This past weekend was a large demonstration in Edmonton in
favor of what has become known as Wexit --- the interest in the four western
provinces separating from the rest of Canada. Or maybe the notion includes the western
territories (such as Yukon) also. I read that there is a Wexit facebook group
with about a quarter million members. I’d bet that a highly disproportionate number
of them are from Alberta. I know that Peter Zeihan has long been speculating on
Alberta joining the USA.
Extricating BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba from
Canada is not simple. First off, the political party that has the lion’s share
of the western seats in parliament, the CPC, is not a separatist party. A
strong separation movement would see the formation of probably multiple right
of centre parties to wrest support from the Conservative Party of Canada. Methinks
that would be a very daunting process. Further, there is the Clarity Act, a little known act of
parliament that governs the process of separation.
There are numerous hurdles to be cleared, and the process
would take years, during which time the separation sentiment could easily
reverse.
If there was separation --- a new Republic of Western Canada
--- how likely is it that these four provinces would hang together? In my
opinion, Canada is the glue that ties the western provinces together. It’s
called Confederation. The four,
trying to go it alone, would likely have a falling out, with one or more
seeking admission to the USA with all that entails: taxation of gains on sale
of principal residences, occasional institution of the military draft of sons
to be shipped off to foreign soil to protect the interests of multi-national
companies with their lives, estate taxes, Trump (yeah, I think he’ll win the
next election), and on and on.
I don’t dispute that decentralization of power is the tidal wave
of the last few decades worldwide, but decentralization can be accomplished
quite nicely by shifting areas of jurisdiction from Ottawa to the provincial
capitals. Maybe it’s time to revisit the power distribution.
