Would you have liberty or peace?
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."
ABOVE QUOTE by: Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), American Author and Former Slave
The following alerts all Albertans of the imminent danger of remaining in a Canadian Confederation that neither respects Albertans’ hard work, nor hard-won prosperity, nor God-given liberty.
And for those not familiar with Alberta, know that Alberta is the most economically functional province within Canada. Albertans have contributed “hundreds of billions of dollars†– over and above what it gets back in benefits from the Canadian federal government - to the well-being and prosperity of fellow Canadians - for the past 50 years!
Are Albertans “quietly submitting†to the Canadian “federal government†to avoid another constitutional quarrel – like Meech Lake or Charlottetown? Are Albertans unnecessarily subject to the will of others who live over 3500 km away?
I intend to show how some of the freest and most prosperous people (Albertans) on the planet, are now trading what little liberty they have - for peace - in hopes of regaining their previous prosperity. And if Albertans are unwilling to confront how they are really governed, then, in the end, they will lose the liberty and prosperity (and peace) to which they are accustomed.
Before we go further, what is liberty?
It is the condition of one who is free or exempt from the will of others. Are Albertans any more exempt from the will of other Canadians as they were the day before becoming a province (1905), or the day before finally being granted their natural resources (1929), or the day before negotiating something less worse than a National Energy Program (1981) than they are today, in 2019?
Peace broadly means the absence of strife, contention, discord, quarrel and/or war. Is there strife between Albertans and the rest of Canada today? Is this strife or contention getting Albertans any closer to reclaiming their prosperity or liberty?
Have other Canadians really ever had to pay any heed to the impassioned pleas of Albertans?
I speak now of how Canada is governed and not necessarily who specifically (Prime Minister) governs us. How is Canada governed? Canada’s federal government is usually formed by the political party with the majority of seats in the House of Commons. And this majority is almost always and mostly the product of electoral success in south central Canada.
Why is this important for the prosperity and liberty of all Albertans?
The federal government has the broadest powers of taxation and redistribution of any other provincial government within Canada. And, without any geographic, demographic, or economic context, majority rule may seem to be the fairest way to govern Canada - as long as the rights of the “regional minorities†are respected.
Do you believe that Albertans’ rights, in particular, have been or are being respected or will be respected (in the future) by the majority of Canadians?
Canada’s most obvious majority resides in south central Canada. Southern Ontario and Quebec, together, boast almost 60% of Canada’s total population with almost 60% of the seats in the House of Commons and 46% of the seats in Canada’s “Prime Minister-appointed†Senate.
And what of Canada’s “regional†minorities?
When one speaks of “minorities†one immediately thinks of “visible minorities†as well as those minorities that speak a different language or hold other beliefs. Another type of minority, in Canada, is that of the “regional minority.†These “regional Canadians†flourish far from the densely packed areas of south central Canada.
That being said, if the majority of Canadians want Canada to remain the same on the world map, then they must eventually consider “regional minorities.†However, the design of the Canadian federal government caters to the “majority†living in south central Canada.
Does this majority even “have to†consider the needs of the lesser populated, but strategically and economically valuable Alberta?
The “minority regions†include Canada’s three northern territories, the four Atlantic provinces, and the four (north)western provinces. These “regional minorities†officially occupy about 74% of Canada’s land base. It is these “regional minorities†that guarantee Canada’s national sovereignty over vast areas.
Should these “regional minorities†- of “Canada†- which live, in most cases, thousands of kilometers away from the majority of Canadians have the political ability to stop the will of the majority of Canadians? Or put another way, should people in the United Kingdom have the political ability to stop the will of those living in Russia? You may think it a silly comparison, but there is a lot of relatively uninhabited land between Ottawa and the Manitoba border. And yet Alberta is still part of Canada. And there are many millions of people between the UK and Russia with almost no uninhabited land in between. And yet they are both independent countries.
The smallest region by population, but largest by area (39% of Canada) are Canada’s northern territories (north of 60 latitude). It has 0.32% of the population, and 1% of the seats in the House of Commons and 3% of the seats in the “Prime Minister appointed†Senate.
The next smallest region by population is also smallest by area. Atlantic Canada (all 4 provinces combined) have an area and population smaller than the province of Alberta. Their combined population only makes up 6.6% of Canada’s population, but holds 9.5% of the seats in the House of Commons and 29% of the “Prime Minister – appointed†Senate. Do you think this is fair for Albertans?
And finally, (north)western Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan) account for about 29% of Canada’s area, 32% of Canada’s population, but 31% of the House of Commons and 23% of the “Prime Minister-appointed Senate.†Do you think this is fair?
And this is the reason Albertans “involuntarily†contribute so much to Canadian Confederation with so little say.
But Albertans have options … read more at:
