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#1 Yesterday 21:35:21
- RobertDyck
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- From: Winnipeg, Canada
- Registered: 2002-08-20
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Politics - Alberta
I have received a private email asking what's going on with Alberta. I have to start with Quebec.
In the 1500s & 1600 both Britain and France established colonies in North America. Those two countries fought for centuries. In 1759 Britain won a major battle, and assumed control over the colony of Quebec. To appease the population, Britain allowed Quebec to continue to speak French, continue French culture, and the French legal system, which was different than British. Modern Canadian and American legal system is based on British Common Law. In 1867 politicians from Upper Canada (now Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) proposed forming a new country. Canada would be an independent country, and would live together peacefully. If Britain and France went to war with each other, then the people of Canada would not also war with each other, but treat each other as good neighbours. They sailed a river boat with a cargo hold filled with crates of champagne to the Maritime colonies to convince them to join. So Canada was born.
However, the British monarch continued to be the monarch of Canada, and the Canadian federal government was based on British parliament. Some citizens in Quebec didn't like this. Still resented being ruled by the British.
In the 20th century, after TV was invented, US corporations tried to export American culture. The corporations tried to establish a monopoly, and control Canadian TV. The Canadian federal government created the CBC to reflect Canadian culture, with federal government subsidies, and a mandate to maintain Canadian culture. Still, some French people in Quebec felt pressured, and resented all English speaking people.
In 1970, and organization called the FLQ (Front for the Liberation of Quebec, spelled and pronounced in French) was a terrorist organization with the goal of making Quebec an independent country. In October 1970, the FLQ murdered a provincial cabinet minister. And the FLQ said the rest of the government was next, they would continue to murder until Quebec became independent. The rest of the government of Quebec took this very seriously. They escaped under police escort to a nuclear bomb shelter. And the Premier of Quebec demanded the federal government enact the War Measures Act. The Prime Minster of Canada didn't want to, but the Quebec Premier said what's the point of being part of Canada if they can't be protected. So the War Measures act was enacted. This meant Canadian soldiers, in uniform with combat rifles, on every street corner of the largest cities in Quebec. The RCMP (federal police) had authority to detain people for questioning for a certain number of days without a warrant and without reason. Just because. The citizens of Quebec were outraged! This was too much! However, the RCMP succeeded in rooting out the FLQ, arrested them. In one arrest, they found plans to demolish the tallest office building in Montreal, and sufficient explosives to do it. RCMP analysts said it would have worked. But they were arrested before the explosives could be placed. If they hadn't been stopped, the building would have come down like the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11.
Some members of the FLQ who were not involved directly with any crime were released, did not serve significant jail time. They formed a political party with the same goal as the FLQ: separate Quebec to become an independent country. This was known as the Parti Québécois (PQ). The name literally means Quebec Party. The PQ used politics, not violence. In 1980 they were elected as the provincial government of Quebec. Later that same year, they held a referendum to separate. Result: 40% voted to separate. That's less than 50%, so nothing happened. The PQ claimed the federal government rushed the referendum, that they cheated. In 1995, they were allowed to hold a second referendum. In the years between the two referendums, citizens of Quebec noticed the provincial government could use the threat of separation to extort all sorts of goodies out of the federal government. They wanted the gravy train to continue. Some citizens who didn't want to separate, voted for separation anyway. Result: voter turnout 93.52%, with 49.41% voting to separate vs 50.58% to remain. This was insanely close! A CBC exit poll asked voters how they voted and why. The number who actually wanted to separate was still only 40%, the same as 1980. When those who didn't want to separate but just wanted the gravy train to continue saw what they almost did, they got very very scared. They said no referendum at all ever again!!!
After all this, the federal government chose to give Quebec all sorts of goodies. One program was to pay "equalization payments" to poor developing provinces, to jump-start their economy. This was intended for new provinces, and was an old program by 1980. Quebec was one of the old, established provinces with a strong economy, so got very little. However, after the 1995 referendum, the formula was changed to give Quebec a lot of money. Ontario had a strong healthy manufacturing sector. Through the 1960s/'70s/'80s up to 1995, Ontario had 26% of Canada's population, Quebec had 25%. Until 1980, Quebec had an economy as strong as Ontario. After the referendum of 1980, a number of companies moved out of Quebec to other parts of Canada. After the referendum of 1995, and even greater number of companies moved out of Quebec. But after 1995, the federal government gave several choice contracts to Quebec, as well as dramatically increasing money under the "equalization program".
The federal government collected taxes under corporate income tax, personal income tax, and other taxes that are equal in all provinces. But most of that money came from provinces with a strong economy. Money paid as "equalization" was paid directly to provincial governments. This meant more money was collected in taxes from wealthy provinces than poor provinces, but proportionately poor provinces got more. Again, this was supposed to be temporary, until developing provinces could support themselves. But provinces have become dependant on the handouts. And if you trace the money, that meant money from Ontario and Alberta subsidized Quebec.
Then globalization gutted Canada's manufacturing sector. Ontario was hit hard. This left Alberta as the only strong economy. Then environmentalists demanded end to oil, and all fossil fuels. Ironically, this environmental movement was strongest in Quebec. So stop and think about this: Quebec was being bribed to stay in Canada with money coming from Alberta. But at the same time, Quebec wanted to destroy Alberta's economy.
In 2006, the Conservative party was elected to the federal government. Before this, the only parties to be elected were either the Liberal party, or the Progressive Conservative party. Rich businessmen and old-money elites in southern Ontario and southern Quebec subsidized both parties, ensured they effectively controlled both parties. One writer for a Canadian national newspaper called them the "Laurentian Consensus", named for the Saint Lawrence river. But due to stuff that happened in the 1980s, ending in 1993, the Progressive Conservative party fell apart. The conservative movement struggled for years. Managed to put itself back together as the Conservative party, and got elected in 2006. But he new Conservative party had a base in Alberta. The Laurentian Consensus didn't like the fact they weren't in control. So once the Liberal party got elected in 2015, one objective was to destroy the economy of Alberta, ensure no "upstart" party ever got elected again. But after the political shake-up in 1993-2006, the only two major parties were the Liberal and Conservative. The Laurentian Consensus wants to ensure one of those two parties never gets elected again. That means a single party state. Canada doesn't work that way.
So many people in Alberta resent the federal government using environmental excuses to destroy the economy of Alberta. Actions taken go way beyond any reasonable environmental action. What's going on is to destroy Alberta in such a way that it will never be the base for a political party that holds power in Canada.
There has been resentment in western provinces against southern Ontario and Quebec. This resentment started with history from when Canada was formed. (won't get into that) There was a western separatist movement since the early 1960s, but it was a tiny fringe group that never got any attention. But since the Liberals got elected in 2015, that movement has grown in Alberta. Now, Alberta's economy is primarily paying for the "bribe" payments to Quebec, and Alberta resents it. At the same time, draconian overbearing federal regulation has hindered Alberta's economy. Many people in Alberta have said this has to stop! NOW!!! This has resulted in a growing separatist movement.
At this time, Alberta separatists are still a minority, but a large and loud-mouth minority. They have demanded a referendum to separate Alberta from Canada. Separatists control or influence a significant part of the political base for the current provincial Premier of Alberta. She doesn't want Alberta to separate, but a flat "no" would alienate her political base. So she is now attempting a trick. There will be a referendum, whether to hold a referendum. Yes, the current referendum is not whether Alberta will separate. The current referendum is whether to hold a referendum to separate. Certain individuals in Ontario who believe Ontario should be in control, resent the fact any referendum is being held. As a result, Canadian mainstream media is strongly against the Premier of Alberta.
Canada's new federal Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has changed policies somewhat. He will allow Alberta to build another oil pipeline. Instead of the federal government creating regulations that flatly prevent any such pipeline, there is now effort to build one. And regulations to hinder Alberta's oil industry are being eased. Not completely lifted, just eased enough to appease Alberta. But Mark Carney is trying to please Alberta just enough to not separate, while pleasing Quebec enough to continue to vote for his party. And Mark Carney comes from the old-money elite himself, so he wants to appease them as well.
And now things get worse. Donald Trump has said he wants all of Canada to join the US. And Trump said he wants to use economic pressure to force Canada to do it. So Trump is sending operatives to stir up trouble with Alberta separatists, while creating economic problems that make Alberta resent what the federal government is doing to defend Canada from those same tariffs. Trump's team believes Alberta is the most likely province to separate from Canada, and if Alberta separates, then it will join the US. All Alberta separatists that I've spoken with say there's no way they would join the US, they want to be an independent country. But I've seen social media try to convince Alberta separatists to join the US.
If Alberta were to separate, they would actually be in a lot of trouble. Because they're land-locked. No ocean access. The province of BC is between Alberta and the Pacific ocean. The Trans-Mountain pipeline has been twinned, and the oil terminal in Burnaby has been expanded. Burnaby is right beside Vancouver. And there's a natural gas pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast farther north. Both pipelines are operational, both sea terminals are operational. But if BC remains in Canada, what happens? The current Premier of BC is anti-oil. The pacific coast of BC is as strongly environmental as the pacific coast of California. Inland BC, that is inland of the Rocky Mountains, is as Conservative as Alberta. But the large population is in and around Vancouver, on the Pacific coast.
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#2 Today 06:23:14
- tahanson43206
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- Registered: 2018-04-27
- Posts: 25,272
Re: Politics - Alberta
This post is reserved for an index to posts that may be contributed by NewMars members.
Many thanks to RobertDyck for providing a thorough historical grounding for this topic.
Index:
Post #3: Google Map showing Alberta above Montana
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#3 Today 06:31:52
- tahanson43206
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- Registered: 2018-04-27
- Posts: 25,272
Re: Politics - Alberta
This post will attempt to show a map of Alberta
The first attempt with data:image/jpeg failed. Google Maps came through, showing Alberta above Montana.
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