Is Western Independence Necessary ??
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Get the hell out then, if a tenth of Alberta is as dumb as you, your "federation" will be in a heap of trouble.
If you ever want to get some people's knickers twisted come to Alberta and tell a bunch of farmers that...
"The NEP was about making Albertans pay for the eastern manufacturers that wouldn't be able to survive otherwise...much like the lack of labour legislation for farm workers is about making them pay for the farmers that wouldn't be able to survive otherwise. When you look at it, farmers have a lot in common with Trudeau"
....I laugh so hard tears run down my leg.
Apparently Droopy wasn't around to experience the Energy Crisis in the 70's otherwise he would have known that OPEC refused to sell to Non-Nationalized companies.
Not the Alberta crew, just the right-wing nutters. You know that Ralph was a card carrying Liberal and only ran for the PCs to get elected.
No, Ralph was not a Libber of any kind, maybe he was before he became Mayor, but after that he was a PC'r.
Remember, he was the one that coined that phrase "Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark" , hahaha, priceless !!!!
Which only proves King Ralph was some one who would shed his skin to the highest bidder. A true Kocksucker.
By his own admission, he was a Liberal Party supporter before he got into politics. He was smart enough to know a Liberal would have a tough time getting elected in Alberta. I would say the PC's were pretty Liberalesque in how they ran the province (under Klein). Government grew during his tenure.
You're kidding, right? Just because the party name is conservative, doesn't mean they actually are. Why do you think the wild rose party is doing as well as they are? It's because the Alberta Conservative Party has moved significantly to the left. There are many disenfranchised right wingers in Alberta that are moving towards the Wild Rose Party because of that fact. Just look at the new Premiers policy's. They are more towards the left than the right.
Ummm, what you mean, helluvan?? Wall was going to win right from the start, it sounds more like a hooo hummm election to me. ND's made a lot of noise but went nowhere..
Ralph Cline was an idiot and everyone knows it they just won't admit it. He engineered
crisis and the threat of one. The Albertans had the heritage fund and in fact it was little
more than a slush fund.
I for one don't have an issue with the concept of a national energy policy. As time goes
on we will need one to survive in a new world starved for energy. I believe it could be
controlled and managed differently than originally put together, but we must have a policy
to ensure we have enough energy for Canadian use in the future.
Western independence is not going to happen anytime soon so not to worry. People in the
west would turn on Alberta the same way they turned on Quebec, a Province that really
pays little more than lip service to the concept anyway.
I do think we would be broken up into a series of regional States of the United States in
a very short time once we decided to end the confederation.
crisis and the threat of one. The Albertans had the heritage fund and in fact it was little
more than a slush fund.
I for one don't have an issue with the concept of a national energy policy. As time goes
on we will need one to survive in a new world starved for energy. I believe it could be
controlled and managed differently than originally put together, but we must have a policy
to ensure we have enough energy for Canadian use in the future.
Western independence is not going to happen anytime soon so not to worry. People in the
west would turn on Alberta the same way they turned on Quebec, a Province that really
pays little more than lip service to the concept anyway.
I do think we would be broken up into a series of regional States of the United States in
a very short time once we decided to end the confederation.
From time to time someone trots out a western separation scheme of varying membership. The one that probably has the most traction in B.C. is Cascadia. The membership varies somewhat depending on who is doing the dog & pony show but basically is B.C., Alberta, Washington and Oregon . Sometimes Montana, Manitoba, Alaska and California are included. There are certain benefits for the west but I doubt it will happen any time soon.
Thats what I said: its the system, more than anything else. Who is in office affects the ebbs and flows through their actions.
That was Trudeau's dream... and one he tried to infringe on constitutional boundaries to implement. The problem with the whole "strong central government" is that it only works if it is flexible enough to deal with disparate populations, which our governments, be they under Trudeau, Mulroney, or Chretien, have not been. Its always been a "my way or the highway" stance from Ottawa, even when Ottawa has no idea of what needs to be done to solve problems in the regions.
Whats good for "all of us" is largely subjective. This type of thinking always turns into "someone has to make sacrifices for the rest of us" which is fine sometimes, but its not OK when it happens too often or the same ones are always being told to make the sacrifices for others.
Yes, this is fearmongering.
Who is this "us"? Canada didn't exist during the War of 1812: it was a collection of British colonies. British regulars and natives won most of the battles to stop the invasion of Canada, not colonial militias. This type of reasoning also says the French attacked us too, and the Spaniards and the Catholic Church and every other enemy England has had.
So is the notion that central Canada has a right to pillage the various regions for its own benefit. Where is the reciprocity?
Except that the italicized statement is crap: most farmers don't have hirelings and own their own operations, so the labour laws don't really apply to them...
You really don't know what you are talking about, do you? Alberta was in a financial mess after the Getty years: that was not manufactured. The Feds threatened to and actually interfered, continually, in areas of provincial jurrisdiction, such as energy and health. Those are CONSTITUTIONAL violations. If the Feds don't want to obey their own constitution, then what hope is there for a nation to be founded on fairness and law? As for Klein, he was a damned good premier as long as he had a battle in front of him: where he lost his way, was he didn't know what to do after his wars against the debt and deficit were won. I'd take him over any sitting premier in the country today and most that were in office during his tenure as well.
So you don't mind the Feds ignoring the constitution and infringing on provincial responsibilities? Good to know where you sit.
To begin with, every single farmer I know has hired men. Here in southern Alberta large farms are the rule. Secondly, It is irrelevant if few, some, most or all farms hire workers, the farm workers are not covered by the same labour laws as the rest of society. Farmers can't afford it. Just like the NEP, the government subsidizes one sector to help another. I just find it amusing that so many that benefit from this when they are on the receiving end, whine so badly when they are not.
Alberta farm workers
""It is simply absurd that investigators from Alberta Occupational Health and Safety were dispatched to investigate the death of these two workers, but had to abandon the investigation and leave the site when they discovered this happened on a farm," said Gil McGowan, president of the AFL, which represents 140,000 workers."
http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/volume14/pdfs/04_barnetson_press.pdf
"In 2006, the majority of Alberta’s 49,431 farms were family-operated sole
proprietorships or partnerships (Canada, 2006a). Only 697 farms were classified
as non-family corporations, although over half of all “family farms” had capital
valued over $500,000, 40% had capital of over $1 million, and nearly 20% had
capital over $2 million. Thirty-five percent of farms reported paid labour, with
18% reporting year-round paid labour and 22% reporting seasonal or temporary
paid labour (Alberta, 2007a)."