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein

Click here for the open letter to Ralph Klein

The new parliamentary session starting in February will mean nothing -- merely more political pantomime. The Liberals just lie, refuse to answer or brazen it out as they did about the missing billion dollars for 92 days in 2000. The Liberals say it's Question Period, not Answer Period. They even called an election to avoid an Auditor General's report. And worse. They got reelected. These arrogant Liberals can do anything they want now because they do not have to face the Canadian electorate for another 4 years. And who knows, maybe they will do it again in 2004. Maybe, as Liberals think, they are destined to rule Canada forever.

The results of this recent election have shown that the Reform/Canadian Alliance is stuck in the West despite the name change and leadership change. The West wanted in but the door was slammed in their face. The electors of Ontario and Quebec shot down the wests's pre-election enthusiasm. Western votes meant nothing in Ottawa when compared to Eastern votes. It simply meant that the majority rules and the numbers and the present political system technically disenfranchised people in the west. But who in Ottawa cares? It has always been that way. It always will. Or will it.

The Alberta Independence Party (AIP) had its inauguration meeting in Red Deer on January 19th, 2001.

They feel alienated, disillusioned and disappointed by the East and the arrogant Liberals especially as there is no relief in sight. The liberals want to cling to the status quo. It brought them power and it kept them in power. It is the same status quo that keeps the West out of power. Westerners feel that their votes don't count. They feel and history has shown this to be true, that they have little influence in Ottawa.

Even when they voted as part of the Conservative majority during the Mulroney (he of the GST) era, his government paid more attention to Quebec than the West. Mulroney, a Quebecois, was more concerned about the Meech Lake conference and the Charlottetown conference in order to placate the separatists in Quebec, than he was about the West. And then he gave us the GST and even stacked the Senate with eight of his appointed buddies. No Canadian, particularly those in the West, was allowed to vote for those appointed-for-life senators (Until they die or turn 75). This was the arrogance of the prime minister that the West believed in.

This treatment has led to aggressive western alienation.

Will it be a flash in the pan or will it mushroom into something substantial? Will they eventually form a provincial government? Will Alberta eventually have a referendum on this issue? Should Prime Minister Chretien be concerned? Should Premier Klein be concerned? Have the chickens come home to roost? Is this just the tip of the iceberg? Or will this western alienation come and go like the tide or Quebec separatism?

What does the West want?

A triple E Senate. That's elected, effective and equal. If each province elected 2 senators to the Senate and the Senate then voted on all legislation, it would bring some equalization to the small provinces. This is the system the Americans use to combat this type of alienation.

They want their own provincial pension plan, like Quebec.

An end to the Wheat Board monopoly.

A firewall around Alberta to limit hostile federal interference in Alberta.

Less interference from Ottawa in their health care.

The West is not happy about registering their guns because guns on farms are tools to get rid of pests whereas in cities they are likely criminal weapons. Peculiar that the federal government wants all guns registered but will not set up a registration for active pedophiles as requested by the government of Ontario.

The West wants referendums and recall in order to bring people-pressure to isolated indifferent politicians.

Alberta want their own police force like Ontario and Quebec.

Alberta wants to collect its own income taxes like Quebec.

Chretien is an extremely stubborn but wily politician. He has avoided these constitutional and controversial issues and therefore stayed in power. He has refused to use the notwithstanding clause despite the weird findings of the Supreme Court. He knows the Canadian electoral system better than any Canadian. But his feelings towards the West were graphically portrayed when he appointed his own man to the Senate (for life) rather than one of the senators-in-waiting who had been elected by the people of Alberta.

Trudeau once said that Canada could not survive without Quebec but a more appropriate question today might be, can Canada survive without Alberta?
We assume that Alberta could survive without Canada but will Alberta be the next US state? And who will be next?
If bilingual Ottawa does not react soon and quick to this western alienation, it shows that they are more arrogant stupid and stubborn than I thoutht.

Canada may not have reached the crossroads of separation yet but as we go west along this Trans Canada Highway, we can see the signs. There's something up ahead. Do the Albertans have the guts? Is Ottawa this dumb?

The Canadian Liberals are past masters at arrogance, media manipulation and information overload. They shut down the Somalia inquiry, stonewalled the APEC inquiry, ignored the Krever inquiry and in late October 2000, called an election to avoid questions about the Auditor Generals Report -- the missing billion dollars at HRDC and the 21 ongoing police investigations. Because of the sudden election call, all questions were also shut down and both HRDC and CIDA continued to shovel out billions of taxpayers money to worthy recipients.

Chretien wrote the Charter (without property rights) and appointed the Supreme Court judges for life and they made Canadian laws. They changed 58 laws and gave us controversial kiddie porn, homosexual marriages and Indians fishing out of season while Canadians watched from the shore.

Chretien said prior to his election that he would cancel the GST. Of course he lied. He even lied about the lie when he denied that he had said it until someone produced the video.

In November 97 the final Krever report was released. Canadians had been getting sick HIV, AIDS and hepatitis because of the defective Canadian blood bank. In MAY 1998, the Liberals unanimously votes against full compensation for all hepatitis-c victims because of the defective blood bank. Chretien called that vote a confidence motion and his disciplined sycophant Liberals voted his way because he could refuse to sign their next nomination papers.

And still Canadians in the East voted these Liberals back into office.

The Immigration Boards own statistics revealed that about 71% of refugee claimants disappeared before their immigration hearing. The Liberals ignored these strange statistics. But those in the huge immigration industries loved it. As a result, the Ontario Social Services Ministry had to spend up to $160-million a year to support 17,000 immigrant welfare recipients whose sponsors had reneged on their promise to support them.

In March 2000 Chretien refused to testify at the APEC inquiry. The inquiry investigated the RCMP pepper-spraying of student protesters during an Asia-Pacific Conference held in 1997 at the University of British Columbia. Unfortunately Chretien received an invitation instead of a subpoena. He declined the invitation. It rendered the $4 million inquiry meaningless.

And still Canadians in the East voted the Liberals back into office.

Chretien backed off his renaming of Mount Logan to Mount Trudeau. The symbolism of this action crashed when western grassroots opposition raised its head.

Chretien invited Brian Tobin into his cabinet even though Brian Tobin was not even a member of the federal parliament. Brian Tobin now wants the federal government to finance a ship building industry in Newfoundland. He wants both Newfoundlands fishermen and ship builders on federal welfare.

Canada failed to qualify for the high level Moodys AAA rating. Canada had held a steady AAA rating from 1974 to 1994.
Only in Canada.

On November 27th 2000, Canadians reelected the Liberals with an even larger majority than before -- 41% of the 62% who bothered to vote. That is Canadians in the East did. Canadians in the West shut them out. But unfortunately in our political system at the present time, Canadians in West do not count.

IS WESTERN ALIENATION FINISHED BEFORE IT STARTED?

The appointed-for-life Supreme Court has decided in all their wisdom that a province can indeed break away from Canada under certain conditions. It only requires a referendum with a clear question and a clear majority. A clear majority is 50%+1 in the real world.

The Clarity Act reserves for the House of Commons the right to decide for itself whether these conditions have been met. Therefore no province can secede from Canada regardless of the referendum question or the clear majority if the House of Commons decides they cannot go.

Chretien then added another little stinger. Parliament passed an amendment on Tuesday March 7th, 2000 to the Clarity Bill that will allow aboriginals to be among those who will decide if the result of any future secessionist referendum will pass. Therefore Indians will now have a say in whether the Quebec referendum question or the Alberta referendum question is a clear expression of the will of the people to secede from Canada. It also means that the Indians of northern Quebec or Alberta or BC will stop all separatist movements. These separatist movements could interfere with the huge amounts of money the feds dole out to the Indians. It strictly political terms it means that Chretien has once again out maneuvered his political adversaries before they even knew it.

Does it mean western alienation is finished before it even got properly started. Westerners should realize they are dealing with Chretien -- not some country hick. Anyone who can get away with putting more federal money into his own home town than all the western provinces should be watched carefully.