Alberta Prosperity Project Town Hall
Last night, I attended the Alberta Prosperity Project Town Hall meeting in Blairmore in my community of Crowsnest Pass. The meeting was fairly well attended with approx. 150-200 people in attendance.
The moderator started the meeting off with a prayer to Charlie Kirk the notorious white supremist and racist who was shot dead by a fellow Republican the other day (Sept. 10th). Later in the evening one of the speakers referred to Alberta as being Republican.
Two speakers in turn took to the floor with slide presentations and a litany of abuses they felt Albertans had suffered and were still suffering because of the federal government with special emphasis on the Liberals, particularly with respect to the Trudeau’s (father and son). Their angst was especially strong against Quebec who they felt had special privileges and were bleeding them dry, along with most of the rest of Canada.
MONEY! IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY. That was pretty much their sole issue and concern. Repeatedly pointing out how much they were paying out to Ottawa and how little they were getting back in return. Fair enough. However, never once blaming themselves but instead blaming ‘the bastards in the east’ for all their money troubles. A poignant moment in this regard was when they showed a slide similar to this one here:
… in which it showed Alberta with 0 dollars and Norway with $600 Billion. Insinuating this was no fault of their own but was due to greedy politicians in Ottawa. When in fact it was due to the plundering of this fund by their own CONservative provincial government over the decades, since the funds inception in 1976. It seems Norway, who started their fund approximately the same time we did, got it right and did right by their citizens, whereas we got it terribly wrong by shortchanging ours with little consideration or regard for our children’s and grandchildren’s future security and prosperity.
Note: Present day actual figures in the above image are: Alberta ~$30 Billion – Norway ~$2 Trillion.
The financial proverbial bottom line was expounded upon time after time showcasing how much better off Albertans would be if only they were a sovereign country. Riches would be theirs for the taking… all would be millionaires, or words and insinuations to that effect… if only they could get Ottawa off their backs. Not once was there any self-reflection mentioned of the decades long PC’s financial mismanagement of this province, the lack of diversification, virtual empty piggy bank in the Heritage Fund, etc..
At one point, one of the speakers made a comparison to how exploited and hard pressed Albertans were by comparing us to the German (actually Belgium) Congo of old in Africa, where 10-15 million Africans were enslaved and murdered in King Leopold’s insatiable lust for riches from the rubber trade. I know, ridiculous, a bit of an exaggeration, by far.
It should be noted, during the evening there were no dissenting voices. Probably due to the fact the audience were put on notice from one of the speaker’s that they had one last night at the Pincher Creek meeting, resulting in them throwing out the female dissenter. A possible foreshadowing of things to come with respect to Freedom and Democracy in their new Republic, me thinks.
After the two speakers spoke for approximately 1-1/2 hours the floor was opened up for questions from the audience for about 20 minutes or so, allowing for only 6 or 7 questions in total. One question of note was from a businessman concerned with interprovincial trade barriers, specifically with B.C. And another was with war or more specifically civil war breaking out due to Alberta separating. Both questions stumped the speakers and glaringly showed how little prepared this group is with the realities of breaking up a country and its ramifications.
Summary
In my opinion, the goal and aspirations of this separatist group could be best summed up with one word “Selfishness’. Best exemplified in Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness. No consideration was given to the ramifications Alberta separation would have on the rest of the country, which could very well result in the fragmentation or Balkanization of the entire country we know and love as Canada. Nor to the very real dangers such a proposition could entail such as the United States swallowing us up in part or in whole.
No mention was made either as to the proportional share based on population of the national debt Alberta would be on the hook for. Never mind other associated costs which would be substantial.
All in all, a very risky proposition. One I think has not been fully and really thought out. That’s my take.
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