A majority of Canadians remain opposed to the concept of the four most western provinces separating from Canada, but a new Abacus Data poll suggests the limited support the Wexit Canada party currently enjoys could come at the expense of the federal Conservatives.
“If you isolate the four western provinces, the federal Conservatives rely on those provinces disproportionately for more of their support, more of their seats,” said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data. “When you distil down and look at it, who are these Wexiteers?”
Coletto said among those who support separation from Canada, “almost half of them nationally voted Conservative. Among those western Canadians, 81 per cent voted Conservative in the last election.”
The poll found that only seven per cent of Canadians think Wexit is a good idea — but Coletto said that number increased to 15 per cent of Conservative Party voters in the 2019 election.
How survey respondents said they would feel about a separation of Canada’s four western provinces. (Abacus Data)
Among Albertans, the new party gets slightly higher support. Twenty per cent of survey respondents in the province said Alberta separating from the rest of the country was a “good idea.” Another 26 per cent said they could “live with it,” while 54 per cent called it a “terrible idea.”
“It shows that Wexit Canada, as a starting point, has an audience that is open to listening, and in Alberta particularly, an audience who may not be strongly in favour of separating but signal that they could live with it,” Coletto said.
How Alberta survey respondents said they would feel about Alberta separating from Canada. (Abacus Data)
The results mirror frustrations felt by Albertans that were indicated in a November 2019 Abacus poll. It found that three-quarters of Albertans said their province is treated “unfairly” in its relationship with the rest of the country.
“This is not necessarily a wholesale shift of views, but I think it reflects an environment where this kind of perspective, this kind of party, could find some traction with a portion of the electorate or voters and residents in Alberta and other western provinces,” Coletto said.
Party has a new leader
Last month, veteran conservative politician Jay Hill was named interim leader of the Wexit party following the resignation of founderPeter Downing. Hill was Conservative House leader under then-prime minister Stephen Harper at the time of his retirement in 2010.
Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said the new Abacus data shows pro-separation numbers at a rate that is largely consistent with other polls but indicates a higher amount of what he called “soft” separatists.
“There is a committed small minority that is hardcore separatist, around nine to 13 per cent. The remaining supporters are soft,” Bratt said in an email. “Meaning that their support could be hardened or dissipate based on current events or if a serious referendum would be put into play.”
He said the Wexit party also poses a problem for the Conservatives in Western Canada, given that none of the four candidates running for the party leadership are from that part of the country — the first time since the federal Conservative party’s formation in 2003.
“[The polls indicated] that Wexit is driven by Alberta. While there is support in the other western provinces, the heart of the movement is in Alberta,” Bratt said. “This is also a challenge for [Premier Jason] Kenney.”
He said that many supporters of separatism back the governing United Conservative Party, “and a few may even be in his caucus.”
Premier Jason Kenney has said that threatening separation from Canada would destabilize investor confidence and would be ‘hugely counter-productive.’ (CBC)
Kenney himself has pushed back against the idea of Alberta separation, calling it an empty threat that could hurt the province’s economy.
But others in his party disagree, including UCP Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes, who has called for “consequences” should Alberta’s demands not be met by Ottawa.
Abacus said the survey was conducted online with 1,500 Canadian residents from June 26 to 30, and was weighted according to census data “to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region.”
For comparison purposes, a probability-based sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margins of error would be higher on provincial results or other subsets of the main sample.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
