Does the West Want Out?

By Henry Srebrnik, [Fredericton, NB] Daily Gleaner

I lived in Calgary through the late 1980s and into the 1990s, when discontent with the way governments in Ottawa seemed to neglect the West in favour of central Canada gave rise to small provincial separatist parties like the Western Canada Concept.

It also led to the rise of the federal Reform Party, with its slogan, “The West Wants In.” Leader Preston Manning’s party effectively destroyed the old Progressive Conservative Party and eventually became the nucleus of today’s Conservatives.

The 1993 federal election saw Reform sweep much of the West, while the newly formed Bloc Québécois took most of Quebec’s seats.

But here we are, three decades later, and western alienation has again brought out separatist sentiment in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Meanwhile, the resurgent Bloc again speaks for much of francophone Quebec. Canada seems to be a political version of the movie Groundhog Day.

Does the West now want out? For many in Alberta, whose oil sector drives its economy, the answer increasingly may be yes.

After all, as political scientist Albert Hirschman pointed out in his book Exit, Voice and Loyalty, if you feel you have little say in the governing of your country, you may feel you have no choice but to leave.

The Oct. 21 election saw the Conservatives sweep all but one seat across Alberta and Saskatchewan – the Tories have owned Western Canada since the 1950s – while Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were re-elected. Now, so-called “Wexit” rallies are planned in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton next month.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said he’s going to hear out separatist sentiments in the province through public town halls and consultation. 

University of Calgary political scientist Barry Cooper has written that the divide between the Canadian prairies and the political hubs of Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal is as much cultural as geographical. 

While Alberta lacks the population to make enough of an impact electorally, the province contributes some 17 per cent to Canada’s GDP. Its residents have come to feel besieged by the rest of the country.

Albertans pay billions a year in federal taxes, but the province has not received equalization payments since 1965, despite its current economic recession.

Climate change is one of the top concerns across the country now. In the mouths of climate activists, Alberta’s oil sands are the enemy, yet in Alberta, they are the lifeblood of the economy. 

The federal government bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline in 2018, but it remains doubtful whether expanding it by building a second span will ever take place. Landlocked Alberta will need the permission of, among others, British Columbia to do so, and this seems unlikely. 

Defeated Liberal cabinet minister Ralph Goodale, who lost his seat in Regina, admits that his party has a lot of urgent work to do to prove to western provinces that the Trudeau government understands their needs. 

“It’s not healthy for the country to have a major national political party without elected representation across one region of the country,” he said. 

All Canadians should imagine what it feels like for Albertans when Ottawa treats them like a hostile foreign power, while the Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg is treated with more respect than Premier Kenney. 

Many Canadians can’t believe Alberta might one day secede. But plenty of people scoffed at the possibility of Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union disintegrating. This country might not be as secure as we all think.