Macleans: Imagining a federal election without Alberta or Quebec by Philippe J. Fournier: My fun Review – August 4, 2019,
For a Right Winger like me, the article below was a very fun read, it’s a short read worthy of reading, however my conclusions related to the article differ greatly from the conclusion the author Philippe J. Fournier came too.
Imagining a federal election without Alberta or Quebec – By: Philippe J. Fournier
What if Quebec Left Canada?
If Quebec leaves Canada, in the modern era, it could actually prove to be a net positive for the Federation. Sorry Quebec, but economically you’re a burden on the country and if Quebec leaves the Federation so do yo many of your influential Left-leaning Socialist politicians. If Quebec leaves, all of a sudden Equalization payments aren’t as big a burden as they once were if Quebec leaves supply Management probably disappears overnight, which would equate to a stimulus package for Canadian Farmers who aren’t allowed to participate in the Cartel and who are limited via regulations with what they can can’t do. If Quebec leaves, I don’t know if people care as much now as they would have cared in 1995.
If Quebec leaves speaking French no longer becomes a requirement for Federal Politicians and all of sudden what would more than likely happen is an explosion of English speaking Conservatives getting involved in Politics who would now find themselves not having to try to express their ideas in French. Quebec has been a major disadvantage for English Speaking Politicians in Canada, Quebecers are very left-leaning, most Quebecers in some way shape or form believe in big government.
Quebec should be Canada’s most populace and most richest Province but it’s not because it has an economic system that attracts economic leeches. Of course many Leftist will call Quebecs’ non-business friendly policies Progressive, but Quebec if it were to become a Nation today, it would have some serious economic problems. I’d put Quebec in the same sentence as Argentina if it were a Nation.
Quebec like Argentina are beautiful places, but their Government is too big, the public sector in Quebec could not be solvent without equalization payments, if Quebec were to be a Nation on its own, with its own money, the words ‘currency crisis’ would plague it. If you think Quebecers would magically change their attitudes or change their culture as an independent nation, I think you’d be incorrect. If Quebec threatened to leave the Canadian Federation, in the modern era, I think the media would have to play it up, for Canadians to even care.
What if Alberta left Canada – The Loonie is a Petro-Dollar
If an Albertan session ever became a real thing, the mainstream media would have to have an honest conversation to Canadians about how serious of an economic blow this would be. It’s fun to ignore Alberta when they don’t threaten to leave because we’re all benefiting from Alberta’s productive labor and they’re the equivalent to parents who bring home the bacon every day with a smile and are lucky to get a thank you mom or a thank you dad from their ignorant entitled children. It’s only when the kids actually have to go out and work on their own that they realize the sacrifices mom and dad made to keep the home happy.
An Albertan session is a very serious matter and I have to tie in Albertan session with a Saskatchewan session because if Alberta leaves, the value of the Canadian dollar will drop like a stone. The Canadian dollar is a Petro-Dollar, the Canadian dollar is tied to the value of Oil, if the price of oil begins to rise, the Loonie will rise, the last time the Loonie reached parity with the Greenback the price of Oil was reaching all-time highs. When private investors think Canada, they think Oil, Canada doesn’t innovate much of anything anymore, we sell commodities.
We can pretend it will be an easy transition into renewable energy all we want, the reality is, in order for Canada not to be petrodollar dependent we’d have to adopt a more Free market economy, that would fuel some sort of innovation. Free markets, for the most part, aren’t very welcome in Eastern Canada. Eastern Canada does not want to shrink the size of government, nor does eastern Canada want to negotiate shrinking the Public Sector. So, the uncomfortable truth is if Alberta leaves, not only will the Canadian dollar take a hit, Canada may have to impose austerity measures.
Canada is heavily dependent on imports which makes the strength of the Canadian dollar imperative to trade. Because Canadas Public Sector consumes so much money, if one day Canada can’t turn to Alberta to cover the financial shortfalls, raising interest rates all of sudden becomes a very real reality, that the BoC can’t escape, being that most Canadians are in debt, this poses a huge financial problem that a service sector economy can’t fix overnight.
Now, to be fair a large segment of Albertans are in Private debt and I’m not entirely sure how that arrangement would work, but as far servicing the public debt, this is something that Canada would have to take very seriously, because if the world decides that they want to drop the Canadian dollar, the Bank of Canada has to take some form of action. The Loonie, although a reserve currency isn’t Americas Greenback when Canadians go on vacation a large segment of the world, doesn’t honor or recognize our currency, most Canadian don’t even know what the Aussie dollar looks like. The Canadian dollar has respectability in Global trade, but Mainstreet trading, if you’ve ever traveled, isn’t as kind to Canadian dollars. So although Canada has experienced relative currency stability, don’t assume that this can’t change.
Now, Alberta, unlike Quebec, would probably have a better shot at becoming a U.S State, they’re oil-rich and open to the U.S Constitution. The reality is that if Alberta left the Federation, the mainstream media would have to cover the realities of how huge an impact their session would be to the Canadian economy. Even if let’s say Alberta became a friendly territory of the United States, it’s something I doubt Americans would blink an eyelash about, why? Because Albertans are hardworking, Alberta is rich in resources and Albertans aren’t afraid to extract those resources. Furthermore, I’m of the belief that Leftists in Alberta would more than likely leave in huge numbers, which could actually help Alberta in their negotiations.
Adding insult to injury, Alberta would instantly be in a better trade position with Canada, we kind of forget that Western Canada provides us with a lot of resources that most Canadian provinces refuse to discover on their own. Quick lesson, most of Canada has natural resources, the problem is there are no incentives to extract these resources, the extraction of natural resources isn’t a process that happens instantly, it’s a development process that’s mastered over time, it’s a process Albertans are comfortable with, it’s a process that’s typically frowned upon in Eastern Canada and if all of sudden Canada has to negotiate deals for resources with Alberta, the Albertan labor we’re currently entitled too, would now have a price tag attached to it.
Furthermore, it’s important to remember that Alberta would have signed a lot more trade deals had it not been for the Canadian Federal governments, who’ve been a hinderance on their productive capacity. I could go on and on about this, in fact, I think I wrote too much already. An Albertan session is a very serious matter, that can ultimately lead to a Saskatchewan session. Sorry eastern Canada, you don’t pay your bills consistently, sorry eastern Canada the Loonie is a Petro-Dollar, Sorry eastern Canada, your socialist schemes would fall apart within years of Alberta leaving, Sorry eastern Canada, you would more than likely have to slice the size of the public sector and sorry Canada, there’s a good chance that depending on who is the President of the United States, the country of Alberta might become either a U.S State or a U.S territory if it chooses to be
In closing
It’s highly unlikely that the United States would want Quebec, I also believe that Quebec being a perpetual ‘have not Province’ wouldn’t do very well economically if it were a country. Quebec leaving Canada in my view would change the political landscape, one of the major hindrances to entering into politics in Canada is mastering Quebecois if that barrier to entry is removed from Canadian politics, there more than likely will be a cultural revolution, because I’ve listened to a lot of very smart English speaking Canadians, who can’t properly articulate their Conservative viewpoints in French. If these Canadians were allowed to participate in Federal Canadian politics WOW! So No, I don’t think personally it would be wise for Quebec to consider session now.
Alberta on the other hand, that’s something to watch. If Trudeau wins the upcoming election, I’d pay close attention to any Albertan session movement because it could stretch into Saskatchewan. It wouldn’t be that strange to carve Alberta and Saskatchewan out of the Canadian Map after a view years.
Personally, I don’t see actual session happening, but the threat of it happening would shake Canadians that understand economics to their core. Eastern Canada can’t pay its bills, this is the reality so if mom and dad in Saskatchewan and Alberta kick we Easterners out of the house the built and paid for and tell us to go fetch for ourselves Canada will definitely see who needs who more in a couple of years.
Interesting times ahead.
