Apr 28 2005
Blogs Discussing Canada’s Impending Demise?
Funny… I add a couple of links to western Canadian separatist movements, and suddenly the whole blog world is talking about Canada’s impending implosion.
Not that I think they are wrong either. As a Western Canadian, I have been sick and tired of this confederation for some time now. I mean, how ridiculous is it that of the last 30 years, 28 of them have featured a Quebec-based PM, while 1 year was split between two Ontarians (Turner and Campbell), and another part of a year was led by Joe Clark, from Alberta. During that time, probably the biggest issue facing the country has been Quebec leaving, and during that period, the Feds have been basically extending one big bribe to Quebec to get them to stay. Now, with the sponsorship scandal, we see one more example of Federal bribery to get Quebec to stay, and it is backfiring, causing the fires of separation to be stoked again.
Appeasement doesn’t work, folks. Bribery doesn’t work folks. It is time for some tough love, and a PM from Quebec is not capable of dishing it out. We need a hard-liner PM, someone who doesn’t have any interests in la Belle Province. We need someone to lay it out for Quebeckers: you want to leave? Then you are leaving! Take your portion of the Canadian national debt with you, you AREN’T using our dollar, and you AREN’T going to be a part of any “special relationship” with Canada. You ARE going to return all our military bases to us, you are not getting any more transfer payments, handouts, or capital or infrastructure grants and offices. Then, when you realize you are in debt up to your eyeballs and you can’t support one tenth of the infrastructure you are so proud of, and you come grovelling back to Canada begging us to take you back, you can drop your discriminatory “French language and culture” laws and come back an equal partner in Canada, not the favoured son.
If the Feds want to continue to pander to Quebec, then they can fully expect, sooner or later, the rest of the country to demand similar special treatment. It is already happening. That is the point of all the decentralization talk - of giving more power and money back to the Provinces. We all want a piece of the pie that Quebec has been gorging on for half a century. And if we can’t have it, then we truly are better off on our own.
