Well, two weeks have passed since the Canadian federal election and the dust is settling. The entrails are being read; the polsters congratulated and the chattering classes are opining on what it all means and what should happen next. So, a few thoughts on the election outcome.
Where to begin? Well, I wouldn’t have normally chosen to start here but, given everybody else is, I guess “western alientation” is as good a place as any. As we are constantly reminded by the media, the Liberal government failed to win any seats between the western suburbs of Winnipeg and the eastern suburbs of Vancouver and this, it seems, is a monumental problem worthy of our urgent attention. More particularly, the voters in Alberta and Saskatchewan chose to elect Conservatives and only Conservatives to represent them in the federal parliament meaning there is no obvious road to having those provinces represented at the federal cabinet table in the new Liberal government.
Shortly after the results of the election were known, Scott Moe, the Premier of Saskatchewan, helpfully suggested the new Liberal government should scrap the carbon tax, change equalization and “immediately” get pipelines built. That, it seems, was the minimum the “west” demanded for having shut out the government (if this doesn’t make a lot of sense to you, you’re not alone).
Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta then chimed in threatening separation from Canada while not threatening separation from Canada. His most memorable outburst was “Justin Trudeau is not going to push me out of Canada!”. Would someone please give him his Teddy bear and send him to his room. The adults need to have a conversation.
And, right on cue, the voices of western separtism “flooded” the internet while certain Canadian columnists (Rex Murphy I’m looking at you), fed the flames by opining on the grievous insults that had been piled upon those two prairie provinces.
While I’m on the subject of “two prairie provinces” I do want to say, as someone who lives quite literally at the westernmost edge of Canada (yes, that’s the Pacific ocean I’m looking at as I write this), I would prefer they stopped talking about “western” separation or the suddenly fashionable “Wexit”, presumably playing on “Brexit”, as if that was a good role model for leaving a federation (yes, I know Andrew Scheer supports Brexit, whatever that could possibly mean). Perhaps they could call it “Prexit” but then that might offend Manitoba so, really, I think we should just nix the acronyms.
But back to the substance. Alberta and Saskatchewan are aggrieved because they believe they are suffering because of the carbon tax, the failure to get pipeline(s) built and the belief they contribute more to the federation through equalization payments than they should. I don’t know as much about Saskatchewan as Alberta but I do know Alberta has the lowest corporate and personal taxes in the country (including the vaunted absence of a sales tax) and, apparently, the Kenney government is now determined to make those taxes even lower. At the same time, Alberta pays more for most publicly funded services, services like healthcare and education, than any other province and yet doesn’t have better outcomes than similar provinces in any of those areas. By the way, it’s paying more creates serious problems for the other provinces as they try to compete for scarce human resources. What’s more, the last time the Equalization Forumula was changed Jason Kenney was a senior minister in the Harper government that changed it. If it was so egregiously wrong why did he support it?
As for pipelines, it would be helpful to hear from either Premier Moe or Premier Kenney what exactly they propose to expedite the process. Again I note Jason Kenney was a senior minister in the Harper government that in ten years in office failed to build any pipelines despite making a lot of noise about them. The Trudeau government bought the Trans Mountain Pipeline to ensure it would be completed. That probably cost them their majority and yet, even now, they insist it will go ahead.
And as for abolishing the carbon tax: get real! Nearly two thirds of Canadians voted for parties that support the carbon tax, at least two of them wanting it significantly increased and quickly. But, according to Scott Moe, the views of those other Canadians don’t count because the voters in Saskatchewan and Alberta don’t want it. Okay, I know this is not helpful but, really: SUCK IT UP.
The simple fact is there is a horizon beyond which the world will not use fossil fuels. And it may be closer than we think, if only because of the imperative of saving the planet. Albertans and Saskatchewanites need to come to terms with this. If they don’t they will both return to their days as “have not” provinces where, they will be glad to know, they’ll receive equalization payments from the other provinces.
Other than the western woes, I think the election turned out about as well as it could, given the choices. The Liberals deserved a rebuke and they got one. The Conservatives didn’t give centrist voters like me any reason to vote for them and, indeed, offered one or two reasons not to (yes, the carbon tax is one and the virulent social conservative views of many of their candidates, including their leader, is the other).
For me at least, the best news of all was that all the candidates for The People’s Party of Canada lost their deposits.
As one headline said: Canadians are a sensible people.
just sayin
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