DOUG CHRISTIE SPEAKS: THE WESTERN BLOCK PARTY PART 2

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NOMINATION NEWS 

The Western Block Party has nominated Patricia O'Brien as its candidate in the BC riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands.

DOUG CHRISTIE SPEAKS: THE WESTERN BLOCK PARTY PART 1

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DOUG CHRISTIE ON WESTERN BLOCK PARTY WESTERN TOUR 2008 (SASKATOON, LEDUC, CALGARY, REGINA, AUGUST 1-6)

These small but vigorous meetings saw the appearance of many new and encouraging members. I realize that great movements depend on the events of history. But we are ahead of the events that are soon to come. The “Green Shift” will inevitably win support in Ontario and Quebec. Stéphane Dion is well on his way to the return to power the Liberals always make. There is a likely federal election in October or November. Then a Liberal majority is possible, and a Liberal minority is likely. Back to the same old game of Ontario and Quebec calling all the expenditures and raising Western taxes. The National Energy Policy is a new form can and will repeat history. It will all be wrapped up in a green mask.

The new members of the Western Block Party are the wave of the future. History will prove us right. I congratulate you on your brave and free decision to join the Western Block. Together we can change the course of history and build a new nation on a firm and just foundation.

Yours for Independence,
Douglas Christie
Leader
Western Block Party

MEET THE NEW (WOULD BE) BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

(As the following article from 2001 demonstrates, the Liberal Party has always been keen to stick it to the West. Did somebody say "Green Shift"?)

The West As Spoiled Teenager
Chretien adds insult to injury by saying the region that rejected him needs 'tough love' 
Kevin Michael Grace
The Report
January 21, 2001

If Jean Chretien and western Canada were a couple and had a song, it would be the Crystals' "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)." As that oldie but goodie explains, "He couldn't stand to hear me say/That I'd been with someone new." Western Canadian voters have been with someone new--the Canadian Alliance--and demon lover Chretien knows just what they need: "Cause when he took me in his arms/With all the tenderness there is/He hit me, and he made me feel/Baby won't you stay..." 

Asked during a Global TV interview December 22 why the Liberals had won only 17 seats in the West, Mr. Chretien replied, "You have to realize that when you vote [for] a national government, you vote to deal with the national problems and not always look only from a local perspective but look at it on the national perspective. I used the 'tough love' theory in Quebec and I still have a lot of scars on my political body for that, but I've been persistent and we managed to have 4.5% more in the popular vote." 

Mr. Chretien had hit the West, but it didn't feel like a kiss. The West was thinking about calling the battered spouse hotline. Within the last six months, Mr. Chretien had declared that he did not like working with westerners because they are "different." After all, they supported the Alliance, which Mr. Chretien and Liberal cabinet minister Elinor Caplan had compared to neo-Nazis. 

A parental help Web site explains: "The concept of responsible parental love has been developed by Phyllis and David York in their publication Toughlove: A Self-Help Manual For Parents Troubled By Teen-Age Behavior. It represents a firm, caring solution for families torn apart by completely unacceptable and 'acting-out' behavior...'Tough' love means giving teens clear-cut rules and reasonable limits and expecting them to abide by them." So westerners are the stupefied adolescents of the Canadian family: sulking in their basement, refusing to do chores, mooching off hard-working parents and "acting out" with swastika tattoos. 

Westerners have reacted to macho Mr. Chretien with bemusement. Canada West Foundation president Roger Gibbins comments, "It's a very odd concept to apply to the West. I interpret tough love in Quebec as the tough part being hard on constitutional issues, like the Clarity Act, accompanied by very significant financial infusions, which is the love part. In the West there's no particular cry for special economic benefits and no inclination that the federal government would move in that direction." 

National Citizens' Coalition president Stephen Harper responds, "I think Chretien just doesn't care. You've got to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada: people who live in ghettoes and who are not integrated into western Canadian society." 

It is expected that Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stephane Dion will reprise the tough love capo role he played to Mr. Chretien's satisfaction in his home province of Quebec, and will begin lecturing the West about federalism's myriad benefits. Mr. Harper argues, "It almost confirms the argument that Ottawa treats western Canada as a foreign country. Now we have an ambassador! Our representative is not somebody from here; it's somebody from there." 

University of Calgary political science professor Thomas Flanagan says, "If Dion actually attempts to do this--coming out here to tell us that we are heavily taxed so that Quebec can get large transfer payments--it will make things worse. But my concern is not so much that we might have to endure some lectures but that if we are moving into a recession, if the government is strapped for money again, they're going to come looking for it in the West." 

International trade agreements rule out another National Energy Program, but there are other ways to gut the western cat. Last year's row between then-Newfoundland premier (now Industry Minister) Brian Tobin and Alberta Premier Ralph Klein revealed that the Atlantic premiers think Alberta insufficiently "sharing." In other words, the net transfer of $3,000 every Alberta man, woman and child pays every year is not enough. Alberta Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Shirley McClellan does not rule out her province's participation in any such talks. "Alberta has always believed in a strong and united Canada, in a federalism that works. We have tried to work hard with Mr. Dion to see that our position is clearly understood. We've supported equalization and never complained, but we want our constitutional rights respected, and we want fairness." 

B.C. premier-in-waiting Gordon Campbell takes a harder line. "The B.C. Liberal Party has a responsibility to the people of B.C. to speak up for our province and say what's best for it," he says. "Shipping billions to federal coffers and getting $13.4 million back--that's not the way confederation should work." He argues that B.C. and Alberta should "speak with a strong and united western voice" and advises the Atlantic provinces to "reflect on the successes they've seen in Alberta." 

Alliance MP Rob Anders contends it is insane for Mr. Chretien to facilitate Albertans learning how much they give to Ottawa--and not just in equalization: "We're no drug addicts. If what we were getting before was called love, and whatever we are going to get afterwards is going to be called tough, I think Chretien may be sowing the seeds of western separation." 

Edmontonian Matthew Johnston, president of Teaching Liberty, Inc., says, "Tough love? I think it's great; I think it will help push Alberta out of confederation. The only way we're going to scale back the size and scope of government is by being an independent nation. I think the political culture of Alberta is conducive to a vision of limited government and individual freedom not shared by the rest of the country." Mr. Johnston adds, "I don't want to leave the impression that I oppose or support the existing political efforts to secede. My goal is to work with others to build an intellectual movement." 

Vancouver Sun columnist Barbara Jaffe is worried by such talk. She concluded in a January 5 column, "As someone who grew up with the separatist movement and ultimately left Quebec in large measure because of it, I can only warn in the strongest terms possible against a similar strategy for the West." But then, she's from somewhere else. 

THE NECESSITY OF WESTERN SEPARATISM

Never has there been a time when Western separatism was more necessary. Yet there has never been a time when the Federal government has been more successful than now at convincing Westerners than it was not. The necessity arises out of the conflicting economy between the West and Ontario. Ontario, where all the manufacturing of Canada has been traditionally subsidized to keep the Liberals in power, faces deep layoffs. They are so dependent on both Federal subsidies of one kind or another and the American market, that they were doomed with America’s decline. The West, on the other hand, is a resource-based economy, and its commodities are now in intense worldwide demand. From oil to water, to wheat, to wood fibre and all the minerals, the West has an abundant surplus. Uranium, the source of clean energy, is a new market demand. Saskatchewan and Alberta are booming. The need to equalize the Western surplus with the Ontario deficit has never been greater, what with oil approaching $1.50 per barrel.

Then we look at the political reality, and we are astonished. The so-called Conservatives having reneged on their electoral promises—from scrapping the gun registry to a Triple E Senate—have all but capitulated to Ontario and Quebec. Just like the Liberals, but unlike the Liberals they are not faced with a revolt in the West. They are perceived as a Western Canadian party with a Western leader. After Maxime Bernier misplaced his documents, no Westerner could take his place. It was another Quebecker as a matter of necessity. Mr. Harper must consistently cater to Quebec and Ontario. So equalization in the West pays, and the East benefits. The Conservatives have even enhanced equalization. In short, everything necessary to win Quebec and Ontario can be done and must be done. The West simply says nothing. Were all the concessions made by a Liberal from Quebec or Ontario, the West would be alive with outrage.

Maybe the Federalists would be more effective with a Western leader who acted as the West’s false friend. Someone you trust, who speaks your language, knows your heart and pretends to assist you. Stephen Harper is that false friend.

False friends can also readily confuse allegiances and loyalties. This is the evident state of our own Western political scene. The Green Party, which claims to love the earth (maybe more than people), is gaining strength. The basic reason is the absence of real clarity on the issues brought about by the false labelling of political parties. The Conservatives aren’t conservative; the Liberals aren’t liberal; the Greens aren’t green; and the NDP are against them all. It appears confusion reigns over all.

The sea change will happen when Mr. Obama is elected President of the United States. Then we will see the American Empire in full retreat and the collapse of American hegemony around the world. Ontario’s situation will go from serious to critical and demands for money and assistance in a multicultural chaos will emerge from Toronto and with the right “Conservative” leader the West will pay again for national unity.

At times like these it is the media that makes the difference. The media generally follows the trend of popular opinion, particularly when the popular will is moved by a groundswell of support. It is clear that the Establishment did not favour Mr. Obama. The Canadian Establishment to which Mr. Harper must bow demands aid for Ontario and Quebec.

My conclusion of this analysis is as follows:

1. Just as Mr. Obama defied the expectations of the Establishment, Mr. Harper will fail by satisfying the expectations of the Establishment.

2. The success of the Federal Conservatives has demonstrated both Canada’s failure as a cohesive nation as well as the futility of Federalist politics to achieve the old Reform Party goal of “The West Wants In.”

3. We can see how Ottawa has corrupted the Conservative Party by its constant need to compromise.

4. Separation is the only way to overcome the corruption of Ottawa.

5. The Western Block Party has the capability to solve all these problems by bringing Western Canadians together in one movement to create the awareness of the need for a new nation and the rational climate to create it.

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