Separatism: it’s not just for les habitants anymore.
The Western Canada Concept is apparently a twenty-plus-year-old separatist group for western Canada; they feel that the four provinces west of Ontario, together with the territories, should secede from confederation. Assuming it’s all right with the citizens, of course.
Their basic raison d’être (if you’ll forgive the use of the dreaded Other Official Language) is laid out here. Their stated principles are really quite astounding; they include:
- An end to immigration to preserve our environment, culture and stability.
- Equal rights for all, with no special status for any race, or ethnic origin.
- Preservation of our Christian culture and European heritage.
I’m sorry, but am I the only one who sees a certain level of fuzzy thought in any group that simultaneously maintains all three of these precepts?
There’s something almost tragic about some of the rhetoric on the site; for instance, when they make the point that every majour political movement for change has come from the West. The point being, apparently, that had the reformers had their day then all of Canada’s problems would have been fixed. But they weren’t given a fair shake, and so at this point we might as well just end it all.
I guess I just don’t agree. I don’t think that Canada is past hope, and I don’t really think that life in a “free West” would be as pastoral as they party’s website paints it. (For one thing, I’m wondering if the party founders have taken a really close look at Vancouver lately.) Canada without the West would certainly be a poorer thing, but so would the West without the rest of Canada.