Western Separatism

 By Ray Rivers

April 7^th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

“Voters, particularly in central and Atlantic Canada, need to recognize that a vote for the Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession — a vote for the breakup of Canada as we know it,” (Former Reform Party Leader, Preston Manning)

Danielle Smith: Her ‘Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act’ is unconstitutional and borders on traitorous. 

Danielle Smith has been taunting the federal government ever since she became Alberta premier.  Her ‘Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act’ is unconstitutional and borders on traitorous.  But now she is out to make more trouble, particularly since the polls no longer show her favourite federal candidate leading.

She recently reached-out to the Quebec government asking them to join her in plotting the break up of Canada as we know it.  Unfortunately for her, separation is not upper most in the minds of Quebecers today.  They appear to like the idea of a strong federal government to defend their hard won linguistic and cultural rights against a menacing American president.

Besides, that must seem like a strange request from someone who wants to end Quebec’s receipt of national equalization payments because wealthy Alberta doesn’t receive any.  And it is even stranger that Smith would offer to go to bed with the province, which more than any other, has stood in the way of her dream of an east-west oil pipeline.

Both Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney have talked about federal-provincial unity and a Team Canada approach to managing the current US trade crisis.  Yet Alberta and, to a lesser degree. Saskatchewan are not team players.  Extracting even more oil out of the tar sands and their subservience to corporate big oil are their priorities.

It is greed pure and simple.  Alberta and Saskatchewan are already the wealthiest provinces, ranking number one and two in GDP per capita.  In fact,  Albertan’s income per capita is a full third higher than that in Ontario – $78,154 for Alberta compared to $48,971 for Ontario.  This huge difference in income is attributable to the windfall of carbon deposits and other minerals that had been given by Canada to these provinces.

The federal government purchased those mineral rights from the Hudson Bay Company shortly after confederation.  However, one of Canada’s least popular prime ministers of all time, the Progressive Conservative R.B. Bennett, decided to transfer ownership of all that mineral wealth into the jurisdictions in the prairie provinces.

Richard Bedford Bennett became Prime Minister after the 1930 election.

Bennett came into office just as the great depression had hit Canada.  He decided that the best cure for a sickened national economy was to further bleed the patient.  Rather than pumping money into the hands of Canadians to keep the economy working, as we typically do in recessionary times, he dramatically cut federal spending and created an unemployment rate which, by 1933, exceeded 30%.

In fact the economy deteriorated to the point that farmers, unable to pay for gasoline, used their horses to pull their Tin Lizzies around, caustically calling them ‘Bennett Buggies’.

They were called Bennett Buggys

Danielle Smith took her war on the federal Liberal party and Canada to Washington and Florida.  There she begged Mr. Trump and MAGA Republicans to delay the tariffs on Alberta until after the federal election, in hopes of halting the polling downturn for her pick of PM.  She also pushed to have oil exempted from any tariffs.

So when Alberta’s oil, along with other USMCA compliant exports, were exempted on April 2nd, Smith claimed victory for her powers of persuasion.  However, as even other conservatives have pointed out – this is hardly win.  Neighbouring B.C. was being hit with a 34% tariff softwood lumber;  Quebec and B.C slammed with 25% on aluminum, and Ontario whacked with 25% on and steel and the country’s vital auto manufacturing sector.

Smith is determined to continue to threaten Canadians with separation unless they elect her guy in the federal.

Victory lap notwithstanding, Smith is determined to continue to threaten Canadians with separation unless they elect her guy in the federal election.  To that end she warned Mr. Carney that the winner of the federal election will have six months to roll out policies friendly to the energy industry or face an “unprecedented national unity crisis.”  And she’s followed up that threat by openly talking about an independence panel and a referendum for Alberta.

As an aside, I poked my head into one the local town hall events Chuck Phillips,  a Hamilton area Liberal candidate, was holding.  At one point someone asked about Preston Manning’s big blackmail statement.  Phillips just referenced what Carney, his leader, had said.  Calling these dramatic and unhelpful comments he noted….”I am part of a government that governs for all of the country, and very much for the West.”

Ray Rivers, a Gazette Contributing Editor, writes regularly applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking.  Rivers was once a candidate for provincial office in Burlington.  He was the founder of the Burlington citizen committee on sustainability at a time when climate warming was a hotly debated subject.   Ray has a post graduate degree in economics that he earned at the University of Ottawa.  Tweet @rayzrivers

Background links:

Bennet Buggy –     Transfer Act –     Independence –    Seven Richest Provinces –     Victory Lap –     Preston Manning –