Tag Archives: Saskatchewan

Charting a course to Western independence.

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I formed the Alberta Independence Party in 2000 at the ripe old age of 29. I was full of piss, vinegar, and inexperience. The party didn’t last long but the experience gained was invaluable.

Now more than 20 years later, other Western independence groups and parties have come and gone. All of the same regional grievances exist and we are no closer to independence than we were decades ago.

We continue to go in circles and keep making the same mistakes. While the situation of the West hasn’t changed in the last 20 years, I have.

I have remained active in provincial political circles and have served in roles ranging from election candidate for the Separation Party of Alberta to VP of policy for the Wildrose Party of Alberta when they were the official opposition.

After every assault on the wealth or culture of the West, we see new supporters of independence created. Every time a Conservative candidate takes us for granted or a Liberal candidate insults us, a few more people realize that the West’s relationship with Canada is untenable.

New supporters of Western independence are often politically inexperienced. They are ready to pursue independence but don’t know where to begin. They need a guide and I am putting it together.

It’s time for a new approach and there is little need to keep slamming into the walls that I already have.

The book is now in the final stages of editing and an electronic version will be published soon. The introduction is below. Consider signing up in the form at the bottom of the page so you can be informed when the full book is available.



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INTRODUCTION


Support for Western independence in Canada has had ebbs and flows for decades. Western alienation in Canada has existed since the beginning of confederation.

This book is for those who have concluded that the time has come for Western independence but may not know where to begin. We have tried to achieve change through the electoral system for generations to no avail. Attempts to change the constitution are futile as demonstrated by the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords.

Canada’s system is outdated and lopsided. It is designed to serve Central Canada at the expense of outlying provinces. The deck is stacked and we will never win by playing within the existing structure.

The Reform Party burst upon the scene with the message of “The West wants in”. Through decades of pressure and compromise, the Reform Party merged into the mushy Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) of today. Even with O’Toole throwing Western interests to the wind by flip-flopping on his carbon-tax and firearm rights stances, the CPC was rejected by Central Canada in favour of the scandal-ridden Liberals. Western interests will never be a priority in federal politics. It is political suicide for a federal party to serve anything but Central Canada’s demands.

Western independence parties and movements have come and gone over the years. The Western Canada Concept made inroads in the 1980s and faded away. The Alberta Independence Party made ripples at the end of the 1990s and dissolved shortly into the 2000s. The Separation Party of Alberta came and went by 2010. Wexit was formed in 2019 and morphed into the soft-regionalist Maverick Party that made little more than a blip in the 2021 election.

We need to approach the pursuit of Western independence differently or we will never break out of the pattern of chronic failure that has marked the movement so far.

Rather than spawning more parties and advocacy groups, Western independence proponents need to build their base as individuals.

A lasting foundation for Western independence won’t be built through electoral runs or advocacy groups that seem to be little more than fundraising machines. Those organizations inevitably fall apart due to self-interested leadership, infighting or the compromising of core principles by the impatient.

Every supporter of Western independence needs to become an ambassador for the movement. The discussion forum for independence needs to be at dinner tables, over the neighbour’s fence, and in the lunchroom at work. Growth needs to be organic and from peer to peer.

This book will provide the tools to become an effective advocate for Western independence. Not as an annoying fanatic, but as a rational voice for a concept whose time has come.

Supporters for Western independence need to be won one person at a time. It will take patience and many conversations but this is how we will build the environment for the sea-change required in order to make Western independence a reality.

As Western independence proponents, we must to be able to effectively counter the common arguments made against independence. We need to be able to express how it’s the Canadian system rather than the Canadian people that we are eschewing.

We also need to avoid the mistakes made by previous independence movements.

Rather than having an independence movement represented by a handful of parties and groups we need to have a movement made up of hundreds of thousands of active, individual supporters. A true grassroots movement is invulnerable to the damage that organizations can cause under poor leadership.

When we communicate with our peers about independence, we speak directly and genuinely. The bias of the mainstream media is bypassed when we take on communication individually.

Once the strong foundation of support for Western independence is built, the parties will follow. As the late Ralph Klein said, his secret was to find out where the parade was going and to get in front of it. Once we build the parade, rest assured we will see plenty of prospective leaders and spokespeople rushing to get in front of it.

The concept is old but our approach needs to be new. This book will chart the path to Western independence and it begins with you.

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I guess BC is getting tired of the prosperity.

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While it still is a year away and we certainly saw the collective worthlessness of pollster’s projections in the recent Alberta election, the current polled trends in BC are disturbing. It appears that like a beaten wife who keeps returning to her abuser, BC wants to again embrace the governance of the party that castrated their economy for nearly a decade. It looks like the BC NDP is polling at about 50% right now.

 There are few reliable constants in the world but one that can be relied upon is the economic disaster that comes with a provincial NDP government. Bob Rae proved that the largest and most robust provincial economy in Canada could be brought to it’s knees with his catastrophic term as the Premier of Ontario. Saskatchewan lagged the nation in economic growth and activity under an NDP government as the province lost most of it’s youth in an exodus to Alberta seeking jobs. Manitoba is determined to remain a dependent little brother in confederation and under the inept guidance of their NDP government they are achieving that goal in spades.

 I remember very well working on oil exploration projects in the North where I literally would survey the perimeter of our program right on top of the BC/Alberta border. We would not venture an inch on to the BC side as our costs would explode and it simply was not worth it for our clients to pursue data there. Fort Saint John and Dawson Creek were in dire straits as the BC NDP government regulated and taxed the economy to the point where BC became a have-not province within Canada.

 Along with the consistency of NDP governments destroying economies is the consistent rebound for the economy when the socialists are finally tossed out. Saskatchewan is now a fast growing economic powerhouse in Canada thanks to the rational guidance of the Sask Party government. BC has been booming for over 10 years as the Liberal government undid much of the economic neutering caused by the previous NDP government. Ontario’s economy exploded under the Conservative government that replaced Rae’s grossly inept NDP. The pattern is clear and constant.

Despite such stark and repeated examples of the damage that NDP government’s cause, a large segment of Canadians simply refuse to accept this reality. Like a crack addict who knows the pipe is killing him yet can’t resist putting it back in his mouth again, provinces seem prone to repeated self-destructive behaviour in electing socialist governments.

 Please, please, please BC wake up! If you are tired of the Liberals than by all means pursue an alternative. Going back to the NDP however is simply an example of the cure being worth the disease. I do hope that this trend changes as I would hate to see our provincial neighbors dropped back into the economic toilet again.

 Alberta and Saskatchewan can’t keep up with subsidizing Quebec alone.

 

Brad Wall for Alberta Premier!!

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 Well, one can wish anyway.

 Saskatchewan has always served us as a stark example of the failure of socialism. While Saskatchewan is rich in natural resources, they have spent decades mired with a stagnant local economy due to NDP governance and business mistrust. The nationalization of Saskatchewan’s potash industry by the NDP in the seventies frightened virtually all outside investment from the province.

 When Devine came to power, things began to pick up a little as Devine wisely cut energy royalties and spurred some increased exploration in the province (the lost royalty revenues were more than made up with the increase of economic activity by the way). Unfortunately, Devine’s government was corrupt and they paved the way for over another decade of NDP rule in Saskatchewan.

 Less than ten years ago, oil dropped into the $10 per barrel range. While activity slowed down to a degree in Alberta, we still weathered the low commodity prices in Alberta as Klein had demonstrated fiscal conservatism and a pro-business atmosphere in Alberta. Oil and gas companies were willing to remain in Alberta to weather the low prices as they were confident that when the low price cycle passed they would be able to continue profitably in Alberta.

 Those low oil prices decimated local industry on the Saskatchewan side of Lloydminster however as the cost of operation in NDP land and the ever present fear of more tax gouging or further nationalization by the NDP made it senseless to invest in Saskatchewan.

 While Alberta boomed, we saw a flood of young economic refugees pour into our province from their moribund economy. Despite increasing energy prices and a great deal of oil and gas to be developed in Saskatchewan, companies simply would not invest in the future of a socialist province.

 Oh how the tides gave turned and it is astounding how quickly it happened. Two factors have led to the record growth in Saskatchewan’s economy. The election of Brad Wall and the Saskatchewan Party was the prime factor of course. Wall immediately declared Saskatchewan open for business and investors quickly entered what has always been an under-rated province as far as business goes.

 The other factor that has helped lead to the lightening turnaround of Saskatchewan’s economy is that while Brad Wall was finding ways to bring business into Saskatchewan, Ed Stelmach was working hard to drive business from Alberta. The Alberta Royalty gouge encouraged energy companies to look outside of Alberta and the massive jump in land-sales in Saskatchewan and BC proved that.

 Now that markets in general are falling as well as commodity prices, we are seeing billions in Alberta oil projects being shelved and cancelled daily. Profit margins are narrow in oil and gas.  Increased royalties coupled with dropping oil prices has made many projects become unviable. The lack of trust in the business community that Stelmach fostered is keeping companies from being willing to weather the current storm.

 With their tax and spend method of governance, the Stelmach PCs are now sweating as they see their royalty revenues plummet. Credit must be given for the conservative estimate of oil prices by Evans. Had she assumed $100 oil the PCs would likely already have been in deficit as it has been policy to pretty much spend money as quickly as it rolls in. All the same, the PCs had better re-examine idiotic notions such as expensive carbon capture schemes as they will clearly not be enjoying their past surpluses for some time to come.

 Though oil is dropping along with the market, Saskatchewan is still humming happily along and will likely be leading the country in growth. Brad Wall just announced the largest single tax cut in Saskatchewan history. While there is still plenty of room for tax cuts in Saskatchewan, we can be assured that we will lose a great deal of the skilled labor that we poached from Saskatchewan in the past as they eagerly return home to a growing economy with a reduced tax burden.

 Stelmach is throwing away the hard earned “Alberta advantage” with his listless and almost anti-business form of government. Brad Wall and Saskatchewan are happily reaping the benefits of this (and power to them).

 Meanwhile, the PCs are debating backing loans for people with bad credit.

 What will it take for a semblance of fiscal conservatism to return to the PCs?  Alberta will weather the current economic storm far better if we embraced an attitude such as Wall’s. So far I see no sign of that though.