The separatist venom on talk radio is alarming. For many weeks now, since the election in June, I have been astonished by the dangerous logic in foolish separatist proposals.
If Western Canada really did separate from the rest of the country, it would have the opposite of the intended effect, which is to stick it to those Easterners.
Westerners would do better to direct their energies in the opposite direction, by striking Easterners where they’d feel it the most – in the pocketbook. Even better, the best way to show a neighbour that you aren’t the ogre he thinks you are would be to invite him to stay over. Both could be achieved at the same time.
One of the big problems with the separatist agenda (apart from the silliness of putting a fence along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border) is that in the end, it will involve either joining the United States or becoming an insignificant low-population country.
In the former case, Albumia (as it has been called) will have the political sway of Washington state and Montana, hardly an improvement in influence. Our real estate could collapse as head offices of many large American subsidiaries would have to move to Ontario to stay within Canadian law, and many others would simply seek the warmer climate south of the 49th parallel.
No, joining the U.S.A. does not comfort people who care about the economic well-being of these parts.
The West’s other option would be to become a tiny country, population-wise. We might keep some head offices, but they’d be smaller.
And in the end, as a tiny country with lots of natural resources, we’d become a banana republic that would find it even harder than it is already to get noticed by large, non-energy investment, where much of our economic hope rests today.
Instead, to address the isolation that many Westerners feel, we need to get the ear of Ottawa, not cut it off. So, why is it that Ottawa pays such heed to Central Canada? It really comes down to votes.
Quebec and Ontario seats in Parliament outnumber B.C. and Alberta’s allotment by a ratio greater than two to one (181 to 64). So those two provinces have more than twice as much say in Ottawa. Politicians would be stupid to ignore such a chunk of their constituents.
In effect, Alberta and B.C. are rump provinces. A rump is important, because when it hurts it’s a pain in the ass.
The key to improving B.C.’s and Alberta’s status in Canada rests in overcoming our population deficiencies by stimulating migration from Ontario and Quebec to Alberta and B.C.
The best way to accomplish this is by attracting the businesses that hire their workers in Eastern Canada (versus scaring them away with extremist rhetoric). If we bring jobs here, people will follow.
But convincing those businesses to move here will take money. Look at the financial lures that Ontario and Ottawa offer auto manufacturers, Canada’s biggest employers. Remember one week before the election when Paul Martin, threw $100 million at Ford to save a plant in Oakville? Alberta has the resources to play that game, too.
With its lack of debt and huge oil and gas resources, Alberta will hold the trump card for a few more decades. The province can outbid any jurisdiction in this country that wants to play the subsidy game.
B.C., by contrast, has substantial debt and could not afford the same level of subsidy as Alberta, but it does have ports and access to world markets.
With many new head offices here (moving the head offices along with manufacturing operations would have to be the condition for multi-billion-dollar grants), we could build a long-term legacy with our naturally limited oil and gas.
And once the big employers move out here, the banks will surely follow, and Bay Street will fade in favour of West Georgia Street or Stephen Avenue.
Now that’s a way to irritate Ontario – buy their manufacturing sector.
It would cost astronomical sums of money, the kind of financial commitment that scares separatists. If talk radio has taught me anything, it’s that the same people who whine about the East also whine about high taxes and debt and such – the encumbrances that go with wooing big business.
Separatist invective is self-defeating. Already there are many well-capitalized companies (apart from oil and gas), such as WestJet thriving in the West because of the attractive entrepreneurial environment here. We don’t have to accelerate what’s already happening – but it’s food for thought.
If Western separatists had any foresight, they’d see that buying Ontario’s manufacturing sector is one way to relieve grievances with Ottawa.
Maybe they should turn off their radios.
