Alberta’s provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, on July 6, 2020.
Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
William A. Macdonald is a corporate lawyer turned consultant with a long history of public service and social engagement.
Alberta, like Quebec, is different. Like Quebec, the province matters to the future of Canada. Also like Quebec, it needs and wants a more asymmetric Canada. Yet, in some ways, Alberta’s national unity politics will be harder than Quebec’s were in its separatist crises since the 1960s.
Great leaders make many mistakes – often big ones – but they get the greatest things right. Winston Churchill is the best political example of that in my lifetime. He got almost everything wrong during his very long political career except Hitler. Churchill likely saved Western civilization when he became U.K. prime minister in May, 1940, just before the fall of France.
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Pierre Trudeau was also a great leader who got almost everything wrong: the economy, the West and the United States, but he got the greatest thing, Quebec separatism, right. Unfortunately, the legacy of his failure in the West – and in Alberta in particular – has endured and is now a growing threat to national unity.
Quebec and Alberta share strong senses of being distinct from Canada as well as being part of it. Quebec’s differences are primarily language and religion. Alberta’s are more cultural and political.
Quebec, however, is at the centre of the country geographically and feels less distant from Ottawa for other good reasons. It has always been at the centre politically and economically. Until 75 years ago, Montreal was Canada’s largest city and the financial capital. Quebec has almost always felt it had influence.
True, the federal politics of separatism and national unity within Quebec have often been intense because of the powerful ethnic nationalism at the basis of Quebec separatism. But counterbalancing that was strong for-Canada political leadership federally and in the province.
Since 1920, pro-Canada Liberals have been in power in Ottawa three-quarters of the time, led for long periods by three strong francophone prime ministers – Louis St. Laurent, Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien – and two skilled and compromise-oriented anglos from Ontario – Mackenzie King and Lester Pearson. During those governments, there was almost always a strong pro-Canada francophone Quebec provincial Liberal leader.
In the 1960s, with a powerful contingent of ministers from Quebec, Mr. Pearson was able to lay the early political groundwork before a single Quebec separatist had been elected to the Quebec National Assembly or in Ottawa. And with the help of non-Liberal Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson and Conservative Ontario Premier John Robarts, Mr. Pearson built a foundation for 40 years of successful defences of federalism in Quebec.
Alberta’s sheer distance from central Canada makes its distinctiveness different. And the province has almost always felt it has lacked influence.
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It has had just two prime ministers of Canada, and each won only one majority term – R.B. Bennett (1930-35) and Stephen Harper (2011-2015, after two minorities starting in 2006).
Alberta’s provincial politics since 1920 have also been unlike those of any other province. It elected United Farmers party governments in 1921, 1926, and 1930, then Social Credit regimes from 1935 to 1971. It then switched to Peter Lougheed’s Conservatives and, with the exception of Rachel Notley’s NDP from 2015 to 2019, the party (or variations of it) has been in power ever since. Federally, Alberta has voted overwhelmingly Conservative since Social Credit was defeated in 1971.
Bottom line: Alberta has largely followed its own political star. But this has made the province weaker in Ottawa than it should be, and far less influential than Quebec, where voters deftly play federal and provincial parties off each other.
Today, the only federal party with enough strength in Alberta to help fend off Wexit is the Conservatives. Unlike the Liberals in Quebec, however, the federal Conservatives do not have the needed federal strength beyond Alberta to match their support within it. This is an enduring advantage for the federal Liberals.
For Canada to move beyond a real Wexit risk, one of the two main national parties must find a political path that combines broad support across the whole country with federal and provincial strength in Alberta. Yet the Liberals are now hopelessly weak in the province and in the Conservatives’ recent leadership contest, not one candidate came from Alberta.
Ramsay Cook, the Saskatchewan-born historian who helped define modern Canada, passed away in 2016 after a long and successful academic career. In his latter years, he and I discussed the impact of federal tax reform in 1970 and the National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980 on Western Canadian alienation.
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I asked Professor Cook what accounted for the socio-cultural and political differences between Alberta and the rest of the West and Canada. He told me that he had never been able to figure it out, nor, to his knowledge, had any other Canadian historian.
But some issues and personalities have certainly inflamed tensions. Pierre Trudeau laid the groundwork for oil-based Western hatred of the Liberals with the NEP, which capped the prices provinces would receive for their oil. Many commentators and opponents say son Justin is now co-ordinating another assault on Canadian energy.
As in Quebec during its separatist crises, in the short term at least, politics in Alberta could become more heated and divisive before they get better. Quebec was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church for decades. When that domination receded in the 1960s, a potent new mix of Quebec nationalism and separatism took hold.
It could turn out that Alberta is now in the early stages of withdrawal from oil dominance. That shift will continue to stir up strong feelings in the province. Yet it could also be the path to a stronger economic future as the global role of oil slowly recedes.
Justin Trudeau is not the cause of low global oil prices or of voter worries around the world about global warming. Those low oil prices and international worries almost certainly now hurt Alberta more than the Prime Minister does.
Albertans should also recall that under high oil prices, the province spent at a higher rate than any other government in the country. And long stretches of high prices got in the way of economic diversification.
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In the short term, however, tensions between Alberta and the rest of Canada are almost certain to rise. Three leading Alberta academics and policy makers – Jack Mintz, Ted Morton and Tom Flanagan – have edited a very timely book of essays, Moment of Truth: How to Think About Alberta’s Future. They have started a long and necessary concrete discussion about oil, climate change, Alberta and national unity. The issues will also have to include Indigenous challenges.
The authors see three basic options. First: institutional reforms that would increase Alberta’s influence in Ottawa. But it’s hard to see how this could help the oil industry and be politically acceptable in the rest of the country. The proposed increase in the province’s proportion of Senate seats failed.
Second: more policy freedom from Ottawa. Quebec has bolstered its control over federal and provincial programs over the years. But, again, would it help the oil patch if Alberta, like Quebec, had more provincial control of policy and its health care system?
Third: separate from Canada. But this would almost surely hurt oil and Alberta more than it would help. In a world where global trade is breaking down and nationalist-driven populism is getting stronger, a landlocked jurisdiction in a weakened Canada would have far less bargaining power. And things could easily go very wrong even just starting down the road to a referendum on separation, as they did in the U.K. when then-prime minister David Cameron called a Brexit vote he thought he could win.
Industry diversification is still the best way forward for Alberta and Canada, as I’ve argued in my past five Globe articles. The outcomes of future federal and Alberta elections will likely be shaped by what happens on three fronts: stronger economic growth in Alberta aided by the kind of federal policy changes I’ve outlined, the rising dangers of a troubled U.S. and its relations with the world’s other major economies, and discussions about Western alienation and Wexit that lead Alberta to feel that Ontario and central Canada are finally “getting” the province and the West better than they have before.
As for the U.S. and other major economies, all are going through identity and existential crises. The divisionsevident in the U.S. since Donald Trump took office will endure, no matter what else happens over the next several months and even years.
Even so, there will be no end of Wexit talk until the Conservatives take office in Ottawa or a post-Trudeau Liberal prime minister finds a more positive-for-Alberta way forward electorally than federal Liberal governments have been able to do since 1980.
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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
