GENE MONIN: Alberta chipping away at Canada’s Confederation
Article content Their referendum plays at a time when the American President calls Canada “the 51st State.” Any sign of dissension in Canada’s Federal Federation will be exploited by Donald Trump to achieve this. Recommended Videos Canada must speak as one nation as Charlie Angus says in “The Resistance.” Internal cracks are not wanted. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants a referendum in an upcoming provincial election to give approval to a first step to Alberta separating from a “nation that spans from sea to sea.” There is a substantial minority group “Stay Free Alberta” behind this referendum, using past complaints that Eastern Canada ignores Alberta’s indispensable contribution of oil and natural gas to Canada’s economy. Western alienation is nothing new in Canada, but rather a systemic problem older than Confederation. A popular bumper sticker in the 1980s,“Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark,” expressed Albertans’ dim view of their oil industry being turned into a national utility when the federal government attempted to take control of oil prices and production. A book with the same name by Mary Janigan needed to be written. It is constitutional history and Canadian financial history focused on the west from Manitoba to British Columbia from Confederation to the present with a view to the division of royalties and other benefits from what lies on and under the ground. Justice Shaina Leonard threw out the “Stay Free Alberta” petition; Premier Danielle Smith called the action “undemocratic.” Leonard wrote that the balance of convenience favours granting the stay, noting “the alleged harms” are both ongoing and irreparable. The Judge called the referendum proposal on Alberta independence “unconstitutional.” Jeff Rath, a lawyer for Mitch Sylvestre, the lead organizer of the Stay Free Alberta petition, told CBC that “the decision itself doesn’t affect anything we’re doing.” “We’re still collecting signatures,” he said. Signatures stopped after May 2. A rally was held in Edmonton to support First Nations’s fight to stop Alberta separation referendum. In a statement issued in response to the decision, ACFN Chief Allan Adam said his First Nation pursued a legal challenge “for all Albertans.” “While Ottawa sleeps, Alberta’s first inhabitants are doing everything we can to save Confederation,” he said. “We shall never allow our treaties to be broken.” “We are standing up for our treaties, for our people and for the land that is all under threat through this referendum.” Lawyers for the ACFN and the Blackfoot Confederacy argued the absence of a stay could result in a loss of consultation, damage to treaty relationships between First Nations and the Crown and the undermining of treaty promises. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation (SLCN) is also pursuing its own legal challenge related to the Stay Free Alberta campaign. The SLCN is seeking an interim injunction to block the removal of a section of the Citizen Initiative Act that requires petitions to comply with the Constitution, including protections for treaty rights. Alberta trying to delegitimize one democratic forum in hopes of getting a monopoly on public opinion centralizes decision-making, which is not democratic. If Alberta wants this petition to turn into a referendum, stop claiming that our judges are hurting democracy. Now it is more important than ever that Canada speaks as one nation. Reach Gene Monin at adios43@yahoo.com
Article content Their referendum plays at a time when the American President calls Canada “the 51st State.” Any sign of dissension in Canada’s Federal Federation will be exploited by Donald Trump to achieve this. Recommended Videos Canada must speak as one nation as Charlie Angus says in “The Resistance.” Internal cracks are not wanted. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants a referendum in an upcoming provincial election to give approval to a first step to Alberta separating from a “nation that spans from sea to sea.” There is a substantial minority group “Stay Free Alberta” behind this referendum, using past complaints that Eastern Canada ignores Alberta’s indispensable contribution of oil and natural gas to Canada’s economy. Western alienation is nothing new in Canada, but rather a systemic problem older than Confederation. A popular bumper sticker in the 1980s,“Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark,” expressed Albertans’ dim view of their oil industry being turned into a national utility when the federal government attempted to take control of oil prices and production. A book with the same name by Mary Janigan needed to be written. It is constitutional history and Canadian financial history focused on the west from Manitoba to British Columbia from Confederation to the present with a view to the division of royalties and other benefits from what lies on and under the ground. Justice Shaina Leonard threw out the “Stay Free Alberta” petition; Premier Danielle Smith called the action “undemocratic.” Leonard wrote that the balance of convenience favours granting the stay, noting “the alleged harms” are both ongoing and irreparable. The Judge called the referendum proposal on Alberta independence “unconstitutional.” Jeff Rath, a lawyer for Mitch Sylvestre, the lead organizer of the Stay Free Alberta petition, told CBC that “the decision itself doesn’t affect anything we’re doing.” “We’re still collecting signatures,” he said. Signatures stopped after May 2. A rally was held in Edmonton to support First Nations’s fight to stop Alberta separation referendum. In a statement issued in response to the decision, ACFN Chief Allan Adam said his First Nation pursued a legal challenge “for all Albertans.” “While Ottawa sleeps, Alberta’s first inhabitants are doing everything we can to save Confederation,” he said. “We shall never allow our treaties to be broken.” “We are standing up for our treaties, for our people and for the land that is all under threat through this referendum.” Lawyers for the ACFN and the Blackfoot Confederacy argued the absence of a stay could result in a loss of consultation, damage to treaty relationships between First Nations and the Crown and the undermining of treaty promises. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation (SLCN) is also pursuing its own legal challenge related to the Stay Free Alberta campaign. The SLCN is seeking an interim injunction to block the removal of a section of the Citizen Initiative Act that requires petitions to comply with the Constitution, including protections for treaty rights. Alberta trying to delegitimize one democratic forum in hopes of getting a monopoly on public opinion centralizes decision-making, which is not democratic. If Alberta wants this petition to turn into a referendum, stop claiming that our judges are hurting democracy. Now it is more important than ever that Canada speaks as one nation. Reach Gene Monin at adios43@yahoo.com
Article content Their referendum plays at a time when the American President calls Canada “the 51st State.” Any sign of dissension in Canada’s Federal Federation will be exploited by Donald Trump to achieve this. Recommended Videos Canada must speak as one nation as Charlie Angus says in “The Resistance.” Internal cracks are not wanted. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants a referendum in an upcoming provincial election to give approval to a first step to Alberta separating from a “nation that spans from sea to sea.” There is a substantial minority group “Stay Free Alberta” behind this referendum, using past complaints that Eastern Canada ignores Alberta’s indispensable contribution of oil and natural gas to Canada’s economy.
Western alienation is nothing new in Canada, but rather a systemic problem older than Confederation. A popular bumper sticker in the 1980s,“Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark,” expressed Albertans’ dim view of their oil industry being turned into a national utility when the federal government attempted to take control of oil prices and production. A book with the same name by Mary Janigan needed to be written.
It is constitutional history and Canadian financial history focused on the west from Manitoba to British Columbia from Confederation to the present with a view to the division of royalties and other benefits from what lies on and under the ground. Justice Shaina Leonard threw out the “Stay Free Alberta” petition; Premier Danielle Smith called the action “undemocratic.” Leonard wrote that the balance of convenience favours granting the stay, noting “the alleged harms” are both ongoing and irreparable. The Judge called the referendum proposal on Alberta independence “unconstitutional.” Jeff Rath, a lawyer for Mitch Sylvestre, the lead organizer of the Stay Free Alberta petition, told CBC that “the decision itself doesn’t affect anything we’re doing.” “We’re still collecting signatures,” he said.
Signatures stopped after May 2. A rally was held in Edmonton to support First Nations’s fight to stop Alberta separation referendum. In a statement issued in response to the decision, ACFN Chief Allan Adam said his First Nation pursued a legal challenge “for all Albertans.” “While Ottawa sleeps, Alberta’s first inhabitants are doing everything we can to save Confederation,” he said.
“We shall never allow our treaties to be broken.” “We are standing up for our treaties, for our people and for the land that is all under threat through this referendum.” Lawyers for the ACFN and the Blackfoot Confederacy argued the absence of a stay could result in a loss of consultation, damage to treaty relationships between First Nations and the Crown and the undermining of treaty promises. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation (SLCN) is also pursuing its own legal challenge related to the Stay Free Alberta campaign. The SLCN is seeking an interim injunction to block the removal of a section of the Citizen Initiative Act that requires petitions to comply with the Constitution, including protections for treaty rights.
Alberta trying to delegitimize one democratic forum in hopes of getting a monopoly on public opinion centralizes decision-making, which is not democratic. If Alberta wants this petition to turn into a referendum, stop claiming that our judges are hurting democracy. Now it is more important than ever that Canada speaks as one nation.
Reach Gene Monin at adios43@yahoo.com
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