I am an Albertan. I have thought of myself as Alberta first, and proud to be Albertan, for at least a few decades. And definitely after 2015, I have been ashamed of Canada. Truly ashamed. I don't recognize what Canada has become, and I honestly don't understand how it can survive in its present form. I believe the intention of the federal Liberals under Trudeau and then Carney, is to have it not survive.
I don't want to be an American. But I definitely DO NOT hate our American brothers and sisters. I think TDS is a mindf**k that has been perpetuated by the worst of us, the ones who actually do NOT want what is best for Canada, and it's been wildly successfully in turning average Canadians against the US. Many people I know seem horrified that I am willing to travel to the U.S. This, when Carney conducts most of his business in the US, his family lives there, and Trudeau seems to be living there with his girlfriend. It makes me question the intelligence of the average Canadian, seriously.
Danielle Smith is NOT a separatist, I can say that with confidence. She does, however, want Alberta to have a bigger say in its own destiny. I think she has fumbled the ball recently, but I still think she has been one of our best premiers, and I hope she survives the people in her own party who support separation, and want to get rid of her.
Having said the above, I will be voting #2 in the referendum on October 19th. I would like this to lead to a spring vote on whether Alberta should separate from Canada. I would like both these votes to be successful, but I believe the first one will fail, and the second one won't happen. If that happens, I would vote for the Conservatives in the next federal election, because that is Canada's only hope. If that somehow makes me a hypocrite, oh well. I think I'm not the only one. Maybe the craziest part is that I continue to vote, when I have almost given up on that (apparent) foundation of democracy.
I will stand and fight for Alberta. Mainly because I am too old to leave, not because I believe in Canada any more.
I am an Albertan; I am a Canadian by accident of birth in that I was born here when Alberta was part of Canada.
As for becoming an American, I absolutely do not want that. Please do not misunderstand: I absolutely like our American neighbors, just as I like the folks who live in the house next to mine. I want America and Americans to continue to be good neighbors, just as I want Canada and Canadians to be good neighbors to we in Alberta.
As for your prediction about the failure of the upcoming vote, that may be the case. I offer to you the words of Rene Levesque on the failure of the first Quebec referendum, "A la prochaine." [Translated to "See you next time" or more colloquially, "Until next time."]
Given my age (75) I will not be around for the next referendum but I will ensure that I vote option 2 in this referendum.
As for Danielle Smith, I absolutely agree that she is not a separatist. What she is is someone who believes that Albertans have a right to express their feelings on important matters. She has made clear that she is in the "Stay" camp and that is her right, just as it is my right to be in the opposite camp.
I agree, a vote to stay in Canada should NOT be the end of the debate. It will be left to younger Albertans to carry on the fight.
I guess I have some admiration for people who want to go down with the ship, as it were. But I imagine that the majority of people who vote to stay in Canada do believe there is something worth salvaging. And, as you say, it is absolutely the right of Albertans to express their opinion and feelings. I don't want to fight with my friends and neighbours about this, or really any issue. I just hope they vote, not with emotion, but with logic.
The problem in realty with Canada is that Western people have absolutely no NO say in Ottawa the way our parliamentary system is set up even if EVERY Westerner voted
"Conservatives have a patriotism problem" - this coming from the same crowd of patriots who lowered flags, defaced and pulled down statues, renamed schools and streets, cancelled Canada Day, all in an orgy of hate for their own "post national state with no core identity". Reality is whatever Leftists say it is.
Well said. Let's not forget the Doug Ford and his admirers out there who have taken buffoonery to a whole new level. Good lord - he needs to be permanently locked up in a psych ward - or is he a character in a bad movie. 🤪
X is crammed to the rafters with Canadian lefties screaming "Traitor!" at anyone who dares to criticize Carney or Liberals. They call such critics anything from Maple Maga to Magats and worse.
To me that's a sign they are seriously worried that Carney is indeed soiling his bed.
I would say Conservatives love Canada more than NDP and Liberals. Conservatives want to preserve what is great about Canada and improve it where it needs improvement such as our healthcare and justice system. The Liberals want to tear everything down and turn us into Europeans… They want to destroy our history and our culture. Look around our country is not doing so well. The Liberals are destroying what was once great about Canada. It’s fake patriotism built on lies. No thanks!
The Canadian mainstream, deep-state globalist 'owned' media has played a huge role over decades, in the mind-corruption of far too many in this country, albeit, with hige numbers only too easy prey. Every political party and their top dog has played a role. President Trump came along with a plan to take the USA the rest of the way back from the grips of an evil, war-loving, deep-state globalist British Empire - and he is doing exactly that. DJT arrived just in time - the US was on the way to its demise - thanks to LBJ, Carter, the Clintons, Bushes, Cheney, Obama, Auto-pen Joe and their compliant underlings. (Watch DJT's first foreign policy speech given on April 27, 2016).
For decades, Canada has been under the 'management' (not leadership) of those who are minions to the globalist elites. The lazy, ignorant, and apathetic among the Canadian citizenry, lower echelon politician plebes included, let the media own their brains, their thoughts, and votes for decades. This was accomplished often using incentives/bribes. They still don't see what has become of this country and how it has taken place. We were in the tank long before President Donald J. Trump came along.
The Canadians who have understood all along and those who have figured it out in more recent times, are most often extremely patriotic and absolutely want Canada 🇨🇦 to survive and succeed, although we know the road back is a long, hard, one - if ever. We might have been born at night 🌙... but it wasn't last night.
Absolutely, and they are all too happy to take their messaging from media minions who have long been $$$ bought off $$$ by those who are enemies of the USA - i.e. the evil and infinitely corrupt globalists. We need to break into the destroyed education institutions and unravel the damage with 'critical thinking and discernment' curriculum.
I certainly don’t feel any less patriotic-or remotely like a traitor-because I still visit my other homes in the US, see my American friends and buy American products. If American ties aren’t a problem for Carney’s family, why should they be for me?
Embarrassed? Perhaps. But for the mad-cow-addled baby boomers flapping their ridiculous elbows and trying to make me feel guilty about it even though they have bestowed sainthood on Mark. My patriotism doesn’t require their approval.
I'm with you Martin. No one can make me feel bad about speaking well of Americans and America. I live Canada but I'm not as proud to be a Canadian as I once was.
We don’t deserve to be quite so smug about our American friends. We elected a PM based on a hairdo and a last name, kept him for nearly ten years and now apparently nobody voted for him.
Why the embarrassment? Own it. You spent years explaining that supporting him demonstrated your superior intelligence and compassion. Surely you should be putting it on your résumé.
Instead, we’re supposed to believe the people now bestowing sainthood on Carney had nothing to do with the last fellow. Same congregation, same absolute certainty and new portrait above the altar.
They haven’t left the cult. They’ve just updated the headshot.
Canada’s Low-information voters have bought into Clown-car Carney’s bloviating TDS. They just don’t understand or want to understand that Carney-Val has hoodwinked them into believing that his immense failure to negotiate a fair trade deal with the US is a good thing for Canada.
Instead of authentic negotiations over trade, Carney jets off to kiss the ass of his former EU henchmen & the EU supremo, the unelected Cursula von der Lying.
With Disappointing Doug Ford on board too, foolish Liberal/ndp/BLOC voters can look forward to much higher prices on everything. The gnashing of teeth & the wailing begins now.
Brian, I write this after considering the videos that you include with your column today.
You have habitually noted that you are aware of and sympathize with our grievances here in Alberta but you have made very, very clear that you are not at all for Alberta separating from Canada. I accept your position.
By contrast, I will vote option 2, the option to initiate a process that will put a separation vote to our populace. I hope that you will accept my position.
The videos that you have attached, featuring Pierre Poilievre and Dane Lloyd were effectively done but neither those videos nor any other "stay" material answers my main question: if we stay, what will happen that is different than the past? In pretty well all cases the best answer to that question is that there will be goodwill and we will all "talk it out to arrive at a solution."
The problem with that approach is two fold.
First, we have been trying to talk about those issues for decades [Remember, "The West Wants In?" That was 1988, almost forty years ago.] and we have been ignored. We talked, we pleaded, we launched court battles, we passed a referendum about equalization but the center absolutely ignored it and didn't talk about it at all. In other words, talking and hoping for change is pointless. Actually, more than pointless, it is a fool's errand.
The second point is that the amending formula makes any substantive change to the constitution impossible. Impossible. Therefore, what is the point of further talk?
One may point to the former PM and say that he was the problem but that he is gone now and the new guy is so, so, so much better. Well, yes to the former but an emphatic maybe to the latter. Allow me to pose a hypothetical. What if Steven Guilbeault had won the LPC leadership? One ideologue followed by another. Both with foolish ideas that were intended to beggar our principal industry. The problem was that both of those fools simply ignored the constitutional separation of power and authority. The courts could not rein them in. Luckily (perhaps) the new guy (perhaps) has a different approach .... well, at least a different tone. So, we are to depend on the LPC not having consecutive ideologues? That is the safeguard upon which we should depend? Thank you, but no, I decline.
Because all it took to ignore the constitution was a PM who wanted to do that and a court that wasn't really keen to argue the point, and who could easily have been followed by more of the same, I will vote for option two. The videos have not convinced me that option one will deal with the problems.
I would argue that Carney is also an ideologue (did you read his book?) but sprinkled with a heavy dose of cynicism and an "ends justify the means" philosophy...the "end" actually being the pillaging of Canada to enrich Brookfield.
Sue, I absolutely agree that MC is an ideologues. You will note (I hope) that I stated that the new guy was PERHAPS better. That is my way of allowing for the possibility that he is better even though I am not an optimist about him.
Conservative are patriotic..yes, they are. They want to stay in Canada..and work to make it prosperous. those that want to separare, im not sure of their reasons. How does Ottawa treat alberta badly? We have laws. All provinces are treated the same. I could be wrong, but they dont like thd liberals. Any excuse to leave is a good excuse.
New guy sounds sympathetic and might change minds... good
I meant treated thd same as in transfer payments. Is based on pooulation. If thats the problem. They receive transfer $ for health care, pay no gst. But pst. Have the highest wages . And pah no corpirate tax or very little.. as i have researched.
Not sure how quebec is treated better or what you mean. Langusge? Transfer money?
And why does Quebec get treated differently in the calculation of transfer payments? Why does Quebec get to keep their oil and gas in the ground and then plead poverty so they get more transfer payments?
And that was a choice they made. If they had continued would they be eligible for so much equalization payments? No! If they made the choice to leave oil in the ground this should factor into their equalization payments
I am an Albertan. I have thought of myself as Alberta first, and proud to be Albertan, for at least a few decades. And definitely after 2015, I have been ashamed of Canada. Truly ashamed. I don't recognize what Canada has become, and I honestly don't understand how it can survive in its present form. I believe the intention of the federal Liberals under Trudeau and then Carney, is to have it not survive.
I don't want to be an American. But I definitely DO NOT hate our American brothers and sisters. I think TDS is a mindf**k that has been perpetuated by the worst of us, the ones who actually do NOT want what is best for Canada, and it's been wildly successfully in turning average Canadians against the US. Many people I know seem horrified that I am willing to travel to the U.S. This, when Carney conducts most of his business in the US, his family lives there, and Trudeau seems to be living there with his girlfriend. It makes me question the intelligence of the average Canadian, seriously.
Danielle Smith is NOT a separatist, I can say that with confidence. She does, however, want Alberta to have a bigger say in its own destiny. I think she has fumbled the ball recently, but I still think she has been one of our best premiers, and I hope she survives the people in her own party who support separation, and want to get rid of her.
Having said the above, I will be voting #2 in the referendum on October 19th. I would like this to lead to a spring vote on whether Alberta should separate from Canada. I would like both these votes to be successful, but I believe the first one will fail, and the second one won't happen. If that happens, I would vote for the Conservatives in the next federal election, because that is Canada's only hope. If that somehow makes me a hypocrite, oh well. I think I'm not the only one. Maybe the craziest part is that I continue to vote, when I have almost given up on that (apparent) foundation of democracy.
I will stand and fight for Alberta. Mainly because I am too old to leave, not because I believe in Canada any more.
Sue, I agree with all that you say.
I am an Albertan; I am a Canadian by accident of birth in that I was born here when Alberta was part of Canada.
As for becoming an American, I absolutely do not want that. Please do not misunderstand: I absolutely like our American neighbors, just as I like the folks who live in the house next to mine. I want America and Americans to continue to be good neighbors, just as I want Canada and Canadians to be good neighbors to we in Alberta.
As for your prediction about the failure of the upcoming vote, that may be the case. I offer to you the words of Rene Levesque on the failure of the first Quebec referendum, "A la prochaine." [Translated to "See you next time" or more colloquially, "Until next time."]
Given my age (75) I will not be around for the next referendum but I will ensure that I vote option 2 in this referendum.
As for Danielle Smith, I absolutely agree that she is not a separatist. What she is is someone who believes that Albertans have a right to express their feelings on important matters. She has made clear that she is in the "Stay" camp and that is her right, just as it is my right to be in the opposite camp.
Have a good day.
I agree, a vote to stay in Canada should NOT be the end of the debate. It will be left to younger Albertans to carry on the fight.
I guess I have some admiration for people who want to go down with the ship, as it were. But I imagine that the majority of people who vote to stay in Canada do believe there is something worth salvaging. And, as you say, it is absolutely the right of Albertans to express their opinion and feelings. I don't want to fight with my friends and neighbours about this, or really any issue. I just hope they vote, not with emotion, but with logic.
The problem in realty with Canada is that Western people have absolutely no NO say in Ottawa the way our parliamentary system is set up even if EVERY Westerner voted
👍
Thank you for echoing my thoughts!
"Conservatives have a patriotism problem" - this coming from the same crowd of patriots who lowered flags, defaced and pulled down statues, renamed schools and streets, cancelled Canada Day, all in an orgy of hate for their own "post national state with no core identity". Reality is whatever Leftists say it is.
Well said. Let's not forget the Doug Ford and his admirers out there who have taken buffoonery to a whole new level. Good lord - he needs to be permanently locked up in a psych ward - or is he a character in a bad movie. 🤪
unfortunately Ontario is the name of the bad movie....
And BC’s Eby is envious, so is trying to one-up Ford in buffoonery and botched governing.
You nailed that one, Michael. Is that an example of the pot calling the kettle black? Patriotic Canadians don't do the shit you mentioned.
That's right. Bellyaching about Trump helps Canada how? Encouraging Carney to wage his 'war' with the United States helps Canada how?
That's exactly what the Liberals want, and they seem to be succeeding.
"To oppose corruption in government is the highest obligation of patriotism"
G.Edward Griffin
Love it❣️
X is crammed to the rafters with Canadian lefties screaming "Traitor!" at anyone who dares to criticize Carney or Liberals. They call such critics anything from Maple Maga to Magats and worse.
To me that's a sign they are seriously worried that Carney is indeed soiling his bed.
I would say Conservatives love Canada more than NDP and Liberals. Conservatives want to preserve what is great about Canada and improve it where it needs improvement such as our healthcare and justice system. The Liberals want to tear everything down and turn us into Europeans… They want to destroy our history and our culture. Look around our country is not doing so well. The Liberals are destroying what was once great about Canada. It’s fake patriotism built on lies. No thanks!
Absolutely K Brooker!!
Bingo❣️
The Canadian mainstream, deep-state globalist 'owned' media has played a huge role over decades, in the mind-corruption of far too many in this country, albeit, with hige numbers only too easy prey. Every political party and their top dog has played a role. President Trump came along with a plan to take the USA the rest of the way back from the grips of an evil, war-loving, deep-state globalist British Empire - and he is doing exactly that. DJT arrived just in time - the US was on the way to its demise - thanks to LBJ, Carter, the Clintons, Bushes, Cheney, Obama, Auto-pen Joe and their compliant underlings. (Watch DJT's first foreign policy speech given on April 27, 2016).
For decades, Canada has been under the 'management' (not leadership) of those who are minions to the globalist elites. The lazy, ignorant, and apathetic among the Canadian citizenry, lower echelon politician plebes included, let the media own their brains, their thoughts, and votes for decades. This was accomplished often using incentives/bribes. They still don't see what has become of this country and how it has taken place. We were in the tank long before President Donald J. Trump came along.
The Canadians who have understood all along and those who have figured it out in more recent times, are most often extremely patriotic and absolutely want Canada 🇨🇦 to survive and succeed, although we know the road back is a long, hard, one - if ever. We might have been born at night 🌙... but it wasn't last night.
IMHO, it isn't that the chattering classes are pro-Canadian, it is that they are anti-American.
Absolutely, and they are all too happy to take their messaging from media minions who have long been $$$ bought off $$$ by those who are enemies of the USA - i.e. the evil and infinitely corrupt globalists. We need to break into the destroyed education institutions and unravel the damage with 'critical thinking and discernment' curriculum.
I certainly don’t feel any less patriotic-or remotely like a traitor-because I still visit my other homes in the US, see my American friends and buy American products. If American ties aren’t a problem for Carney’s family, why should they be for me?
Embarrassed? Perhaps. But for the mad-cow-addled baby boomers flapping their ridiculous elbows and trying to make me feel guilty about it even though they have bestowed sainthood on Mark. My patriotism doesn’t require their approval.
I'm with you Martin. No one can make me feel bad about speaking well of Americans and America. I live Canada but I'm not as proud to be a Canadian as I once was.
We don’t deserve to be quite so smug about our American friends. We elected a PM based on a hairdo and a last name, kept him for nearly ten years and now apparently nobody voted for him.
Why the embarrassment? Own it. You spent years explaining that supporting him demonstrated your superior intelligence and compassion. Surely you should be putting it on your résumé.
Instead, we’re supposed to believe the people now bestowing sainthood on Carney had nothing to do with the last fellow. Same congregation, same absolute certainty and new portrait above the altar.
They haven’t left the cult. They’ve just updated the headshot.
Canada’s Low-information voters have bought into Clown-car Carney’s bloviating TDS. They just don’t understand or want to understand that Carney-Val has hoodwinked them into believing that his immense failure to negotiate a fair trade deal with the US is a good thing for Canada.
Instead of authentic negotiations over trade, Carney jets off to kiss the ass of his former EU henchmen & the EU supremo, the unelected Cursula von der Lying.
With Disappointing Doug Ford on board too, foolish Liberal/ndp/BLOC voters can look forward to much higher prices on everything. The gnashing of teeth & the wailing begins now.
Brian, I write this after considering the videos that you include with your column today.
You have habitually noted that you are aware of and sympathize with our grievances here in Alberta but you have made very, very clear that you are not at all for Alberta separating from Canada. I accept your position.
By contrast, I will vote option 2, the option to initiate a process that will put a separation vote to our populace. I hope that you will accept my position.
The videos that you have attached, featuring Pierre Poilievre and Dane Lloyd were effectively done but neither those videos nor any other "stay" material answers my main question: if we stay, what will happen that is different than the past? In pretty well all cases the best answer to that question is that there will be goodwill and we will all "talk it out to arrive at a solution."
The problem with that approach is two fold.
First, we have been trying to talk about those issues for decades [Remember, "The West Wants In?" That was 1988, almost forty years ago.] and we have been ignored. We talked, we pleaded, we launched court battles, we passed a referendum about equalization but the center absolutely ignored it and didn't talk about it at all. In other words, talking and hoping for change is pointless. Actually, more than pointless, it is a fool's errand.
The second point is that the amending formula makes any substantive change to the constitution impossible. Impossible. Therefore, what is the point of further talk?
One may point to the former PM and say that he was the problem but that he is gone now and the new guy is so, so, so much better. Well, yes to the former but an emphatic maybe to the latter. Allow me to pose a hypothetical. What if Steven Guilbeault had won the LPC leadership? One ideologue followed by another. Both with foolish ideas that were intended to beggar our principal industry. The problem was that both of those fools simply ignored the constitutional separation of power and authority. The courts could not rein them in. Luckily (perhaps) the new guy (perhaps) has a different approach .... well, at least a different tone. So, we are to depend on the LPC not having consecutive ideologues? That is the safeguard upon which we should depend? Thank you, but no, I decline.
Because all it took to ignore the constitution was a PM who wanted to do that and a court that wasn't really keen to argue the point, and who could easily have been followed by more of the same, I will vote for option two. The videos have not convinced me that option one will deal with the problems.
I would argue that Carney is also an ideologue (did you read his book?) but sprinkled with a heavy dose of cynicism and an "ends justify the means" philosophy...the "end" actually being the pillaging of Canada to enrich Brookfield.
Sue, I absolutely agree that MC is an ideologues. You will note (I hope) that I stated that the new guy was PERHAPS better. That is my way of allowing for the possibility that he is better even though I am not an optimist about him.
Exactly this Ken. Thanks for so clearly articulating my feelings
I don't have a "patriotism problem". I have an embarrassment problem.
Conservative are patriotic..yes, they are. They want to stay in Canada..and work to make it prosperous. those that want to separare, im not sure of their reasons. How does Ottawa treat alberta badly? We have laws. All provinces are treated the same. I could be wrong, but they dont like thd liberals. Any excuse to leave is a good excuse.
New guy sounds sympathetic and might change minds... good
All provinces ARE NOT treated the same. Quebec in particular is treated better than all the other provinces. Alberta has a list of valid grievances
I meant treated thd same as in transfer payments. Is based on pooulation. If thats the problem. They receive transfer $ for health care, pay no gst. But pst. Have the highest wages . And pah no corpirate tax or very little.. as i have researched.
Not sure how quebec is treated better or what you mean. Langusge? Transfer money?
Cheers
And why does Quebec get treated differently in the calculation of transfer payments? Why does Quebec get to keep their oil and gas in the ground and then plead poverty so they get more transfer payments?
Because of their large population and low income.. alberta has the highest income levels. Fair is fair i guess.
Alberta doesn't like the payments to the east coast either. Same situation.
Jmo
Quebec does not sell gas and oil .they stopped digging in 2022..grok
And that was a choice they made. If they had continued would they be eligible for so much equalization payments? No! If they made the choice to leave oil in the ground this should factor into their equalization payments