The Western Separatist Papers has been published (usually)
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
If you do, it seems that you simply have to open a Western Canadian newspaper these days to get more justification for the separatist stance. An example was recently in the Calgary Sun of January 5th, 2003, in a column entitled "Alberta gets a bum deal" by Licia Corbella, from which we quote:
. . . an Ontario economist's report proves that, in fact, if any kind of unfair economics (dare I say greed?) is going on, it's coming from the East and is directed at the West -- though Ontario is not immune.
The report, entitled, Where the Money Goes: The Distribution of Taxes and Benefits in Canada, was written by Finn Poschmann, the senior analyst with the Toronto-based think-tank, the C.D. Howe Institute.
"In a nutshell," writes Poschmann in his 1998 report, "poor people in richer provinces commonly subsidize the living standard of people who are better off but happen to live in poorer provinces."
"In Alberta, the average census family" writes Poschmann, "pays about $6,000 to the federal government, while in Nova Scotia, the average family receives $1,800.
"For example, families in New Brunswick with $50,000 to $60,000 in total income are net contributors of 7% of income, while those of the same income level in Alberta are net contributors of three times as much."
Sounds bloody greedy to me, but it's not the Albertans who are being greedy.
In short, there is a wide range among provinces, with the average family receiving $1,700 in New Brunswick, for example, but paying out $2,700 in Saskatchewan.
Likewise, the average gain in Newfoundland is almost $7,000, but Alberta families pay out more than $6,000.
That would be just fine if those families in Newfoundland were much needier than the ones in Alberta, but even those who are much better off than your average Albertan are the recipients of these equalization payments.
In their 1999 report Simply Sharing: An Interprovincial Equalization Scheme for Canada, Paul Boothe and Derek Hermanutz refer to Poschmann's study and conclude that, "while an Alberta family with income of $30,000 to $40,000 contributes 9% of it, or about $3,150, a Newfoundland family with income of more than $100,000 receives benefits equal to 1.2% or $1,200."
The feds take from the "poor" to give to the "rich" -- a perverse reverse Robin Hood. The examples continue.
For example, an Ontario family with income of $30,000 to $40,000 contribute an amount equal to 2.8% of that income, or about $980, to the transfer system, while a family with a similar income in Prince Edward Island receives an amount equal to 19.8%, or about $7,000.
Most Canadians -- certainly this one -- have no problem with the idea of the haves sharing with the have-nots.
The Constitution Act of 1982 states Canadians: "... are committed to the principle of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public service at reasonably comparable levels of taxation."
It's a good idea, but as Boothe and Hermanutz write: Academics have known for some time that the operation of transfer schemes that improve the distribution of income among governments can worsen its distribution among individuals.
Why someone in Newfoundland with a family income of $100,000 should get benefits from an Alberta family with an income of $30,000 is beyond me.
Add to all of this the fact that the West is under-represented politically in Ottawa and that Ottawa, despite promises to the contrary, refuses to address the issue and the unfairness compounds.
For instance, all western provinces get six Senate seats each. Alberta has a population of three million.
Nova Scotia, with a population of 940,000, has 10 Senate seats. That's just plain wrong.
What's more, the fiscal health of this province was largely borne on the backs of Albertans who demanded their government cut spending, leading the way for the rest of the country.
Hospitals were blown up and government cut spending by 25%. Albertans suffered but didn't complain much because we knew it would be short-term pain for long-term gain.
Our provincial government surpluses didn't just flow from oil wells -- though it helped, to be sure.
[end of article excerpt]
Our Comment: Without separation, what can be done about this situation?
By Doug Christie
As the year 2002 drew to a close, I thought back over all the things that have happened during the year, related to the subject of Western separatism. There have been so many reasons for Western separatism emerge in the previous year that I really wonder why there isn't a general uprising, at least in Alberta. Farmers have gone to jail for selling their own wheat, and gun owners are going to be turned into criminals for simply retaining the right to their private property. The Kyoto Accord has been passed without the slightest regard for the long-term effects on Alberta.
The Alliance Party, the Western Canadian protest party, has been steadily eroded and ridiculed in the eastern media. And for all of its posturing and bragging, this political party has never achieved one iota of significant change. It is very appropriate that it changed its name from the Reform Party. They would be embarrassed to have to realize that nothing has ever been or ever will be reformed in Canada.
I think the real reason why there has not been an overwhelming tidal wave of public support is simply that no one has been going out among the people to raise the banner of independence. I feel personally responsible for this failure. I have pursued the cause of justice for individuals in hundreds of cases before the courts. For some of these people I have succeeded. But as I succeed for a few individuals, the cause of freedom, prosperity, and independence for us all slips away. Time is not on my side.
I have been publicly advocating that the western provinces separate from Canada and form a new nation since 1975. Although the member and supporter base of the Western Canada Concept is growing, and it continues to be a widespread movement, it has not had overwhelming success for the simple reason that I have failed to take up the cause and effectively advocate for its since approximately 1980. I've always thought that if <M>I didn't do the job, someone else would do it and perhaps would do it better.
I have waited and waited and no one better has come along. In February I intend to take two weeks and try to start the movement going forward as a mass movement. I hope that you will see the importance of this occasion and commit yourself to helping make these meetings a true renaissance of hope for our fellow citizens here in western Canada. If not you and me, who? If not now, when? If not here, where will the cause of liberty find its resonant hope? We are the source of our destiny and draw the boundaries for our life's achievements by what we do or fail to do.
If we are to achieve our great goal of a new nation we must remember the immortal words:
"By oppression, woes and pains, for your sons in servile chains, we would shed our dearest veins, but they shall be free!"
If we in Western Canada are ever to achieve our destiny and become a free and independent nation, we're going to have to grow up. No one else is going to do this great deed for us.
Over the past 25 years I have heard innumerable excuses as to why the individual in question should not do everything within their power to achieve independence for our new nation. The latest excuse which I recently heard from an expatriate in Indonesia was "I cannot return to Canada unless I am sure that separatism will have succeeded by the time I get there." This is, in effect, to say, "I will not strive for this great goal until someone else achieves it." I've also heard another excuse recently about the need to go on a holiday to pursue some sports activity. Yes, there are any number of excuses as numerous as our imaginations.
But no excuse will achieve anything worthwhile. The great task ahead of us must be shouldered by those of us who care, and those of us who dare. The simple reality is that there are always only a few people who are willing to risk anything to achieve a goal. The great movements of history have always been undertaken by a very small minority. It is estimated that even those who supported the American Revolution constituted about 33 percent of the total population of the 13 colonies in 1776.
We, therefore, who sometimes feel alone, must recognize that we are not alone in history, but only in this sad time in which we live. In history the great have always made the difference. They have undertaken the significant struggles that advanced mankind from a state of servitude, ignorance, or confusion. We therefore who in this time carry the burden of building a new nation must not become discouraged by the realization that the vast majority of our fellow citizens couldn't care less. As long as their bellies are full and there is beer in the refrigerator, and a sporting event to watch on television, they remain absolutely sure that Canada is the best place to live.
We, on the other hand, recognize daily the elimination of our freedom, and are extremely concerned about the destruction of the rights of others around us, whether this affects us immediately and directly, or not. Thus we feel the pain of the gun owner denied the liberty of private property, even though we desire no guns. Thus we feel the pain of the grain farmer who was incarcerated for selling his own grain, even though we sell no grain. Last, we feel the pain of the advocate of a political or religious view on race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation, even though we may not share the opinions of those advocates, when our political religious or other views are curtailed. These are instances of the sensitivities of persons whose concerns are beyond their own immediate interests. These are the indicators of socially conscious and conscientious people. These are the bastions of freedom, for they stand as a bulwark against tyranny. In another sense they are the canary in the coal mine, because they sense before all others the invasive pollution of a tyranny, stifling the fresh air of freedom. Such men and women are those to whom we appeal. We ask them to be concerned for the development of a better nation, while the freedom to do so still remains within their grasp.
Our goal in the coming tour of Alberta is simply to inform, to educate and mobilize those few men and women who care, so that they may give us the means to get on with the job of achieving independence.
There is a simple, legal and logical way to achieve this goal. It was approved by the parliament of Canada in the Clarity Act of 2001 and we intend to make a referendum available to the people of Alberta.
Why Alberta? Simply because to break the chain, strike at the weakest link, and strike repeatedly. Alberta has the greatest means to achieve independence with its resource base. It has the most homogeneous population in the country at present. It has a clear comprehension of the threat of socialism that pervades all of the Canadian political scene. It is most oriented to the concept of individual liberty. It is therefore in this province that we intend to concentrate all our efforts in the month of February, 2003.
The time has come to realize that all circumstances of the recent past have brought us to this point where separatism should be inevitable. After gun control, the Kyoto Accord, with the exemptions for the Ontario auto industry, farmers in Alberta being put in jail for selling their wheat, and more recently the attitude of the federal government under the control of the Liberal Party which sees Paul Martin as the natural successor to Jean Chretien, it's obvious that Western Canadians are merely grist for the Eastern mill.
In the near future if Western Canadians do not wake up, their own country will be an invaded place. It will be full of Third World immigrants, eager to take the place of those who live here today. They will be submissive and subservient to government because the governments that they have suffered under in the past were even worse. This means they will make no resistance to the further dictates of the Ottawa regime. They will become willing and compliant officials in the administration of the laws such as gun control, regulations on the burning of everything from wood to kerosene under the Kyoto Accord, and other such regulations that Western Canadians today find objectionable. They will be only too willing to take over the wheat farms which the government will expropriate from farmers who don't do as they are told. And anyone who resists or objects will be labeled a racist, a hatemonger, or a bigot.
I can understand why those over 40 years of age are relatively happy and comfortable. It's understandable that they would not want to make waves and risk whatever security they have. But what can you say about people who are willing to sell their children into the slavery described above? How could they possibly live with themselves? They have seen, in their brief lifespan, the reduction of their own freedom and prosperity, and they have done nothing. Will they sit idly by, while their children suffer an even greater loss?
The question will soon be answered. At this present time, if you, the reader of this article, do not take a step today to work for this cause and make possible a revival of hope in Western Canada by the resurrection of the separatist movement as a mass movement of the people, you will by your own inaction, have imprisoned yourself, and future generations.
The time has come to do what needs to be done, peacefully, politically and democratically, to separate from Ottawa and build a new nation. The opportunity to achieve this goal exists today. It may not exist tomorrow. What will you give to make it possible? Very few of you would be unable to give $100 to this cause. Very few of you, if you did such a thing, would lose either money, food, clothing, shelter, or personal security. Very few of you would be unable to give your time, your energy, your creative intelligence, if you could not give money.
If you do not give us the means, we will continue the struggle without a doubt, but not very effectively. We consider it to our duty to do it nevertheless. But why do you not want us to succeed?
Specifically, we're undertaking a tour of Alberta in February 2003. We have arranged meetings in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer, Leduc, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and Ford McMurray. See the enclosed copy of our poster. This tour will cost a great deal money for hotel rooms, airfare, advertising, brochures, and meeting rooms. Do you want it to succeed? If you do, please consider sending as much as you can to the Western Canada Concept now so we will have the funds to get on with this job. If you can't send money, then promise yourself to bring yourself and others to the meeting nearest you. This plea is made with one hope and that is that we can offer the people of Alberta the one thing that no one else can give them -- a chance to be free of the enslaving, bureaucratic, tax-gobbling monster in the Ottawa.
Only you and your generosity and can make our success possible. Please send your donation immediately to the Western Canada Concept at 810 Courtney Street, Victoria BC, V8W 1C4.