It has always seemed that the more serious threats of separation in Canada come from the West. There have been times when you barely had to scratch the surface in Calgary to find another cowboy or cowgirl who would rather partner up with the folks to the south. There are even people out in Victoria who want the people in Vancouver and the mainland to go and suck eggs. They want Vancouver Island to be its own province.
Heck, we have even been in that fight in Toronto. The city is virtually impossible to govern under the direct and oppressive supervision of the province. It would be much easier to fund and govern if it had the powers of a province. You can easily imagine the laughter from the members of the provincial parliament when you suggest that change.
It is similar to the point that Montreal politicians make to Quebec separatists. There is little question that Montreal has solid economic ties to the rest of Canada. It is like in the recent unfortunate Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, Greater London voted heavily to stay with the European Union as the city has the most to lose in cutting ties with Europe.
Scotland and Northern Ireland also voted in favour of the European Union but it is easier for them to assert their own direction than it would be for Greater London. As any marriage counselor can tell you, a wedding can often be a whim but a break-up had better be thought about. And it is very hard to say sorry after throwing the contents of the spouse’s closet on the front lawn.
In looking at the current separatist movement on Vancouver Island, it might be a bit hard to take these movers and shakers seriously. It is led by a former Conservative Member of Parliament from Toronto. Since it is rare for a Toronto electoral district to elect a Conservative, he is at least getting a hearing. He is offering voters a typically pie-in-the-sky Libertarian mishmash of promises and a vague possibility of him being premier of the Island Province sometime in the future.
But we would take it much more seriously if Alberta and British Columbia teamed up and threatened to separate if Ottawa tries to stop them from building another four or five pipelines over the Rockies. Alberta would have to share the loot from the Athabasca and Cold Lake tar sands with B. C. but with Ottawa out of the tax loop, there should be more than enough to share.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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