Vol. XIX, No. 2 February 2001
The Western Separatist Papers has been published (usually)
monthly by W.S.P. Ltd. since 1983. Address all correspondence to WSP, Box 143, 255 Menzies Street, Victoria, B.C. Western Canada V8V 2G6.
A one-year subscription is $15.00. Members of the Western Canada Concept receive
the WSP with their membership.
Send e-mail to kzubko@shaw.ca. Visit the WCC on the web at: www.westcan.org
Phone us at: 250-727-3438
or fax us at: 250-479-3294
Two communications received this morning put the whole plight of Western Canada into heartbreaking perspective. The first was from the president of the Alberta Independence Party, demanding that we remove the names of any of their candidates from our website, and do not communicate with them again. This followed the simple offer by Doug Christie to have Cory Morgan speak at a meeting the WCC is holding on March 10<W0>th in Calgary to promote any Western separatist candidates running in the Alberta provincial election. He initially agreed, but was then forced to cancel, saying that he'd lose his entire executive if he did speak. So much for cooperation between the groups who are propounding the same basic concept of independence for Western Canada. (I know it's been argued that the AIP doesn't go far enough, but their intentions are at least pointed in the right direction, “independence.”) We certainly keep trying. Unfortunately, notices about the meetings had already been sent to our supporters, and posted on our website. As it stands now, there will be no AIP candidates at our meetings, although any one of them (and their executive) is cordially invited to attend.
The second phone call came early this morning from one of those breezy central Canadian producers of some talk show, with the responsibility of finding outlandish guests for their show that goes all across Canada, but who has no basic knowledge of the time zones encompassed by this alleged country. (Lucky we get up at 5:00 am!) She was looking for someone to hold up as the archetypal Western separatist, for the media god. As someone once commented, what she was actually looking for was someone willing to stick their head through a toilet seat on camera, just so they could be seen in the media. Her entire tone of voice ridiculed the very idea of Western Canadian separatism, and belied the program's bias. She wondered if we'd even heard of her program, out here in the West.
After comparing the two communications, I reflect on the reasons that the movement for Western Independence travels only in fits and starts. Most people are paralyzed by the thought of what the Central Canadian media might do to them, that they cannot act brave and free (like citizens of a new free nation would) but instead cower in fear that they might be labelled the wrong thing (separatist) or might be associated with the wrong person, who happens to agree about the solution for Western alienation. We continue to be turned against ourselves, while our real adversaries laugh that we'll never succeed. If this continues, they're probably right.
The AIP is obviously afraid of the same thing happening to their fragile new party as happened to Stockwell Day during the last election when Doug Christie had to be evicted from the Alliance to make a big statement for the Central Canadian media, after a Central Canadian politician demanded it be done. No one dares to apply reason, investigate the real issues involved and make a decision based on anything except fear and outrage and response to media pressure.
Fact: Doug Christie has done more than any other lawyer in Canada to preserve the dwindling right of freedom of expression, by defending the most unpopular people whose freedom of expression has been under attack.
Fact: When the state wishes to encroach upon this essential right, it is always the most unpopular people who are the easy targets, and picked off first. Who do you think comes next? It's important to draw the line before it gets too far.
Fact: Doug Christie has stood up for Western Canadian independence since 1974, through every kind of media attack. He's still here, doing that, instead of running away to some island in the sun, where he could live each day with his family in peace and productivity.
Fact: The Central Canadian media will always attack Western separatists (or if you prefer “independence seekers.”) If they have that much power over the minds of Western Canadians, best to throw in the towel now.
Doug doesn't think so. He believes in Western Canada, and the intelligence of each Western Canadian, when presented with the facts. That's why he'll be in Leduc and Calgary, as planned, speaking for the West, whether the AIP candidates are allowed to be there or not.
Keltie Zubko
Things a Separatist Can Do..
To the Editor:
The December/January WSP asked for suggestions for actions that a separatist can take I offer seven very practical ideas:
(1) Cancel subscriptions to left-liberal publications. In BC this means at the very least the Vancouver Sun and the Province. Subscribe to other publications that actively support Western values and the West's culture.
(2) Withdraw from all organizations that support policies
harmful to Western Canada. For example the National Firearms Association
recommends that its members cancel their accounts at the Royal Bank, because the
Royal Bank supports the federal Liberal Party; and as all shooters, hunters and
members of gun clubs know, the Liberal Party is responsible for expensive,
non-productive registration of guns, a policy that affects honest gun owners,
but has no effect on violent criminals who use guns.
More generally, separatists should not belong to or support the federal Liberal
Party because of the Liberals have severely undermined both the wealth and the
basic values that have built the West. For example, the Liberals severely
restrict free speech, a value that is essential to a prosperous democracy.
The Liberals implemented the National Energy Program to appease Ontario and
Quebec, substantially reducing the wealth of the West. The Liberals force
farmers to sell their grain to the wheat boards at a lower rate than the farmer
can earn on the free market; and then even more ominous, the Liberals do not
permit a complete, detailed audit of the financial records of the wheat boards
and even attempt to pass federal legislation protecting all employees of these
boards from legal claims.
Even more obnoxious to the West, the Liberals fully support Indian land claims
which entrench mini-communist nations across Canada, settlements that deprive
individual Indians ownership of land and declare that group ownership controlled
by band councils as policy that will permit Indians to prosper. Group ownership
did not work for the communists and it will not work for the Indians. In short,
separatists do not support the Liberals.
(3) Add “Western Canada” to your address label. This is a practical method to remind yourself and others that Western Canada's cause is possible.
(4) Use imperial measures, not the French metric system in day-to-day usage. Most people in the West continue to use yards, feet, inches and miles in their daily lives, despite the official and even the school system's promotion of the metric system. And why not? The United States uses the imperial system and 80% of Canada's trade is with the U.S. The issue is preservation of culture, and part of the culture of the West is the imperial system.
(5) Contribute generously to political parties and organizations that support the independence of the West, even the values and culture of the West. To acquire the funds to contribute generously, separatists must practice frugal and conservative financial concepts.
(6) As a theme of Western independence, become aware and daily conscious of the culture of the West. And at every opportunity, protect that culture and promote it. Therefore, never purchase products of publications that even slightly undermine that culture. Be aware and active.
(7) As special interest groups have known and long
practiced, a defined group or culture group must vigorously support its authors
and the publishers of those authors. Indeed, support the writers and publishers
who research the values and culture of Western Canada. Here are a few examples:
Our Home or
Native Land? By Mel Smith; The Truth About Immigration, by M.
Taylor; Here We
Go Again, by Doug Collins; The
Monstrous Trick, by K. McDonald; Taking
Journalism Seriously: Objectivity as a Partisan Cause, by R.H. Reeb,
Jr.; Losing our
Language, by S. Stotsky; The
Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith;
The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, by T.
Bethell; The War
Against the Family, by W. Gairdner; The Betrayal of Liberalism, by H.
Kramer and R. Kimball; and After
Liberalism, by W. Gairdner. Indeed, separatists, purchase books that
research and think about the culture of Western Canada, and purchase books in
general which support the basics of Western culture, the culture to date that
has been the most successful in history.
A. Muir
N. Vancouver, B.C.
A Western Canadian Comments
To the Editor:
Greetings. After looking up your web site, I find it pleasing to find more people who like-minded regarding the manner in which our Ontario based government treats the other provinces.
I was born in Saskatchewan, and raised in Nakusp, B.C., and over the years I have seen the continuing erosion of any rights we as individuals and as a society have left, sold out to large Eastern based corporations and to the United States.
The Columbia River Treaty was the first major mistake in my lifetime; anyone who studies even the major points of the treaty know that it was written with the foresight of three-year-old child (our government) dealing with a Hollywood talent agent. People in government who are so easily led and eager to forward their own personal interests at the expense of others should serve hard time in a prison somewhere in deep Russia.
I have seen the fisheries on both coasts dwindle and fail with only token efforts from our centralized government to help them diversify and make positive adjustments; the West-coast fisheries are only slightly better at this time than those who have been decimated in Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. Ours too, is doomed to fail completely with the biased arrangements being signed regularly.
The forest industry, through mismanagement and one-way deals is also a wreck. There is less than ten more years of logging in British Columbia left if we continue to harvest and replant at the rate we are going.
NAFTA should be scrapped completely. The United States forwarded and signed this treaty only on the basis that it would benefit them, with no ill effects. Every time a portion of NAFTA hurt any portion of a local state's economy, the local governors rallied with embargoes and other means to force amendments to the treaty such that only Canadians were hurt, not their local constituents. Under this treaty, we do not own our water, the United States has rights to every drop, and we have no say in the matter (a local joke in Nakusp was “flush twice, the Americans want more water this week”).
I have also read detractors of separation saying that the Americans will send in the military under the guise of the UN to protect their water interests. These same people, strangely enough, are from Ontario, and in my opinion, are simply trying to back those clowns they put in office.
Oil and gas, here's another one. Taxes collected from oil and gas flow to Ottawa to support more government programs with employees hired in Ontario and Quebec.
The GST can't be scrapped, not with the current contract the Federal Government has with its employees. Under the current and all subsequent contracts, Federal Government employees cannot be fired - they have to be transferred to another post and/or educated for another government job (this is the ultimate job, great pay, you can't be fired - ever, and you don't have to work!)
If the GST is truly scrapped, the Federal Government will have to come up with some way of providing all these people jobs; maybe they are planning for it, these same people would have to administrate the paperwork for gun control (don't even get me started about that Fascist idea!)
Farming and the farming industry; no young person in their right mind would want to farm. Not only are the farmers getting less and less for there crops, maintenance and inputs are higher every year – the margins are slimmer every minute, therefore farms have to get bigger and bigger, employing fewer and fewer just to earn a profit.
The recent layoff of 3000 employees at the Chrysler plant in Ontario is truly a shame, it made National news for over a week. I do not wish anyone who earns their keep and has to support a family any ill, though it is a sign of the times these days, something that has been going on in the West for years now.
How much media coverage was there when Flexi-Coil (a major farm implement manufacturer), laid off 400-odd employees in Saskatoon? I think that 400-job loss hurt the province of Saskatchewan far more than those lost in Ontario. Now, if Chrysler wants that plant to stay open, tear down the “Daimler-Chrysler” sign and put up one that says “Bombardier”, I am positive Federal money would be there within the week and everyone would probably have a raise.
As far as how we would fare without Ontario and Quebec, we can't lose. If we are on our own, we can negotiate our own treaties with the West in mind. Our “Crown Land” taxes would be null, that same money could be injected back into concrete programs to develop industry and repair the flaws in our social programs. Our tax dollars would support programs here locally, not subsidising the rail companies, Bombardier or hotels in Quebec.
If we join the United States, the treaties again would have to be reviewed, though as American citizens we would be part of the interests of Washington D.C. and would need to benefit from it. Even if we don't separate, and a referendum shows serious interest, maybe Federal money will begin to flow our way for once.
Two years ago, I contacted Statistics Canada and requested the statistic on what percentage of every Federal tax dollar collected goes back to the province of its source. After many months of phone calls, I was told such a statistic would not be made available.
Again, we can't lose. As for the path to separation, let's support Quebec's bid first. Once they have separated, Ontario would be weakened substantially, our military (of which the majority of the officers are French) would have the majority of the French speaking soldiers and personnel will have migrated back to Quebec, and allowing us free reign, with Ontario/our government unable to enforce any other bids to leave Confederation (besides, our Navy is in the West Edmonton Mall).
Isolating Ontario is the path that would be the most effective means of turning the tides. The only real great loss in an Independent Quebec and West would be those poor souls on the East coast who get screwed every time Ottawa signs a piece of paper. Here's to independence.
Daryl Thompson
Elrose, Saskatchewan
Continuing Support from Quebec
To the Editor:
I wholeheartedly support your separatist party. Like you, I used to be a strong federalist who got disgusted by the arrogance of the central government.--and the Trudeau's and the Chretien's...
I also believe in the Quebec separatist movement and I would advocate the same principles as those you stated in Doug Christie's newspaper article ; except, of course, I would substitute English for the word “French.” I have always advocated the same rights for all Canadians, regardless of race, colour or ethnic background.
Long life to your party, and I hope you will be successful. All it takes is 50% +1. Bill C-20 is unconstitutional. If the Fed won with 50% +1 during the Quebec referendum of 1995, the same should apply to you. Good luck.
André Bazinet
St-Bruno, Qc
P.S. If you succeed, it will undoubtedly help us to follow suit. Excuse my grammatical mistakes; I'm not used to write in English.
An American Comments
To the Editor:
I happened to come across your webpage the other day, the Western Canada Concept. I must say it is very interesting. I am an American, and until quite recently I was under the impression that Canada, our “sister country” to the north, was much like my own country. However, the more I learn about Canada, the more I realize that it is not a truly free country.
People have been kicked off of the TV and radio airwave because of their opinions. Their opinions! I was shocked. How can Canada not have free speech? Then I learned that the entire Canadian government in Ottawa could be elected from just two Provinces, Ontario and Quebec. Naturally the question arose, “Why do the other Provinces put up with this?”
Then I found your site. It seems only logical to me that the Western Provinces (not to mention the Atlantic Provinces) would consider secession.
I can't help but wonder why these Provinces would form their own country, however. I believe that joining the United States would be preferable, for both the USA and the Western Provinces. Raw materials and agricultural products from the Western Provinces would have free and unhindered access to the largest single market in the world.
These Provinces would be part of the recognized “leader of the free world.” They would send representative to the most important legislature in the world. The Western Provinces of Canada are not given proper representation in the Canadian legislature, while as part of the United States, they would have a number of Representatives in proportion to their population and each would elect two Senators, the same as every other state. Alberta would have as much representation in the US Senate as New York or California.
I have read that there are over nine million gun owners in Canada. What do Canadians have to protect their right to own firearms? If I'm not mistaken, they have nothing. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Think this isn't important? Ask somebody who lives in the backwoods of the Yukon if they can survive without their gun.
The US government will not shove French into the throats of its citizens. There are many other reasons that US-Canadian unification benefits both the US and the Provinces, but I think you get the idea.
Best Regards,
J. A. Hunley
The Western Separatist Papers welcomes your letters to the editor. Please send them to P.O. Box 143, 255 Menzies St., Victoria, B.C. V8V 2G6, or by fax to 250-479-3294, or by email to kzubko@home.com .
The man who can right himself by a vote will seldom resort to a musket.
James Fenimore Cooper, The American Democrat, 1838
Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my hand and my heart to this vote.
Daniel Webster, Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, Aug. 2, 1826
*Frequently Asked Questions
This is a question frequently asked by the typical brainwashed Canadian who feels the first twinges of insecurity. It is a question based on a false premise. This false premise is typical of the fraudulent deception Canadian politicians routinely practice on the blind and gullible masses. This is the false premise: Canada has a huge bank account where it put all the taxes, pension contributions, unemployment insurance contributions, Canada pension plan contributions etc. And if we separate Ottawa will just keep all our pension funds.
The truth is Ottawa has no surplus funds. All pension contributions, etc. have long since gone, subsumed into general revenue. The even more awesome truth is that all general revenue has also been spent for years into the future if one considers the national debt. That is the amount that Ottawa has spent in the past more than it took in revenues. For this reason all pensions are really paid from two sources, borrowed money and taxes which have yet to be collected.
So you see your pension is being paid by the tax payers of your province. They are not paid by Ottawa. Those tax dollars you send to Ottawa only come back at a far lower rate than they are paid. If you live in Alberta, for every dollar you give Ottawa, about 30 cents comes back. You pay the pensions of people in other provinces as well as your own.
In British Columbia too, taxes leave BC to Ottawa and less than that comes back. We pay the pensions of Central and Eastern Canada. If we separated we would simply pay our own pensions with our own tax dollars as we do now but better, quicker, cheaper.
by Douglas Christie
There is an urgent necessity for our members throughout Western Canada to actively organize, to obtain and support candidates, to present a new vision of a nation of Western Canada. We must become free of all the oppression, corruption, heavy taxation, political correctness, destructive immigration policies, re-distribution of wealth, and equalization processes so typical of the old Canada. These have always been run from Quebec and Ontario, for Quebec and Ontario, and for once we have the opportunity to be free of all that, and to build our nation, true to ourselves, founded upon individual liberty and not group rights.
Canada has sunken to a society of collective victims, where your rights are dependent upon your victim status, and the group to which you belong. This sick mentality is at the root and core of the problems of Canada. Western Canadian individualism founded on the concepts of individual initiative, of freedom and self-reliance, is the essential solution that distinguishes Western Canadian separatists from those self-seekers in the existing parties who betray the interest of all Western Canadians to satisfy the few who reach the top of their political parties.
For this reason, independent candidates who represent separation as the option that they desire, are a much better alternative than affiliations with existing parties. This is especially true since the commitment to sign and promote a “yes” vote in a referendum petition which we have circulated, is a clear commitment which is evidence in writing of a profound moral stand. Any candidate who will sign that document is indicating to the world that they believe in creating the nation of Western Canada, free and independent from that which has been the tradition of Canada.
This is a far better option than trying to agree on a thousand and one minute political positions or “policies” that are fabricated every day by existing parties to try and win the votes of one group or another with false promises and manipulative words. Our objective is to achieve independence and thereafter to build a constitutional foundation that gives fair representation to all parts of our country, so that decisions can be made that truly reflect our will and by the right of referendum, initiative and recall, those politicians who are elected in Western Canada can be checked and balanced by the will of the people if they stray too far from that which the people desire.
We can build a better system. We can do a better job. We can be a more prosperous, free, independent and beautiful nation in Western Canada than we ever could achieve in Canada itself. This realization is the biggest hurdle over which we must leap. In order to overcome the lethargy, apathy and despair that permeates much of the common person's mind in Western Canada. For this reason the opportunity that the Alberta and British Columbia elections offer, is enormous.
There is huge voter apathy and indifference, and even anger at the existing political parties. They constitute the biggest examples of vote-fraud. Particularly the NDP in BC who won the last election by the clearest demonstration of fraudulent means. Lies and deceit are common currency of political parties, both internally and with the rest of the populous, at large. The Western Canada Concept, the movement that advocates independence, wants independence, and has a means to achieve it through its petition, will play a vital role in finding and supporting candidates who as individuals, commit themselves to achieve a “yes”, a successful “yes” vote for a referendum that they will initiate once they are elected to office. By this means, members of any party or individuals as such may choose to be candidates and receive our support because they stand for the most important principle for which we stand, that of a free and independent nation of Western Canada.
Let us each and every one take our Petitions and make sure that every candidate in our riding has been asked personally, face to face, to sign that Petition. If it takes ten visits to a candidate's office to finally meet him or her, and ask if he or she will sign the petition, let us know of their response. For every person who signs that petition we will give our whole-hearted support and publish that support on our website, to which you can refer at any time to determine what candidate in your area is in our view worthy of your support. By this means we will win the election by gathering our friends and supporting them throughout Western Canada. This is a whole, vital, new plan and it encourages everyone to realize that we have the power to make a difference in every election, no matter how small we are or how few our members may be. Our principles and our goals constitutes a noble end to which we must struggle and endure.
In regard to the petitions for a referendum, they are coming in thick and fast and achieving the desired objective of giving us an indication of the support of the idea, as well as more contacts for new people who believe in our cause. The declarations of independence continue to flood in as well. If you get a copy of the petition, please photocopy it before you make it out, making sure that it is continuously circulated. We need your ability to spread this around, and get more people committed to independence.
By this means, the petition grows rapidly and changes the course of history. By a peaceful, lawful petition for a referendum on independence, we can and will force politicians of every province of Western Canada to seriously consider and openly advocate the whole idea of a new nation, which once it ignites the public mind to the possibilities, will be an invincible driving force.
Alberta's Vulnerability in Canada
Picture Jean Chretien and George Bush sitting around an expensive dinner table in Washington.
George is worried about energy supplies in California, so to ingratiate himself with his powerful host Chretien says don't worry Alberta has lots of oil and gas. You can have it. Just think of the arrogance of the man offering Alberta's oil to buy himself favours with the foreign head of State.
Albertans have got to be crazy to put up with these Ottawa blood-suckers. Canada is already the largest supplier of imported energy to the United States. It sent 27.6 billion in energy products to the US in 1999, this was 8.5 percent of all of Canada's exports. Where do you think this came from? Most of Canada's crude oil production of 2.1 million barrels per day comes from Alberta the rest from western Canada. 57% was exported to the United States. Alberta's and BC's natural gas exports made up 35% of California's total consumption. (And some people ask what about my pension, farm subsidy or nurses wages if we separate from Ottawa!)
The West has the vast majority of Canada's 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Total production for 1999 was six trillion cubic feet. Can anyone see a 100 year supply?
Alberta's oils sands project alone has produced 400 million cubic meters of oil in 20 years. The total reserve there is 4000 trillion cubic meters or a 1000 year supply. So can anyone tell me why the West should surrender its resources to a government run by a Quebecer who survives by promoting traitors from the West to privileged positions? Why do we need to tolerate a Quebecer offering Alberta's oil to make amends for supporting Gore in the election?
Contact Doug Christie, by fax at 250-479-3294 or at the Western Canada Concept, Box 143, 255 Menzies Street, Victoria, B.C. Western Canada V8V 2G6, or by email at dougchristie@home.com.
Western Canadian separatism is growing as never before! Find out why, and join the WCC in showing support for separatist candidates in the provincial election. Come, and bring your friends to the following meetings:
Edmonton area: Leduc Inn, Leduc, Friday, March 9th, at 7 p.m.
Calgary area: Port O'Call Inn, 1935 McKnight Blvd NE, Calgary, Saturday, March 10th at 7 p.m.
Western Canada Concept: Advocating Western Canadian Independence since 1974
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