The Western Separatist Papers has been published monthly by
W.S.P. Ltd. since 1983. Address all correspondence to WSP, Box 101, 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
The February 2003 Alberta Tour has just been completed with great, encouraging results. The tour began on January 31st in Medicine Hat and spanned 9 days and 10 cities or towns, gathering many new members, signatures on the petition asking for a referendum on Independence, and mostly importantly, committed Western Separatists, to continue to work for the goal of a new nation of Western Canada.
Doug Christie's report on the tour follows:
We started in Medicine Hat at the Lodge Hotel on January 31st, which was a Friday night. A small turn out seemed to be disappointing, but numbers were not the important thing. We got several new members and some people's generosity made the donation enough to pay for the hall. This also made it possible for myself and Paul Fromm, who was speaking with me, to refine our arguments to assist in the growth of our movement somewhere else. We met some five new members in Medicine Hat Lodge, with a meeting of about 20 people.
I was able to drive from Calgary to Medicine Hat, from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge, from Lethbridge to Calgary in a car loaned to us by our faithful supporters George and Ilse, so after the meeting in Medicine Hat, Paul and I loaded our literature in George's car and drove through the dry and snowless country to Lethbridge. There again at the Lethbridge Lodge we held a meeting Saturday night, February 1st at 2 p.m. Double the numbers of the Medicine Hat meeting attended. Soon we were selling memberships, distributing petitions and selling bumper stickers as fast as possible to people who are more than just concerned about the future of Western Canada. They are willing to do something about that future!
Next morning the trip to Calgary began at day break. The journey west enabled us to witness the sun striking the glistening snow-capped teeth of the Rocky Mountain chain like a painting in the clear blue sky and bright frosty air. By 1 p.m. we were having lunch in the Port O'Call Inn in Calgary with George, Ilse and Gary before the meeting there at 2 p.m. That meeting was a great success. The room for 60 was packed with about 140 people surrounding Robert who had driven from Wainwright for the next leg of our journey, as he stood at the front to introduce us. Paul spoke about how it is dangerous to be a Canadian, and I spoke about how good Western Canada could be.
We had to leave Calgary quickly on Sunday, February 2nd to drive three hours to the Hanna Legion where Clinton had set up a very effective meeting at 7 p.m. About 70 people attended and again petitions were distributed. Robert and Gladys drove us to Hanna in their vehicle and we were given a free supper when we arrived in Albert's Race Track restaurant. We had great support and a good meeting after again at Albert's restaurant. He even bought us breakfast the next morning. We were treated like family in Hanna and the people were just wonderful. This reminded me of the spirit of Western Canadians in 1980, when tours like this one were the order of the day, for example in the summer of 1981 when we had 36 meetings in 30 days, throughout B.C. and Alberta. The people who came to our February meetings were innovative, positive, encouraging and very, very kind to our little band of separatists. Next morning it was on to Red Deer, two hours away through rolling farm country and fields covered in much deeper snow.
The Red Deer meeting was again, fantastic. We went to hear Bruce Hutton, founder of LUFA at his press conference in the Red Deer Curling Rink parking lot where he spoke of the waste and corruption of the gun registry to a small crowd before turning himself in for not registering his caulking gun (yes, a caulking gun!) which, because it has a receiver, may qualify under that ridiculous act. How many people really understand the crazy world of federal laws and regulations?
That evening at the North Hill Inn we had another packed house and a fantastic meeting. Spontaneously Bruce Hutton appeared and endorsed our petition and cause. Mr. Jim Chatenay, a farmer just released form jail for selling his wheat, was there and spoke passionately of the loss of our freedom in Canada. He agreed with us on Referendum, Initiative and Recall, as he is Swiss and understands the need for these checks and balances. The people joined in considerable numbers. A television interview proved a minor distraction, and reinforced my belief we should do this entirely without giving them a chance to distort or reinterpret our vital message, as they always want to do.
The next meeting in Leduc was smaller but we taped the speeches and this tape could be available for $10 to enable you to give it to friends or play it for them. We need to use all possible means of communication. The Leduc meeting as usual on this tour was mainly new people! The petitions were taken in great quantities, new people joined, old members renewed, the donations paid for the hall and more. Everyone's presence was appreciated.
Next, we had a three-hour drive to Lloydminster on the morning of Tuesday, February 4th for our meeting in the Tropical Inn. Here we had a great turnout largely due to our friends Clint Hutton and Ray Benoit (who that night came even though it was his anniversary). Many new people joined. Once again we announced we were not a party but a movement. Someone was annoyed and we needed to explain why we are not a party.
Simply put, a party is a complex control mechanism, fraught with difficulties and distractions, subject to many legal rules, which can divide people over policy and which is easily infiltrated and disrupted. When the WCC was embarrassed in 1982 by Gordon Kesler renouncing separatism, it was obvious a better way needed to be found. We needed to stop arguing over the inessentials and focus on the one main issue of obtaining Independence. As a movement Western Canada Concept goes directly to the people to demand of the government the one thing that really matters, a referendum for Independence. When the government is made aware that most people want the chance to choose in a referendum, our next job is to win a "yes" vote in the referendum.
Western Canadians will only be divided and conquered if we fight over various post-Independence policies, before we even get the chance to choose for ourselves! This has happened over and over again in Western Canadian parties. We must stick to the issue of Independence and resolve all the other issues later, either by debate and resolution or by referendum in the usual way. Parties tend to divide people. We need to unite all thinking Albertans and Western Canadians who want the right to chose to govern themselves.
So a party, which is long and costly to build, and easy to disrupt, is not what we need. We need to go directly to the people, who may belong to many different parties, with our petition for a Clarity Act Referendum. There isn't enough time or energy to do anything else, and no need for more complications. People in all the different Western Canadian parties can find a common meeting point in the one principle that we should have a choice to decide for ourselves to govern ourselves.
Driving back to the Leduc Inn after Lloydminster we experienced heavy fog and arrived at 12:30 a.m., hungry and tired. A brief repast of nachos and cranberry juice enabled us to discuss the organization of our next meeting, March 29th when we hope to bring 10,000 names to the Premier at the Red Deer P.C. Convention at the Capri Inn on the 29th. We will make some arrangements at other hotels because we need to gather and prepare for that occasion, with some pageantry. We need a piper and a drummer to lead us over to their convention in the hope we can enjoy delivering a huge number of names on the petition.
On February 6th we traveled from Edmonton to Fort McMurray with high hopes. Some supporters had suggested we could do well there, and had paid for some newspaper advertisements. The total trip, air fare, meeting room, and hotel rooms cost us about $1100 and we were quite disappointed when only 10 people showed up to drink the coffee and eat the muffins we had ordered for them. However five members joined, and $300 was donated. We really were discouraged when even our supporters didn't show up. Such experiences could make one bitter. Someone pointed out that Fort McMurray has never been very "Western Canadian" but is often comprised of persons from central or Eastern Canada whose primary goal is money.. and quickly! Such people don't think of the long term effects of the Kyoto Accord when they are still making $10,000 per month. Their bosses, on the other hand, are busy in Syncrude making deals with government or if they like Suncor largely unionized, they pretend to like Kyoto. And in this manner, nobody faces the fact that Kyoto is about government control, and taxes, not about pollution control.
Farmers, on the other hand, are really much more concerned about long term effects. Some think farmers are less sophisticated and less knowledgeable, but it is quite the contrary.
What is there to learn from our Fort McMurray experience? First, don't think that areas most affected by Liberal Ottawa arrogance are necessarily going to be centres of resistance to it! Too often they are comprised of business leaders who are willing and compliant officials, rather than the entrepreneurial individualists they should be. Unfortunately, many businessmen are often willing to make any deal necessary to stay in business and principles are discarded.
So on the way to Grande Prairie, I realize I need to keep my faith in people. There is only one hope for Alberta and hence all of Western Canada. It is the people, the ordinary people who need to muster their strength and stand up for our land.
Along the way of this tour we have developed some useful tools that persuade others effectively, some goals to achieve and the means of doing so. This was important to remember when our meeting in Fort McMurray was rather disappointing in terms of turnout. We did however gain new members and support, despite the small attendance.
As I sat in the Edmonton Airport, waiting for our flight to Grande Prairie, I read the government of Canada will be compelled by the Federal Court to pay for sex change operations for prisoners. To not do so would be "discriminatory." More of Canada I cannot take! I also read that Mr. Chrétien has agreed parliament will be allowed to conduct a debate on the war with Iraq. "Don Boudria, the government house leader, confirmed the Prime Minister would not attempt to block a Commons vote, and said it could be held on the first day the House is in session after an announcement Canada is going to war." (National Post, February 7, 2003, front page) Yes, we declare war first and then conduct a debate. How totally ridiculous, but how completely Canadian! Am I the only person who can see the farce in Canada? Where is the moral outrage at such Liberal arrogance? We must separate so Western Canadians don't have to live in the insane asylum which Canada has become.
As I sat in the airport, I got a call from George in Calgary who said someone in Sundre, Alberta, phoned him and said the petitions are going like crazy, and he asked George what to do with them. In case there is any doubt, it says on the front of them to put them in an envelope when they are fully completed and send them to us at the address mentioned there, as soon as possible. We need to collect them, count them and prepare to present them. This is work we have agreed to do. If these petitions are not dealt with properly, their effect will be lost. The petitions are being signed at a very encouraging rate, but our readers need to know that time is important! Accuracy is important, as well, and by March 29th in Red Deer, we will need to have gathered 10,000 signatures. Please follow the instructions so we all work together and succeed in giving the government a clear mandate and clear directions.
On February 7th, I called the Premier's office to try to coordinate a time when the Premier could accept this petition. I asked if there was anyone who could talk to me about this. The rude lady who answered the phone said to "write him and ask him" and hung up on me. There is a rudeness in those in power which defies logic, except that they seem to have contempt for us ordinary people. I will write a letter. I will ask for a time and place, for a mere two minutes of the Premier's time, to deliver the petitions, but the reception of his office representative was definitely insulting. She actually hung up on me! (N.B. We have now been in touch with the Premier's office and are in the process of arranging a meeting.)
I guess they never treat people as if they are to be respected when they think those people are weak. They only treat people with respect who are strong and powerful. People will only be strong and powerful when they follow a clear plan, which is lawful and which is legally and logically compelling, and they follow that plan in a disciplined, organized and orderly fashion. Such behaviour is rare but very effective. We have given the people of all of Western Canada and particularly Alberta, between January 31st and February 9th, exactly such a clear and disciplined plan. Will you do the simple work necessary to carry it out?
The petition for a Clarity Act Referendum is the one thing which will empower Albertans and all Western Canadians. Let's follow the program, March 29th is not that far away. Let's make every day count with 10 new names! Once more, we enclose with this newsletter, a copy of the petition to have one last big drive for names before the 15th of March. People from B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba can participate also. They will be assembled for their Premier, separately. Keep working in your own province. The efforts in each Western province reinforce those in every other Western province.
The whirlwind tour is now over. The Grande Prairie meeting was positive and well-attended, and the Edmonton meeting last night was an overwhelming success. We had room for 50 and 140 packed into the room and many books of petitions were taken. At this rate, we will reach 10,000 signatures by the end of this month.
Conclusion: So what is really important? We gained almost 150 new members in ten days. We issued the petition which is now going like wild fire around Alberta. We have lit a candle in a darkened world. The farmers who went to jail endorsed our movement. LUFA endorsed our movement. The Kyoto Accord soon will make it obvious we need to "Free the West!" Alberta is alive with the hope of separation again. It's better than 1980 because (1) we are a movement, not a party; (2) we have a legal petition sanctioned by Parliament and the Supreme Court to have a referendum to separate; (3) we have no need to fight with the existing parties on distracting side issues, only to get their members to agree on a referendum; and (4) we are awakening people power as never before.
The Next Step: We want a big public presentation of the first 10,000 names on our petition on March 29th in Red Deer to the P.C. convention. We want lots of people to participate in a ceremonial presentation. If we are not given a respectful reception, we will not present it at that time. Can you attend that day, to make your presence known? Let us know and we'll give you the new plan.
The Next Goal Waits for Your Help! To those who have just joined and maybe consider we are doing our job well, would you consider a donation so we could put on radio ads to further promote the petition for a referendum under the Clarity Act. Bear in mind that time is short before March 29th! We need to get the message out so local contacts can be made and petitions can be completed and sent in by March 15th. We need $3,000 for such ads.
To all who took petitions we need 10,000 (or more!) signatures on petitions to be delivered by March 15th to present to the Premier on March 29th at the P.C. Convention in Red Deer. To all our members, we need you to help us present out petitions to the Premier by participating in a rally and parade in Red Deer on Saturday morning, March 29th.
To those members and supporters in the other Western provinces, success in this will only help us in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Please do what you can to push us toward that success.
Liberty is often a heavy burden on a man. It involves the necessity for perpetual choice which is the kind of labour men have always dreaded.
Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr., (1809-1884) US Supreme Court Justice
Who then is free? The wise man who can command himself.
Horace
It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man's self.
Sir Francis Bacon, Essays
The State, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
Albert Jay Nock
Discipline must come through liberty...We do not consider an individual disciplined when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.
Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method
What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race.
Thomas Sowell
It's amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.
Thomas Sowell
If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbours. There is no other.
Carl Schurz
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Western Canada Concept -- Advocating Western Canadian Independence since 1974.