It was my high privilege to present “Economic Forecasts For An Independent Alberta” at three Alberta Prosperity Project events over the weekend. I travelled across the province to Stettler, Sherwood Park, and Alberta Beach.
The events, with all of their people, energy, joy, and encouragement, were phenomenal.
I say so predominately because every individual who attended displayed a resolute and optimistic spirit for all to witness. The province’s movement for independence is fantastic and not at all something to take lightly. As the size and solidarity of such meetings continue to expand (at an exponential rate), the diversity, age, and character of the audience and membership continue to encapsulate a larger demographic of the Albertan people.
“The movement is selfish!” some argue. “Alberta’s independence is a selfish idea that betrays the other provinces to a disadvantage.”
Not at all.
We believe—we know—that the construction of confederation is fundamentally counterbalanced to favour the east. It’s important to note that we do not think the parliamentary system we are governed by is inherently bad. Nor do we suppose that those in the Eastern bloc advocate for our ruin. Instead, we conclude that what's working for Ontario, Quebec, and other Maritime Provinces, isn’t working for Alberta and other members of the western swath. How then can we be slandered as selfish for desiring to chart a new avenue for our province that maximizes our well-being?
It used to be that the majority of Albertans advocating for independence did so by employing economic merit. And to their credit, there indeed are a plethora of economic advantages for an independent Alberta to enjoy. However, economics is fluid. Some years are good, and other years are difficult. Some years people harvest a profit, other years, the government does. But because facilitating a legitimate push for independence requires a substantial amount of time, just as old movements were’s about to grip some traction, the economy boomed, and all momentum for independence was drowned in an ocean of dollar bills.
However, we are noticing our audience is excited about independence, not just because of the economic advantages, but because of the moral ones. Independence is evolving. Once, it was purely economic, but now, it concerns rights and freedoms. The difference between the two—economics and rights—is that rights and freedoms are absolute, unchanging, and eternal. Now, there’s always traction for an independence train to anchor itself to.
Clearly, a socialist advance depends upon the country. Just three more years of Mr. Trudeau and his government spell disaster for our province. More than that, no matter who is in federal power, Alberta is powerless to modernize our deal in Canada precisely because we cannot change the mechanics of confederation. Trust us, we’ve tried, to no avail, and now conclude the only way to obtain governance of the people, by the people, for the people, is through independence.
To officially counter the first argument, is this a selfish movement? Not at all. In fact, we believe that once Alberta is independent, other provinces will excitedly recognize the fantastic benefits and merits of independence from Ottawa as well!
To that end, we in Alberta are not trying to leave Canada; we’re trying to save it.
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