Excerpt from The Sovereigntist’s Handbook.

Chapter 8. How to counter common arguments against independence.

Landlocked is not hamstrung.

A common, shallow argument made against western independence is
to claim, “You would be landlocked!” How awful! Why, we could end
up just like Switzerland, only with massive reserves of natural
resources!

Landlocked nations are nothing new and being landlocked doesn’t
mean, by any measure, a nation will be poor or dysfunctional. Austria
is doing well. Hungary and Slovakia are coming along, too, after
having shed the yoke of socialism. Having a coastline doesn’t ensure
stability or prosperity for a nation.

How well have things been working
out for Venezuela, or most African nations? Is Bangladesh nearing
prosperity and has Vietnam enjoyed a history of peace?

A coastline is certainly an advantage for a nation, but it doesn’t
guarantee poverty or riches, peace or conflict. The system by which a
nation is governed is far more important than its geography.

Let’s imagine for a moment Saskatchewan and Alberta both seceded
and united as a new nation under a new system. It would be critical to
the collective economy that natural resources reach foreign markets
and, yes, the new nation would indeed be landlocked. Why, though, is
it assumed Eastern Canada, BC, or the US would block the export or
import of goods and services?

Secession will surely come with some hard feelings and there will be
bumps in the road as new trade agreements are formed, but it’s absurd
to assume the rest of Canada would be so bitter and self-destructive as
to blockade the new nation.

If BC decided to block Alberta and Saskatchewan from getting goods
to the coast, the new western nation would of course immediately
retaliate by blocking BC’s goods from crossing to the East. It would
cripple its ports and decimate its economy. Canada’s remaining
provinces in the East would be in a crunch, too. The impasse wouldn’t
last long, if indeed it ever happened at all.

European nations have trade disputes all the time, but they don’t
blockade and starve their neighbours in order to resolve them. It would
be too harmful for all involved and modern nations simply don’t do
that anymore. The US certainly wouldn’t want to get into a trade mess
by refusing the exchange of goods and services and the flow of people
from the new nation. Economic reality trumps hurt feelings. Just look
at how Europe continues to buy Russian natural gas while condemning
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There are international accords established to deal with landlocked
nations that could be appealed to at an international tribunal, if it ever
came to that. Canada itself could face trade sanctions from other
nations if it acted unfairly against the new western nation.
International trade relies on these agreements being respected and
other nations wouldn’t support Canada’s attempts to starve its new
neighbour into submission.

Let’s not forget we are already landlocked. Canada has allowed
Quebec to dictate pipeline access and has been hostile to western
efforts to seek alternative markets through eastern coastal access. Our
Confederation is already dysfunctional since provincial governments
hinder goods from other provinces under present policies. There is no
free and open trade of oil—or even beer—in Canada. If anything, a
new nation might have more leverage for potential trade agreements
with regions than it did while within Confederation.

The case against independence holds no water on the basis the new
nation would be landlocked.

Buy your copy of the Sovereigntist’s Handbook here!

I know. It sounds odd hearing from a dedicated independence advocate who literally formed an independence party back in 1999 saying we need to stop creating these parties.

Think about that though.

It has been over 24 years since I founded the Alberta Independence Party and neither that party nor the many other independence-leaning parties have made so much as a significant dent in an election. In fact, they are polling so low when they go to the voters, it is embarrassing.

Independence parties keep coming and going and people are investing a lot of political and literal capital into them which could be more effectively directed elsewhere.

Support for provincial independence has been polled as high as 25% and even a little more in Alberta. Independence parties struggle to break 2% when they go to elections.

Last fall, in the constituency of Brooks-Medicine Hat a by-election was held. That is prime territory for independence supporters. The Wildrose Independence Party garnered 0.44% of the vote while the Independence Party of Alberta took 1.77% of the support. Even combined, that is barely enough to be called a toehold of support.

It doesn’t help that independence parties love ripping themselves to pieces with infighting. The Independence Party of Alberta fired, then apparently rehired their leader Artur Pawlowski in the last few months. Likewise, the Wildrose Independence Party split and turfed their leader Paul Hinman and for awhile, they had two boards and two leaders all claiming to represent the party.

As the 2023 Alberta general election approaches, no independence party is in any kind of condition to seriously contest even a single seat, much less the election as a whole.

Support for independence in the West exists and it is ready to be fostered and grown. We won’t hit the tipping point of independence support through an independence party though and we have to quit wasting time on that approach.

Independence supporters need to participate in party politics but they need to do it within existing parties. They are just hitting their heads on the wall by constantly creating and imploding new parties.

Independence-promoting groups are essential and while they may come and go as well, they don’t hinder the movement like parties do.

We need to promote independence as individuals and in groups. Quit pissing around with new parties though. That path has been more than proven as a failure now.

The Sovereigntist’s Handbook charts the path to independence. I have learned from my mistakes and documented them. Let’s quit repeating them.

Get a copy and get to work on productively building the base of support for Western independence that we need. It’s time to start winning for a change.

Progressives will never learn. They will utterly bankrupt a state before admitting their ideology is fundamentally flawed. That’s why Trudeau appears permanently entrenched as Canada’s Prime Minister no matter how many scandals plague him. Central Canada just won’t vote any other way.

There is hope though and we need only look south of the border. The United States has its share of progressive fools and we are witnessing them destroying the entire West coast and the Northeastern seaboard (with a couple exceptions).

Taxes are exploding while crime is out of control in Democrat-run states. California, Oregon, and Washington have allowed their major cities to become war zones due to permissive policies enabling crime and addiction. Chicago, New York and Detroit are enjoying the same situation.

People are voting with their feet and the trend is both striking and inspiring.

Look at the map below and note the clusters of Democrat states in blue.

Now look at the list of states losing population due to interstate migration from 2020-2022.

Almost a million people fled California where Gavin Newsom’s reign of error has decimated the economy and turned the cities into war zones. Businesses and citizens of ambition are getting the hell out while they can.

New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Mayland, Michigan, Ohio…. All losing population. Match that with the map and the trend is pretty clear. Democrat states are driving away their own citizens.

So where are these interstate refugees going?

Well as the image below indicates, the trend is undeniable. They are heading for Republican managed states.

Just look at that. Florida, Texas are taking in nearly as many folks as California and New York have lost. North Carolina appears to be an exception. Arizona was gaining population until 2022 but they just went Democrat so let’s see how that trend holds.

The trend is clear as day. Republican states are drawing in far more interstate migrants than Democrat states.

This will lead to bigger divides. The people fleeing Democrat states sure won’t be voting for more Democrat governments in their new homes. Likewise, the Democrat states having lost conservative citizens, will continue to drift left. Until their economies totally crash at least. When you specialize in gathering the addicted, the entitled and the non-ambitious, your future doesn’t look bright.

Now, back to Canada.

The Western provinces will continue to draw enterprise and the ambitious while Central Canada continues to try and subsidize its way to prosperity. Vancouver has become a dystopian nightmare in the West.

While parts of the West will naturally draw ambitious migrants, it can still do better. Western provinces need to work harder to court new citizens from central Canada. Let’s speed up the process of population redistribution based on values such as ambition, individualism, and personal responsibility.

Western Canada can be the last bastion of common sense and prosperity as the rest of the nation sinks itself with failed progressive policies. We have our share of work to do first though.

We need to flush out the progressive civil governments we have apathetically let entrench themselves in our major cities. They are turning the urban areas into ghettos with their enablement policies and hindering prospective new immigration of both people and capital.

Provincial governments can also do their part by taking over law enforcement and offering policies of addiction rehabilitation and mental health supports to counter the addiction epidemic enabled by progressive politicians. We are already seeing that happen in Alberta as treatment-based policies for addiction have led to a reduction in overdoses while other provinces have seen them only rise. We need to carry on with that path and create safe healthy cities ready to embrace the incoming refugees from progressive cities.

The West will continue to be bled by the East of course. Progressive governments will punish Western provinces for daring to prosper while progressive policies fail in the East.

That is when the independence movement will truly blossom. It’s not a matter of if the West will seek independence, it’s a matter of when. We can’t start preparing for the transition fast enough though.

We need to prepare and build the base required to win a referendum. Part of that will be through drawing in conservative Canadians and part will be through organizing on the ground.

The Sovereigntist’s Handbook charts that path and shows the way. Be sure to get your copy and spread the word.

We can’t save it all but we can save a large part.

Order here.

Did you know if you bought a cow and sold even a litre of milk without being issued a government-issued quota you would be criminally charged?

Did you know if you own more than a few hundred chickens or turkeys and tried to sell the meat without a government-issued quota you would be criminally charged?

Did you know if you tried to become an egg producer beyond having a few hundred laying hens and you sold the eggs without a government-issued quota you would be criminally charged?

All the above statements sound absurd but they are all true in Canada. No other industries are as coddled and protected at the expense of consumers as dairy, poultry, and eggs.

All of these policies fall under a system simply called Supply Management. The name sounds innocuous enough and most people don’t even know what it is. That is just how the dairy cartels like it. As long as Canadians don’t know about how badly they are being ripped off by supply management, they won’t demand an end to the policy. The dairy cartels are very effective political lobbyists.

Once in a while, something brings supply management to the attention of Canadians. This happened recently when Ontario dairy farmer Travis Huigen posted a video showing himself dumping 30,000 litres of milk down a drain because it would be illegal for him to do anything else with it. If he even gave it to a foodbank he would be charged.

It is a stark demonstration of just how horrible and wasteful supply management policies are.

This kind of wasteful dumping has been happening for decades. My wife Jane grew up on a farm that had a small dairy element to it. Her father had a quota for cream, but not for milk. He would skim and sell the cream from his small herd. The remaining milk would be consumed by the family, and dumped in the ditch. A family can only drink so much milk even in a small operation.

Speaking of small operations, those don’t exist anymore. Supply management was supposed to protect the family farm. When supply management was imposed in the 1970s, there were 145,000 dairy farms in Canada. Today, there are less than 9,000. It is big business dominated by cartels and producers who hold those precious quotas.

Smaller farms that may want to diversify their production through poultry or dairy products must by quotas from other producers. Those producers aren’t eager to sell.

Can you imagine any other industry operating like this?

What if you owned a restaurant and had the government ban any other restaurant from operating within ten miles of your establishment?

What if you owned a bakery and the government banned competing bakeries from opening up unless they bought a quote of daily loaves allowable from you?

In such a circumstance, consumers will be screwed by the lack of competition among providers and that’s just what is happening with supply-managed industries.

Producers don’t have the incentives to be competitive or creative when they hold quotas protecting their income. They are artificially protected from having to deal with competitors who may have better ideas and more efficient production methods.

Years ago, it was estimated that the average family was paying $600 per year extra on their grocery bill due to supply management. With the current rate of inflation, that number is likely well past $1,000 now.

The cartels are powerful and it will take pressure for politicians to take this on. During the last Conservative Party of Canada leadership race, I interviewed every contender for the job on my show and made a point of asking about supply management. Only Scott Aitchison had the courage to say the policy had to be ended. What kind of conservative can support such terrible policies?

Conservatives that rely on campaign donations from dairy cartels. That’s who.

Consumers and voters need to wake up and pay attention on this issue. Instead of blaming Loblaws for grocery inflation despite their having only a 3.8% profit margin, have a look at supply management policies.

New Zealand and Australia had similar supply management policies and both nations got rid of them. Dairy cartels howled and claimed it would kill the industry. Instead, the dairy industries got stronger, new export opportunities opened up and the consumers won.

Put the pressure on your politicians. Food security is a complex issue but not when it comes to supply management. The policy is screwing Canadians and the fix is easy.

Dump supply management. Not milk.

On a final note, most of Canada’s dairy operations are in Quebec. That of course explains much of why politicians are terrified to deal with the issue as well.

The Sovereigntist’s Handbook charts the path to breaking free of Canada’s broken system of provincial inequity. Buy your copy direct now!

This is the NDP in a nutshell.

They would rather people go blind or die on waiting lists before having access to a private medical procedure. And that is just what is happening as Canada’s socialized monopoly health care system is becoming overwhelmed and crumbling in every province.

Below is a picture of some union activists being led by an NDP MPP in Ontario protesting outside the Herzig Eye Institute in Ontario. They feel that surgical centres like this should be banned and are trying to intimidate and hinder people from going to them or working in them.

Yes, these ideologues really are that cruel and unthinking.

Had this protest been outside a private abortion clinic, police would surely have been dispatched.

In fact, many jurisdictions brought in laws making it illegal to protest outside of medical facilities since anti-vaccination advocates had been doing so during the pandemic.

The Herzig Eye Institute has been doing procedures for over 25 years without issue. The NDP suddenly feels it should be protested and banned.

Communism is indeed about the equal distribution of misery.

This garbage has to end. Most general practitioners are in private for-profit clinics. Dentists, optometrists, sports specialists…. The list goes on.

Canada’s health care system is failing and the NDP with their unions know it.

Polling has indicated that the majority of Canadians want to see an increase in private provision of care as they do in Europe to help reduce the waiting lists.

The NDP and unions don’t care what works. They only care about ideology.

The MPP who proudly organized this idiotic demonstration is named Joel Harden. Below is a picture of him wearing his glasses in the legislature. Do we really think he got his eye examination in some non-profit facility and the glasses were hand-crafted in some mom-and-pop fair-wage facility down the street?

The hypocritical ideologues of the NDP are showing their true colors.

It doesn’t get much lower than trying to shut down medical centres, but they seem to have no bottom.

Be sure to grab your copy of the Sovereigntist’s Handbook if you haven’t already at https://www.gvlbooks.com/

Paul’s Pizza as the name would suggest is a pizza restaurant in Alberta. There are three outlets actually. Two in Calgary, and one in Airdrie. I have ordered their product before and it is good stuff. I am fussy about pizza as a former restaurant owner and am glad I don’t have to try to dodge talking about the quality. I won’t lie about something as important as pizza.

Farouk Elsaghir and his family bought the restaurant almost eight years ago and have been quite successful with it.

So why are they in the sights of the woke mobs?

Well, Farouk is very outspoken with his political views on the Facebook page for their Airdrie restaurant. He has not been supportive of vaccine mandates and he celebrated that they provided free pizzas to the Truckers for Freedom Convoy when they passed through Airdrie.

In other words, Farouk committed blasphemy in the world of the intolerant woke.

The sensitive left has been indignant and swarming his businesses for over a year. They have been posting fake reviews about the restaurants, spreading false rumours, and now have been pressuring the local Chamber of Commerce and the City of Airdrie itself.

I went through similar crap when I owned my pub and had pissed off the Alberta Nurses Union on Twitter (not hard to do). Suddenly about 40 one-star ratings for my pub appeared on Google. Thankfully Google rectified it. While it’s not the end of the world having false ratings out there, it doesn’t help in a narrow-margin industry.

They want Paul’s to go out of business and don’t care about the dozens of people it would put out of work. They are a mindless pack of enraged cretins who think they will do the world a favour by tearing others down.

Farouk has taken the right approach. He isn’t apologizing and continues to post his views while running his establishment. There is never anything to be gained in capitulating or apologizing to the snowflake crowd with their little torches and pitchforks. It only makes them hungrier.

The Airdrie Chamber of Commerce appears to be as woke and biased as the wretched Calgary Chamber is. Paul’s had been nominated for a “Greatest Impact” business award by the Chamber in 2021 and was a finalist. The Airdrie Chamber recently put out an untrue Tweet when responding to somebody complaining as they claimed Paul’s had been disqualified. Farouk quickly exposed the misinformation from the Chamber as representatives from Paul’s Pizza had been at the awards gala in person and still had the certificate. Pathetic behaviour from a Chamber that ostensibly is supposed to stand up for businesses.

Paul’s was nominated as they have continually been an active community member, a responsible business and they regularly donate to charities. In the last week, they raised over $3,000 for earthquake relief in Syria. They regularly raise funds for local causes ranging from Parkinson’s disease research to animal rescue societies.

Paul’s is a great, small local business that employs a large number of people and provides fantastic food.

One doesn’t need to agree with or even like Farouk. It’s fair game to refuse to eat there and to tell other people that you think they shouldn’t because you think Farouk is a jerk.

Trying to shut them down though crosses the line. Pressuring the local Chamber, spreading false rumours, and giving false food reviews is petty and destructive.

The efforts to cancel Paul’s are failing. His business is as busy as ever. It is still annoying to see self-important losers trying to shut him down all the same.

The best response is to ensure Paul’s remains busy and prosperous.

Check them out folks. Grab a meal there or pick one up. You won’t be disappointed. You will get a good feed, will support a good business and you will take a shot back at the cancel mob.

Nothing will drive the vindictive little business destroyers crazier than seeing Paul’s Pizza’s branches continue to prosper and be packed with happy customers.

Feed yourself. Not the cancellers.

Once sitting on a full stomach, be sure to read your copy of the Sovereigntist’s Handbook as you digest. You have a copy right?

If not, get out there and download/order my book dammit.