Don’t write off Western anger as ‘alienation’
— it runs a whole lot deeper: Calgary professor
Amanda Connolly ~~ National Online Journalist
(Politics) ~~ Global News ~~ 05/05/19
Writing off Western anger over federal energy policies as “alienation”
is overly simplistic — it runs a whole lot deeper than that, one professor
argues.
In an interview with the West Block‘s Mercedes Stephenson, political
scientist Barry Cooper from the University of Calgary said the term minimizes
the frustrations of Albertans and Western Canadians while at the same time
showing that those in Ottawa are failing to grasp the underlying anger.
“There’s been a long train of abuses on Western Canada,” said Cooper, who
was also thesis adviser to Stephenson.
“It’s not alienation. That’s what Laurentian Canadians project as a kind
of psychological problem that Western powers have [but] they understand
perfectly well that their interests are not being looked after by the Government
of Canada. Simple as that.”
The
anger runs far beyond the borders of Alberta, and is much deeper than the petroleum
industry and pipelines. Overall, income increases have been lagging behind cost
of living increases. People find that they have less disposable income with
each passing year.
We
were promised that there would be tax relief for the ‘middle class’. Four years later, no one can define this ‘middle class’. Why is it an enigma?
Surely the government knew what income levels it was targeting.
Federal,
and provincial, carbon taxes are pushing far too many Canadians nearer to
insolvency. That is particularly galling when governments continue to post
deficits, driving up debt while preaching to taxpayers that they have to reduce
personal debt levels.
Wage
earners are distressed when governments are giving their money to support
corporations, and major infrastructure projects, in central Canada and to
foreign nations. Tens of millions here, hundreds of millions there and billions
in some instances.
The result is $20
billions in annual debt and nothing tangible in terms of tax relief.
Where Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, and company
went off the rails was in telling us that the carbon tax aims at forcing us to
use less fossil fuels to heat our homes, supply us with hot water, cook our
meals, drive our vehicles and afford groceries and clothing that are all
brought to us by fossil fueled vehicles.
We did
not elect a government to control us and to regulate how we live.
That
has offended millions of us who value our rights, freedoms and democracy.
We
will not be dictated to by ideologues who don’t give a damn that the federal
government is not attending to its constitutional responsibilities.
In the
recent Saskatchewan case respecting carbon taxes, the government wrapped itself
in the flag of “Peace, Order and Good
Government”. The government cannot take credit for the peace we enjoy at
present, so where is the rest of it? We see no evidence of “Order” or “Good
Government”.
Political
parties and politicians are locked in battle while our needs lay unattended in
a ditch.
Candidates
for office in October had better be able to tell us how they plan to fix our
government to stop corporate cronyism, fix the bleeding in spending and treat
all provinces equally and fairly.
The
charade is over. Don’t offer us band-aids to fix the dementia gripping
Ottawa.
John
Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg,
Manitoba
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