Thoughts on BC Politics and More

A lberta sovereigntists rallied at the Alberta Legislature on Saturday, days after the federal Liberals, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, secured another term and shortly after Premier Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party tabled legislation to make a independence easier. Approximately 700 sovereigntists were met by about 50 indigenous counter-protesters and their allies. Speeches advocating for independence were delivered from the legislature steps, while indigenous opponents used a sound system and megaphone to broadcast counter-narratives. At one point, an indigenous elder used a megaphone to amplify sounds she described as representing rape, emphasizing opposition to sovereignty and colonialism. The counter-protest focused on historical abuses against indigenous people and resistance to the sovereigntist agenda ... CLICK HERE for the full story  

... generations of Westerners have fought to reform Canada to make its institutions more representative of the country as it is, not as it was before the settling of the West. As hard and as passionately as they have fought, they failed. So be it. Now it's up to Eastern Canada. If confederation means anything at all to Eastern Canadians beyond a mechanism to redistribute Western resources, it's their move. Meanwhile, the only honourable course left to those of us who love freedom and Western Canada is to face this fact. We must admit that we have a federal government that does not practice federalism. It preaches rights but practices coercion. It promises to build, but all it produces is debt ... CLICK HERE for the full editorial

Should Western Canada leave confederation? That is a conundrum for many people living west of the Manitoba – Ontario border and also for Northern Ontario. For most Ontarians living west of Atikokan, Winnipeg is the closest major city and the go-to destination for shopping. That portion of Ontario is resource-rich and energy poor. The issue is that central Canada has never considered Atlantic or Western provinces as other than useful hinterlands. We have to recognize 153 years of exclusion and discrimination. We need to formalize the exclusion, make it real, and get on with our lives. Consider the makeup of our Senate for verification. Constitutionally, the Senate is comprised of four divisions. Atlantic provinces with 30 seats (6 seats for Newfoundland added in 1949), Western provinces with 24 seats, Quebec with 24 seats, and Ontario with 24 seats. Ontario and Quebec were set up as Senate divisions, while other provinces share divisions. Western provinces have six Senate seat...

Encana’s gone. As have thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment capital in Alberta over the past decade. And with a minority Liberal government in Ottawa, it feels like things can only get worse – not only on the energy file, but for all of Canada. Stewart Muir, Executive Director of Vancouver-based  Resource Works ,  posted last week this must-read piece on what the federal election means for energy and unity  in Canada. Here’s what he says the Liberal resource sector policies, including C69 and C48, have done so far: “ We know for a fact that in 2018 alone, 37 major projects worth $77 billion were cancelled in Canada. The CEO of Enbridge recently stated that more than $30 billion in investment has been lost due to major pipeline projects being cancelled or stalled. The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy said that pipeline capacity constraints mean $14 billion a year in lost revenue per year ”. “ Today,...