Jamey Allison
Politics
Mr. Watson
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Western Alienation is a phenomenon unique to
Canadian politics. It is rooted in the belief that
Canadian politics does not serve interests in the
Western Provinces such as Alberta, Manitoba,
British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
The Westerners complain that the Canadian
politics devotes more time and resources on the
central provinces such as Ontario and Quebec
because they have a higher population rate and
therefore greater representation in the Senate
and House of Commons.
As a result, many Western Canadians feel
Alienated from the political process.
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Do you agree with what this man is saying? Do
you think westerners are making too big of a
deal about Western Alienation?
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The history of Western Alienation dates back to the
Confederation of Canada in 1867.
In the 1870s, Conservative Party Prime Minister
John Macdonald implemented a new national
policy on imported manufactured goods. This was
partially in response to the high tariffs that were in
place in the United States. Western provinces
argued that the tariffs favored the central
provinces while Western farmers had to compete
with international markets for grain prices.
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If John A. Macdonald did not implement a
policy on imported manufacturing goods, do
you feel Western Canada would feel as
alienated as they are today?
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On a map, you can see that Western Canada is
is further away from the nation’s capital then
the other half.
Many westerners feel that they are alienated
because of where they are in Canada and how
far they are from Ottawa.
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The 1947, Alberta’s discovery of oil was a big
bonus for their economy and made Alberta the
wealthiest province by far. But it also led to
discord between the province and the Canadian
federal government.
While Alberta was celebrating the wealth of their
province, the other provinces, mainly the eastern
provinces, did not find it fair that Alberta was not
sharing their oil money as a country.
But it wasn’t until the 1980s when Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau implemented the National Energy
Program and sought to use the oil profits to
stabilize oil prices nationwide.
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The National Energy Program (NEP) was
introduced on 28 October 1980 as part of the
first Liberal budget after the 1980 election.
the NEP was an attempt by the federal
government to achieve 3 objectives: energy
security; A redistribution of wealth towards the
federal government and consumers; and a
greater Canadian ownership of the oil industry.
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Energy Security: In order to keep Albertans oil in Canada
they put export controls on all the oil companies. This
would decrease the Canadian price of oil. As a result, the oil
companies did not want to invest in Canada, so they drilled
less.
A redistribution of wealth towards the federal gov’t:
Western governments did not want to share oil royalties
with the rest of the country, but the federal government
wanted to. This sparked a huge conflict with Alberta and the
federal government.
Greater Canadian ownership of oil company: The federal
government tried to run a bunch of oil companies and create
petro-Canada, but they failed as the government couldn’t
keep up with the finance and lost money. So the private
companies took them over again.
Pros
Cons
It was proven that trying to artificially
control price or supply does not work
To this day many majority of Alberta
dislikes the Trudeau and the Liberals,
which is why the west is so
Conservative
Trudeau made an attempt to unite the
country through oil
The federal government drove away
investment from major oil companies
for many years, therefore there was
less oil production which resulted in
less revenue for the Western provinces
and higher unemployment.
It decreased oil prices in Eastern
Canada
Government wasted millions of
dollars and eventually had to sell their
share of petro-Canada
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Many people in the West thought that the NEP
was a complete failure and caused a lot of
damage to this day. But many people
appreciated him trying NEP. Do you think that
Trudeau did the right thing in attempting the
NEP or do you think it was a complete waste of
time?
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Do you agree with Prime Minister Trudeau
about not having to worry about Western
alienation?
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Triple E means:
Equal: equal representation from across
Canada.
Elected: wants Senators to be elected from the
people
Effective: they want the senate to be powerful
and effective
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Right now we elect our Senators through
Patronage. The west wants to change that by
using the triple E because the majority of
Senators are from central Canada. Therefore
the West will just as equal as central Canada
when it come to the Senate.
Pros
Cons
The Senators will be elected instead of
Patronage
It will give the Prime Minister less
power
The West will have an equal say
Many Senators will lose their jobs
The Senate will be more effective
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Do you feel if the Triple E were to get put in
place by Steven Harper, it would be a positive
aspect in Canadian politics?
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Economic equalization is another factor involved in
Western Alienation, particularly in Alberta.
Equalization programs involve government allocation
of federal funds into poorer provinces while wealthy
citizens pay higher equalization payments. The
purpose of the equalization payments was to promote
national unity by ensuring that the provinces have
comparable standards of living, health care and
education.
But these policies have been a source of discontent in
Alberta, as the province gives an average of $1.1 billion
per year in equalization payments. Since wealthy
Alberta receives less funding from the federal
government, the province is forced to impose higher
local taxes to collect revenue.
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Do you feel that Albertans should be
discontent with the economic equalization in
Canada? Do you feel that Alberta should
deserve same taxes, or that they should share
more of their wealth with Canada?
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The West can force separatism.
The West can increase immigration, so their
population goes up
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In your opinion, what do you think we should
do to end Western Alienation in Canada?