Volume XVI, Numbers 5 & 6, May/June 1998
The Western Separatist Papers are published
monthly by W.S.P. Ltd.
Address all correspondence to WSP, Box 143, 255 Menzies Street,
Victoria, B.C. Western Canada V8V 2G6.
A one-year subscription is $15.00. Our e-mail address is:
wcc@islandnet.com.
Phone us at: 250-727-3438 or fax us at: 250-479-3294
Our Cover: How long, indeed? Many would assert that it continues today, with revelations of monies "loaned" to companies like Bombardier, and never repaid. This cartoon appeared in the September 1885 edition of the Grip, and is by J.W. Bengough, who compares heavy government spending to a drunken spree.
On Canada Day we hear the same extravagant praise of "this wonderful country" from coast to coast, as the fireworks are discharged and we attempt to feel "at one" with each other. Just check out the editorials from coast to coast and you'll read the same pap, almost without exception, i.e. ignore everything that's wrong, hang onto your illusions and don't think, just feel. On the other hand, an editorial in the Victoria Times-Colonist of July 1, 1998 made refreshing sense by asking some important questions and pointing out some telling facts about what lies beneath the surface of Canada:
"So, When do they start stringing barbed wire across the Rockies?
"This being Canada Day, it's worth examining the increasingly fractious relationship between British Columbia and the rest of Canada.
"If you ask yourself whether you are a Canadian first, or a British Columbian, how do you reply? Canadian, probably, though the answer may not come as quickly as it once did.
"The tension is, of course, mostly between the provincial and federal governments, as opposed to the human beings. The GST, the salmon war, cuts in transfer payments, an administration that seems to regard anything beyond Quebec and Ontario as the hinterland — nothing good seems to come out of Ottawa. The perception is of B.C. as a powerless cash cow being drained for the benefit of the rest of the country."
The editorial goes on to itemize the forces of unity that have been let to atrophy, for example CBC Radio, and Via Rail.
"Inter-provincial trade barriers block east-west commerce, while NAFTA has eased the north-south exchange."
Then, it says that "All these things make it too easy to be distant, to ignore the shared values, the common history, the unrecognized similarities that do indeed bond us together. Among those similarities, unfortunately, is a myopic bitchiness that often prevents us from seeing how good we have it. We are among the wealthiest whiners in the world."
The editorial then returns to the usual Canadian, Canada Day theme; we are urged to remember how "good" we have it, compared to other parts of the world. This is true, but if we just value the interpersonal relationships, the feel-good version of Canada, the magnificent size and landscape of the country without paying attention to the basic structure of confederation, that other version of Canada will eventually, is right now, being eroded and will disappear.
You cannot ignore what puts bread on the table, what feeds the children, what keeps jobs happening in Western Canada. You cannot ignore the resentment that continues to grow among the populace when they are ignored, and their values overridden and subverted.
Another rare type of Canada Day editorial appeared in the Edmonton Sun, containing the following more realistic words:
"The imminent breakup of the country could be well under way if the Quebec referendum result had been slightly different. But you wouldn't know that by the state of inertia that still exists in Ottawa today. Shortly after last year's Canada Day celebration, the provincial premiers – at Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's urging - met in St. Andrews, N.B., to begin discussions on what would later become the Calgary declaration
"This definition of what it means to be a Canadian not only recognizes the "unique character" of Quebec society and the Quebec government's right to protect it, but also acknowledges the distinct status of all provinces and their ability to pursue different goals in a "flexible" federation.
"This vision of a new deal for Canada (at least the Quebec part) was seized upon by the Ottawa Liberals as a means of convincing Quebecers that there was a reason to work out their problems within the Confederation. But the second and most important part of the Calgary declaration - where the federal government respects the constitutional rights of the provinces and agrees to work co-operatively with them - has yet to be acted on.
"Instead, all of Ottawa's bets have been put on Quebec Liberal Leader Jean Charest as the country's potential savior. And the premiers' historic agreement has either been ignored or abused by the federal powerbrokers.
"Meanwhile, the Canada that came so close to breakup on Oct. 30, 1995, remains the same troubled country with no will on the part of the present national government to do anything about it.
"Don't get us wrong, we love the fun and the flags. But until Ottawa politicians have the courage to confront the fundamental problems facing the country, Canada Day remains a holiday in peril.
The Times Colonist editorial ended with these words: "This is a beautiful, bountiful, albeit perpetually troubled province within a beautiful, bountiful, albeit perpetually troubled country., Cherish both." Not much hope in those words, unless there is a strategy to end the trouble, and in 131 years all attempts have failed. Some people, especially in the West, don't regard the annual July 1st picnic, parade, fireworks and "good feelings" as enough reason to wait much longer.
Keltie Zubko
A typical request for information
Dear Sirs:
It appears to me that it is due time for us in the west to start seriously thinking of separating from the east. We have had just about all we can handle with Ontario and Quebec voting us in Governments that we do not want or need.
There are quite a large number of Canadians that are being taken in by this bunch of ruthless dictators that hold office in the parliament buildings in Ottawa. The lst Federal election indicated the intelligence of a great many Canadians from Manitoba east.
A. Forsyth
Houston, B.C.
The Western Separatist Papers welcomes your letters to the editor. They should pertain to Western Canadian issues, and be short, due to our space limitations. Please send them to the Editor, WSP, Box 143, 255 Menzies Street, Victoria, B.C. V8V 2G6, by e-mail to wcc@islandnet.com or by fax to 250-479-3294.
Hereditary bondsmen! Know ye not
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?Byron — Childe Harold, Canto II
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall
John Milton — Paradise Lost, Bk. III
How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold?
Because the lovely little flower is free
Down to its root, and in that freedom, bold.Wordsworth — A Poet! He hath put his heart to school
Independence now; and Independence forever.
Daniel Webster — Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, August 2, 1826
by Fred Williamson
(We continue our series of articles by Mr. Williamson, a history graduate of the University of Alberta, which analyzes the position of the West in Canada, and gives intellectual ammunition for the arguments for Western separation.)
The economic penalties of Confederation to Western Canada have been commented on over the years in the media of the West (almost never in the East). A federal study in 1984 yet again showed (however unwillingly) that the West is a clear economic loser in Confederation: A report entitled Distribution of Federal Expenditures and Revenue, Canada, 1981, (published in Western Transition by the Economic Council of Canada, 1984 by the minister of Supply and Service in Ottawa, Canadian Government Publishing Centre) revealed the following facts.
The provinces which received more money and expenditure form Ottawa than they sent to Ottawa were: Quebec ($4,004,087,000), Atlantic Canada ($4,520,785,000), Manitoba ($888,955,000), and Saskatchewan ($293,743,000). The provinces which sent more money to Ottawa than they received back in money or expenditure were: Alberta ($6,031,495,000), British Columbia ($1,665,771,000), and Ontario ($2,010,051,000). Even if one subtracts from the West's total the amount paid out to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the West still lost six billion dollars for staying in Canada in that particular year. Remembers, this takes account of everything Ottawa spends in the provinces, including transfers for health care and education, pensions, the post office, etc.
Another study, by F.J. Anderson and N.C. Bonsor agreed that the West is a loser in Confederation: "Western provinces, especially Alberta, have been denied full access to rents on non-renewable energy resources . . . The federal government, however, has not attempted to deny the province of Quebec access to large rents on hydroelectric resources — an apparent unfairness that contributes to alienation." (Regional Economic Alienation: Atlantic Canada and the West, page 216, cited in Disparities and Interregional Adjustment, edited by Kenneth Norrie, research co-ordinator, University of Toronto Press, 1986.)
The West, most especially Alberta and B.C. derive no financial or economic benefit being in Canada. Their only function is to send cash to the Eastern provinces. The "thanks" they get for doing so is to be called "extremists," "rednecks," "bigots," "enemies of Canada," etc. by Eastern Canadian politicians, who are quite popular down east.
Perhaps some day Eastern Canada will realize that 75% of the surplus cash which is sent to them every year originates, not in Ottawa or in Ontario, but in Western Canada. It is doubtful that they will, or show the least gratitude for the financial handouts they receive, until the West is in the process of becoming a new, independent nation. Until then, the only things Western Canada can expect from the East are insults and a refusal to heed Western calls for such things as democratic reform to the Canadian "federation."
The following excerpt from the Globe and Mail's Canada Day editorial makes a good point about one aspect of Canada that is not all right this July 1st, 1998:
"Canada's values are also expressed through governments to a large degree. The most important of these is respect for human rights, especially the right to freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the core human right because so many other rights depend on it for their vitality. The right to a fair trial, to association, to conscience, religion and security of the person are all dependent on the right to free speech.
"Canadian governments and courts have shown unnerving complacency about free speech in some cases, whether in the careless passing of laws prohibiting the publication of opinion-poll results in the three days before a federal election or the banning of reporting about certain legal proceedings. We do not yet have a culture that recognizes the inherent stature of free expression -- the stature it must enjoy if the broader cause of human rights is to be properly served."
The following excerpts are from a June 5th, 1998 article by Daniel Leblanc that appeared in The Ottawa Citizen
"Bombardier once fought Industry Canada on the repayment of millions of dollars in federal loans and, by 1996, had repaid only five per cent of the money it had borrowed for 21 different projects.
"That information comes from a Consulting and Audit Canada report, made public by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday.
"Parts of the report, obtained under the Access to Information Act, had been censored to prevent any company from being identified, but one reference to Bombardier was left untouched.
"According to federal auditors, the Montreal-based transportation giant sometimes failed to comply with all terms of its loan deals with Industry Canada, by not "always reporting sales or profits as required by the agreements."
"From 1982 to 1997, Bombardier/Can-adair received $204 million in "conditionally repayable contributions" from Industry Canada.
"These interest-free loans are awarded for the development of specific products, such as airplanes. Repayment schedules are based on royalty or sales agreements between the company and Industry Canada.
"Most of Bombardier's loans came from the now defunct Defence Industry Productivity Program (DIPP). It is not known how much of the money Bombardier will eventually pay back.
"The Consulting and Audit Canada review of DIPP was highly critical of the repayment efforts of many of the largest recipients of funding, which were mainly in the aerospace industry. Unnamed companies were called "evasive," "negligent," "unco-operative" and "non-compliant" in their repayment efforts.
. . .
"The Royal Bank, which reported $1.7 billion in profits last year, received a $2-million loan from Industry Canada in 1996.
"Grants to companies range from a $5.8-million handout to General Motors in 1983 to a $16,000 contribution to Bell Canada in 1994. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation called such contributions "corporate welfare."
"Only 6.35 per cent of the $2.1 billion in interest-free loans made by DIPP from 1982 to 1995 has been recovered. Some former DIPP recipients have now turned to the program that replaceed it, Technology Partnerships Canada for money.
Here is one Press Release from the Western Canada Concept Party that was sent out on June 5, 1998:
June 4th 1998 is the tenth anniversary of Tiananmen Square. On this very day our Parliament unanimously banned one man, Ernst Zundel, from speaking in Parliament Square.
Voltaire said that he may not believe in what another person says, but would gladly give his life to defend any man's right to say it. The list of personalities defending free speech throughout history reads like a "Who's Who" of religious leaders and patriots; Jesus, the Dali Lama, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Moses, etc.
Freedom of Speech is a fundamental human right. Jean Chretien sent advance promises to Indonesia that he would "take care" of any protests while the now shamed Indonesian leader was in Canada. We saw ordinary Canadians pepper-sprayed and imprisoned for what they might say.
We see the Canadian government bestowing praise on China, who not too long ago mowed down protesters who gathered to simply speak. Canada continues to do business with China, ignoring the type of government-sponsored holocaust so that Canadian businessmen (and Chretien relatives) can have easy access to the lucrative market.
Yesterday, in an act that not only should shame all Canadians but is against the teaching of all great religions, Canada's parliamentarians passed an unanimous resolution denying Ernst Zundel the right to speak at the parliament press gallery. This sets a very dangerous precedent! They have in fact, declared Zundel to be a non-person, a non-entity not entitled to speak by order of law. This is the exact same type of decrees used by Stalin to justify his murder of millions, the same used by the Germans against the Jews, the used same by Puritans against those they declared witches.
And why? Because of what Ernst Zundel might say? Yes, partly because of what he might say and perhaps because the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has just ruled that TRUTH is no defense in matters of free speech. More importantly Ernst Zundel was silenced because every parliamentarian knows that if they don't satisfy special interest groups they will be punished.
The real reason that Ernst Zundel could not speak has really nothing to do with what he might or might not say. It has to do with the fact that Canada is no longer a democracy. It is run by special interest groups who hand pick the party leaders who in turn decide which lackeys get to represent you by the power to sign or not to sign their nomination papers.
Democracies protect free speech. Countries that slide towards special status for special groups usurp freedoms and liberties in order to stay in power. Canadian parliamentarians should be shamed. Double shamed if they call themselves Christians, Jews, Muslims or any other religion that upholds the liberty of the person, so that they are free to choose their destiny and their actions instead of a State that dictates what they can think and say.
The enemy is not Ernst Zundel or freedom of speech. We support a new nation of Western Canada where people are put ahead of the state through direct democracy, referenda, recall and initiatives. The government belongs to the people, the people do not belong to the government!
The Canada that our fathers and grandfathers fought for is every bit as dead as they are. It is time for change. The nation of Western Canada will be born! Amen!
Western Canada Concept, Box 143, 255 Menzies St., Victoria, B.C. V8V 2G6, Fax: 250-479-3294
Visit the Western Canada Concept on the Internet at: http://www.westcan.org/
[Editor's Note: It should be noted that one MP opposed the all party agreement, and that brave person was John Reynolds, Reform MP for West Vancouver -- Sunshine Coast.]
The following are excerpts from an editorial in the Telegraph Journal (New Brunswick) of July 1,1998. It's a sad commentary on the way this country runs, that every region should be so unhappy. The irony is that however much the West is perceived as "having power in Canada" it is still not fundamentally true.
"THE WEST WANTS in. That is the refrain that has shaped Canadian politics in the last decade as the Reform Party has risen to prominence. The alienation of the provinces west of Ontario is accepted as fact; people there feel ignored and misunderstood by Ottawa to such a degree that they have hurled another protest party in the direction of Parliament Hill. Gun laws, taxation, Pacific salmon, Quebec: The federal government can never get it right according to westerners.
"Odd, then, that we might see a Western Canadian, Joe Clark, elected leader of the federal Progressive Conservative party this fall. With Reform's Preston Manning, two of the five parties in the House of Commons will be led by men from Alberta, a province that supposedly has no influence.
"Without lapsing into a debate about which region has a monopoly on feeling aggrieved, we beg to differ. Mr. Clark's entry into the PC leadership race, coupled with Mr. Manning's continued strong hold on Reform, brings into focus the power that the four western porvinces have. Assuming Mr. Clark wins, which appears likely, either he or Mr. Manning will become prime minister whenever the Liberals finally lose power. The only Atlantic MP to lead a federal party, the NDP's Alexa McDonough, can't make that claim.
The article goes on to list the cabinet portfolios held by Western Liberals, in contrast with Atlantic MPs, and to enumerate the decisions in which over the last five years that the Liberals have catered to the West. The conclusion is the mistaken belief that this editorial writer holds about Western Canada:
"The result? A government led by a Quebecker that a westerner should feel quite comfortable with. The explanation may be that residents of our four westernmost provinces are simply expert complainers: It may be easier for them to be unhappy than to recognize that being Canadian involves understanding other regions. While Albertans gripe about gun control and the GST, they benefit from other federal decisions, like the elimination of the deficit, that make prosperous provinces like their own even more prosperous.
"Meanwhile, Atlantic Canadians watch in wonder as Westerners team up with ministers from Montreal and southern Ontario to run the country -- and then complain that they are powerless. Boo hoo. The West wants in? The west is in."
by Douglas Christie
There are some days when the cracks in the Canadian façade seem dramatically clear. One day in Toronto when I was waiting to go to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to see if they will be able to silence a foreign website dedicated to Ernst Zundel in Canada, I read the Toronto Star. In this one day, I found the following stories:
Comment: The city of London Ontario and its very courageous mayor who refused to proclaim gay pride day represent the silent majority. They are being oppressed by the elite who control Canada. The Canadian elite is like a whited sepulchre full of foul deeds and a painted, bland, and apparently pure exterior. The same Human Rights Tribunals, federal and provincial are actually the equivalent of people's courts who persecute the enemies of the socialist order. The whole panacea of wickedness makes tolerance of evil the official Canadian religion. This is a symptom of an urgent reason to leave Canada and create a new nation.
Comment: Californians in a referendum defeated bilingualism. Canadians never did and will never get such a choice. The Canadian elite living on bribes, patronage and sinecures will impose bilingualism which they sanctimoniously justify by saying that the English-speaking majority need to be taught a lesson in humility. Actually, the English-speaking majority are being destroyed slowly, systematically and with bribes to their enemies in the form of jobs paid for by the majorities taxes. The last referendum we got or will get was on the Charlottetown Accord and look how the elite and the people stand apart!
Comment: Divorce is three times as likely as it was in 1963. The state becomes mother , father and grandparent. Children are being destroyed and sometimes killed in state-run group homes. The only place divorce is rare is in the third world immigrant population. The results will be devastating on youth and later crime. The children of divorced parents lose, morally, spiritually and financially.
Comment: The $2.9 billion dollar bribe to Quebec is just Bombardier getting what it has always had. Reform as usual can do nothing but whine. Their whine actually justifies the whole process since whining is allowed, even encouraged as long as it is ineffectual. Nothing ever changes. Quebec takes and we give. Who in their right mind wouldn't want them to separate? Answer: the very people who exploit the divisions at present, i.e. politicians and the Prime Minister from Quebec of whom we have had one in all but 6 months of the last 40 years. Think about it. How much more can you stand?
Comment: Belatedly the Reformers are being forced to concede Quebec separatism. They should be positively embracing it because they will never crack fortress Ottawa as long as Quebec sits in the House of Commons. So why has it taken Preston Manning so long to realize the obvious? Because he is a puppet and a blind guide. To capture Ontario he has to sing a different song than in the west. He can't sing at all, when he tries to sing two different songs at once.
Comment: Michel Cogger, Brian Mulroney's crony is actually being prosecuted. One wonders why. His sin is to get caught at what has been going on for years with Quebec politicians in Ottawa. So why bother prosecuting? He must have stepped on some toes. He simply is a typical Quebec federalist. The separatists are the honest ones.
It's now Canada Day, and now I look at that which is Canada. I look at all the poor misguided people who pretend the system could be reformed. How long, oh Lord, must we serve to enlighten this perverse generation? There is so great a need for people to reap the harvest and build a nation in the West. Where will we turn when no leader emerges? Why should they? Have western Canadians shown gratitude to truth tellers in the past? We must reach out and try to touch some to believe and to act on their behalf.
Canada presents the clear picture of a nation in decline spiritually, morally, and economically. Only through greater tyranny and suppression of dissent can such corrupt power be maintained.
Immigration at twice the United States per capita level has been the Canadian diversion to introduce a large number of people unfamiliar with the way it works so that they cannot and will not criticize but support it gratefully. The systems they left were usually even more corrupt and naturally Canada looks good by comparison.
Devaluing the dollar puts a tariff on all imports of about 40% and reduces the cost of American imports from Canada to Americans. We sell our resources at bargain basement prices and support Ontario again.
Tariffs which used to be seen clearly as supporting Ontario and Quebec where 80% of manufacturing in Canada is done are now gone. But the devalued dollar has the same effect. There is no limit to the guile of the central bankers. People will by and large not even realize what has happened to them. Ontario is booming. The resource rich western provinces are being sold off and burned up for weak dollars which can only buy from Ontario and Quebec who accept them at par.
So friends, keep the faith, the vision of Western Canada alive. Soon "reform" will disappear. Joe Clark will take some and the Liberals the rest. Without us there is no hope.
Helen McNicol passed away quietly on June 20<M>th at about 4:30 p.m. She was for the past 8 months in the Priory Hospital at Colwood where she was convalescing from a stroke.
Prior to the deterioration of her eyesight, she had for many years maintained the records for the WCC and been faithful in reminding all of us where our dues were owing. She was a firm reminder of the old virtues of frugality, duty constancy and perseverance. She was my friend and loyal supporter. She was never harsh in her criticism, but always encouraging in our attempts to wake up the West. She was generous to our cause with her time and her money. Her life as a single person and teacher of many years had given her much insight. Her travels throughout the world gave her broad knowledge.
She will be missed as we carry on her struggle and ours. Ironically she passed away during a time when a meeting was in progress where normally she would have been in attendance. I led prayers for her as I did at a memorial for her on Wednesday, June 24th. Her ashes will be scattered in the Sooke Hills where she loved to sit and read the paper.