good column. However, I think you also need to address the self inflicted identity challenges fostered by the Provincial governments. For example the west helped Harper to power. what did he do. He eliminated the grain board cooperative that supported farmers. now we have 70 - 90% of the grain trade in the hands of 4 American companies. do you think they give a damn about Canadian farmers? they are monopolists. in the grabbing of profits they are helping destroy the family farms. no wonder farm families are upset. The laws about foreign ownership also make for these huge corporate farms.
another example, the oil industry is controlled by big oil. again not Canadian but corporate monopolies. they have bought the governments to lower royalties, permit abandonment of their wells when sucked dry leaving the taxpayers to foot the pollution bill of decommissioning and going easy on pollution. the jobs the government thinks it is protecting will disappear when the companies can no longer make their huge profits. do you think they give a damn about Canadian workers?
my point is we have worshipped at the altar of "the free market"; which it isn't, and sold out our identity and economic independence to foreign monopolies.
I could go on. your point about the results of a dysfunctional myth of a golden past is right on, but solutions also need to be invoked to refind Canadian traditions and instruments that protected the population and its economic base.
4 companies dominating grain trading is better than 1.
Of the 4 largest oil and gas companies, CNRL,SU and CVE are Canadian.
Non-renewable royalty payments have grown dramatically in recent years, mostly due to large oilsands facilities paying off their upfront development costs, which triggers higher royalties. Going forward, the completion of TMX reduces the chances of the WCSWTI blowing out and reducing royalties and income taxes.
Harper is easily the best PM of my lifetime, although the bar is low. Chretien is probably number two due to the austerity budget of 95 and tax cut budget of 2000.
Great article. Perhaps our pioneering spirit only flourishes when things are pre-ordained to go our way. My grandmother said “change with the times or get left behind.” The West has conveniently forgot about the cultures and lives that were decimated by colonization, the policies and systems of which continue to this day. No one likes to lose power or status. Suck it up. There’re new faces at the table. There might be a new table. This idea of eternal growth is at best, naive, and at worst, greedy. Evolve or perish. Share the wealth, and consider your great privilege to complain about the evolution of easy times. Indigenous People and racialized people have never known of these good times ‘we‘ lament are changing.
Looking backwards is not the way we will all thrive, and ensure the planet thrives with us. For without a stable ecosystem, the worries of today will seem minor. Water and crop disruptions, wildfire expansion, and vector-borne disease are but a few of the ways the ‘west’ will be lost. I already don’t recognize the province of my birth, and my health will be less robust than my grandmothers because of it.
There’s a bright future for all of us if we stop lamenting the inevitability of change. But the future belongs to all of us, not just those deemed worthy by an angry minority scrambling for the spotlight.
The parallels with Brexit and Rust-belt populism you note suggest that the unique history of Western Canada is not the driver, but certain interpretations of this history provide an opportunity for authoritarian political framing that requires divide and rule strategies. Carl Scmitt may well be a common influence, as he advised right wing politicians to weild power by focusing on a common enemy. The "east" as an enemy is a convenient but vague threat that provides lots of leeway for UPC and SaskParty politicians to frame themselves as champions while they intensify corporate control of people's lives, worsen inequality and foreclose on more socially just and ecologically sound policy initiatives. We see the same dynamics with UK Conservatives and US Republicans. The sense of being left behind you describe is being cultivated for political purposes- it is not inherent or an inevitable result of Alberta and Saskatchewan history.
an interesting piece on populism. However you over romanticize the populism of the past as “largely a bridging form of social capital expansion” and oversimplify (as only racist) the populism of today driven by a sense of “Superiority” and “exceptionalism” rooted in the settler mentality. You’re biggest blind spot is what looks like a complete obliviousness to a sense of exceptional superiority among what you keep referring to as (I assume you include yourself) those good enlightened westerners who “see this shift as a necessary correction to history and an important step toward reconciliation.” Or “For some, this represents necessary progress toward a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society.” As opposed to the “others” for whom it’s just an erosion of the West’s core values.” Or the “others” who only view inequality and decline “as an erosion of the identity they were raised with.” You might try better to keep your own superiority and exceptionalism in check. It’s kind of obvious.
I have noted this slogan on sweatshirts lately - something like “dirty hands - clean money” a nod to the idea of a hard working westerner. Also the Conservative slogan “let’s bring it home” could easily be “let’s bring it back” home, full of nostalgia and comfort - have to bring it back - because it’s gone? Pure populist and so subtle.
Your piece makes me think of Ken Wilbur’s philosophy around how each stage of must growth both transcend and include prior stages. But I agree with some of the pushback in the comments, that there are both real markers of being actually left behind in the west, as well as the perception of the same. The dismissive tone you use when you bring up resistance to DEI or even reconciliation ignores some of the genuine questions about the actual best ways to rectify inequalities from historical racist policies and events. I’m not speaking about those who genuinely express support for racist or exclusive policies, but rather about “average” Albertans who not only feel left behind, but by many markers, are being left behind. Unless the federal government takes those concerns, both real and perceived, seriously, that tone and framing will always drive people further into populism. The future Alberta needs to be big enough for all.
“There would not be an “us” without a “them”” is SUCH an important concept in this divisive “populist” social and political landscape. To me, the moment a politician or commentator uses that language the alarms need to go off!
Thanks for this. Again, to me, it’s an extremely useful summary of a couple of decades of upsetting, disturbing, even alarming changes to our societal norms. Like so many Westerners, I too believe that we ARE somewhat different than our fellow Canadians in the East and Maritimes but that always meant different NOT better or worse. Among the common traits that united us was civility, that underrated behaviour that makes a kinder and more inclusive society.
I had to read this article several times. Maybe I've spent too much time in Calgary, a city growing by 100K per year that now ranks as a Beta city, ahead of Vancouver (https://gawc.lboro.ac.uk/gawc-worlds/the-world-according-to-gawc/world-cities-2024/). The West is not falling behind. It is being denied a political voice comenserate to its population and economy. Why, for example, does PEI with a population similar to a single suburban Calgary riding deserve 4 MPs? Why are western farmers expected to take one for the team on canola in a trade war that tariffs Chinese EVs? If you think Western Alienation is bad now, watch what happens if the federal Liberals win a fourth term.
I've lived in Alberta for 38 years. The west isn't falling behind, but to the average worker it does FEEL that way.
In 2014, a red seal electrician could work in the oil sands and easily pull $200,000+/hour to start. 11 years later, someone at the top of their game in a managerial position with the same credentials is lucky to pull that wage. It's stagnated, except for the major shareholders and executives. Meanwhile in those same 11 years, the cost of living has gone up 50%.
Complaining about the east doesn't change how things work in the west. If PEI had 0 MPs, it wouldn't change how things work in the west. The alienation and east-hate is exactly the cultural issue being described here; I suggest you re-read it yet again. This article isn't pointing fingers, it's explaining why you feel that way. The anti-east anti-liberal stuff is a byproduct of how things are changing here.
I read it again and arrived at the same conclusion. I feel alienated from the east because the east is a boat anchor it has an economy based on protectionism, federal spendlng and wealth transfer from the West. Why does Canada protect its financial services, telecom, media, dairy, poultry and commercial air travel industries? Why does it impose Byzantine regulatory approvals on large resource projects? What are the rationales for not having a Triple E Senate or Rep by Pop in Parliament other than the East would loose influence? The a country built on seniority is toxic.
The mention of Indigenous rights is a red herring. Eastern Canada also conquered the native peoples, but with two hundred extra years to forget about it.
- Financial Services are regulated heavily. But not "protected". Plenty of American banks operate without issue in Canada. These regulations have proven to be to our benefit historically, such as during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008 when Canada remained stable economically unlike America.
- Dairy/eggs are supply side managed/protected. And this is why we can still buy eggs for a fair price in Canada today. I saw a picture from an impoverished neighbourhood in the USA where eggs were over $15/dozen. This doesn't happen in Canada specifically because of our protections.
I agree our democracy needs some changes. These aren't easy and there needs to be a massive appetite for these changes from the population. Reworking how our senate or representative democracy works requires a supermajority mandate in our Government. It's not about 'east losing influence' as much as it's about "reworking our constitution is actually a lot of work".
If you're genuinely asking why, I suggest you do some research as to the answers. All of your questions have clear and well thought up answers that have been publicized countless times by politicians and academics.
Why can't a new Schedule 1 bank be set up in Canada? Perhaps if Canada had more open financial services, it would be funding the next generation of innovative companies rather than over-priced shoebox condos in Toronto and Vancouver.
Canada simply deferred its real estate reckoning and has had a stagnant economy for at least 10 years while America has moved on. A real estate bust could potentially re-allocate capital from real estate, which is a non-productive asset class, to something better.
Reworking the Constitution would more or less me impossible, but don't expect national unity to improve until Atlantic Canada's and Quebec's inordinate political influence is rectified. Pierre Trudeau f's us still.
The notion of manifest destiny, the predetermined godly right to the land and its bounty remains forefront in many minds.
It’s antithetical to what is required from us if we want a world for future generations. You cannot endlessly remake the world for your own fortune at the expense of anyone and everything else.
They feel this in their core - the lack of imagination and absence of empathy isolates them from the difficult truth and hard work required to make the world somewhere on which we can all thrive.
Fantastic essay and dovetails perfectly with my shoddy paragraph or three about who this new CPC party really is. A mix of Alberta and Saskatchewan Reform/Alliance/PPC drifters and rememants of Joe Clark’s Conservatives.
Great piece. Helps me to understand some of the 'issues' friends and neighbours have, and also puts the challeng out there, as to what we need to do to move beyond this feeling wanting to look backward to days that have past.
good column. However, I think you also need to address the self inflicted identity challenges fostered by the Provincial governments. For example the west helped Harper to power. what did he do. He eliminated the grain board cooperative that supported farmers. now we have 70 - 90% of the grain trade in the hands of 4 American companies. do you think they give a damn about Canadian farmers? they are monopolists. in the grabbing of profits they are helping destroy the family farms. no wonder farm families are upset. The laws about foreign ownership also make for these huge corporate farms.
another example, the oil industry is controlled by big oil. again not Canadian but corporate monopolies. they have bought the governments to lower royalties, permit abandonment of their wells when sucked dry leaving the taxpayers to foot the pollution bill of decommissioning and going easy on pollution. the jobs the government thinks it is protecting will disappear when the companies can no longer make their huge profits. do you think they give a damn about Canadian workers?
my point is we have worshipped at the altar of "the free market"; which it isn't, and sold out our identity and economic independence to foreign monopolies.
I could go on. your point about the results of a dysfunctional myth of a golden past is right on, but solutions also need to be invoked to refind Canadian traditions and instruments that protected the population and its economic base.
4 companies dominating grain trading is better than 1.
Of the 4 largest oil and gas companies, CNRL,SU and CVE are Canadian.
Non-renewable royalty payments have grown dramatically in recent years, mostly due to large oilsands facilities paying off their upfront development costs, which triggers higher royalties. Going forward, the completion of TMX reduces the chances of the WCSWTI blowing out and reducing royalties and income taxes.
Harper is easily the best PM of my lifetime, although the bar is low. Chretien is probably number two due to the austerity budget of 95 and tax cut budget of 2000.
Great article. Perhaps our pioneering spirit only flourishes when things are pre-ordained to go our way. My grandmother said “change with the times or get left behind.” The West has conveniently forgot about the cultures and lives that were decimated by colonization, the policies and systems of which continue to this day. No one likes to lose power or status. Suck it up. There’re new faces at the table. There might be a new table. This idea of eternal growth is at best, naive, and at worst, greedy. Evolve or perish. Share the wealth, and consider your great privilege to complain about the evolution of easy times. Indigenous People and racialized people have never known of these good times ‘we‘ lament are changing.
Looking backwards is not the way we will all thrive, and ensure the planet thrives with us. For without a stable ecosystem, the worries of today will seem minor. Water and crop disruptions, wildfire expansion, and vector-borne disease are but a few of the ways the ‘west’ will be lost. I already don’t recognize the province of my birth, and my health will be less robust than my grandmothers because of it.
There’s a bright future for all of us if we stop lamenting the inevitability of change. But the future belongs to all of us, not just those deemed worthy by an angry minority scrambling for the spotlight.
Excellent! Well said!
Great piece, Jared!
The parallels with Brexit and Rust-belt populism you note suggest that the unique history of Western Canada is not the driver, but certain interpretations of this history provide an opportunity for authoritarian political framing that requires divide and rule strategies. Carl Scmitt may well be a common influence, as he advised right wing politicians to weild power by focusing on a common enemy. The "east" as an enemy is a convenient but vague threat that provides lots of leeway for UPC and SaskParty politicians to frame themselves as champions while they intensify corporate control of people's lives, worsen inequality and foreclose on more socially just and ecologically sound policy initiatives. We see the same dynamics with UK Conservatives and US Republicans. The sense of being left behind you describe is being cultivated for political purposes- it is not inherent or an inevitable result of Alberta and Saskatchewan history.
an interesting piece on populism. However you over romanticize the populism of the past as “largely a bridging form of social capital expansion” and oversimplify (as only racist) the populism of today driven by a sense of “Superiority” and “exceptionalism” rooted in the settler mentality. You’re biggest blind spot is what looks like a complete obliviousness to a sense of exceptional superiority among what you keep referring to as (I assume you include yourself) those good enlightened westerners who “see this shift as a necessary correction to history and an important step toward reconciliation.” Or “For some, this represents necessary progress toward a more just, inclusive, and sustainable society.” As opposed to the “others” for whom it’s just an erosion of the West’s core values.” Or the “others” who only view inequality and decline “as an erosion of the identity they were raised with.” You might try better to keep your own superiority and exceptionalism in check. It’s kind of obvious.
I have noted this slogan on sweatshirts lately - something like “dirty hands - clean money” a nod to the idea of a hard working westerner. Also the Conservative slogan “let’s bring it home” could easily be “let’s bring it back” home, full of nostalgia and comfort - have to bring it back - because it’s gone? Pure populist and so subtle.
Your piece makes me think of Ken Wilbur’s philosophy around how each stage of must growth both transcend and include prior stages. But I agree with some of the pushback in the comments, that there are both real markers of being actually left behind in the west, as well as the perception of the same. The dismissive tone you use when you bring up resistance to DEI or even reconciliation ignores some of the genuine questions about the actual best ways to rectify inequalities from historical racist policies and events. I’m not speaking about those who genuinely express support for racist or exclusive policies, but rather about “average” Albertans who not only feel left behind, but by many markers, are being left behind. Unless the federal government takes those concerns, both real and perceived, seriously, that tone and framing will always drive people further into populism. The future Alberta needs to be big enough for all.
“There would not be an “us” without a “them”” is SUCH an important concept in this divisive “populist” social and political landscape. To me, the moment a politician or commentator uses that language the alarms need to go off!
Thanks for this. Again, to me, it’s an extremely useful summary of a couple of decades of upsetting, disturbing, even alarming changes to our societal norms. Like so many Westerners, I too believe that we ARE somewhat different than our fellow Canadians in the East and Maritimes but that always meant different NOT better or worse. Among the common traits that united us was civility, that underrated behaviour that makes a kinder and more inclusive society.
I had to read this article several times. Maybe I've spent too much time in Calgary, a city growing by 100K per year that now ranks as a Beta city, ahead of Vancouver (https://gawc.lboro.ac.uk/gawc-worlds/the-world-according-to-gawc/world-cities-2024/). The West is not falling behind. It is being denied a political voice comenserate to its population and economy. Why, for example, does PEI with a population similar to a single suburban Calgary riding deserve 4 MPs? Why are western farmers expected to take one for the team on canola in a trade war that tariffs Chinese EVs? If you think Western Alienation is bad now, watch what happens if the federal Liberals win a fourth term.
I've lived in Alberta for 38 years. The west isn't falling behind, but to the average worker it does FEEL that way.
In 2014, a red seal electrician could work in the oil sands and easily pull $200,000+/hour to start. 11 years later, someone at the top of their game in a managerial position with the same credentials is lucky to pull that wage. It's stagnated, except for the major shareholders and executives. Meanwhile in those same 11 years, the cost of living has gone up 50%.
Complaining about the east doesn't change how things work in the west. If PEI had 0 MPs, it wouldn't change how things work in the west. The alienation and east-hate is exactly the cultural issue being described here; I suggest you re-read it yet again. This article isn't pointing fingers, it's explaining why you feel that way. The anti-east anti-liberal stuff is a byproduct of how things are changing here.
I read it again and arrived at the same conclusion. I feel alienated from the east because the east is a boat anchor it has an economy based on protectionism, federal spendlng and wealth transfer from the West. Why does Canada protect its financial services, telecom, media, dairy, poultry and commercial air travel industries? Why does it impose Byzantine regulatory approvals on large resource projects? What are the rationales for not having a Triple E Senate or Rep by Pop in Parliament other than the East would loose influence? The a country built on seniority is toxic.
The mention of Indigenous rights is a red herring. Eastern Canada also conquered the native peoples, but with two hundred extra years to forget about it.
Here's some reasons we protect industry:
- Financial Services are regulated heavily. But not "protected". Plenty of American banks operate without issue in Canada. These regulations have proven to be to our benefit historically, such as during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008 when Canada remained stable economically unlike America.
- Dairy/eggs are supply side managed/protected. And this is why we can still buy eggs for a fair price in Canada today. I saw a picture from an impoverished neighbourhood in the USA where eggs were over $15/dozen. This doesn't happen in Canada specifically because of our protections.
I agree our democracy needs some changes. These aren't easy and there needs to be a massive appetite for these changes from the population. Reworking how our senate or representative democracy works requires a supermajority mandate in our Government. It's not about 'east losing influence' as much as it's about "reworking our constitution is actually a lot of work".
If you're genuinely asking why, I suggest you do some research as to the answers. All of your questions have clear and well thought up answers that have been publicized countless times by politicians and academics.
Why can't a new Schedule 1 bank be set up in Canada? Perhaps if Canada had more open financial services, it would be funding the next generation of innovative companies rather than over-priced shoebox condos in Toronto and Vancouver.
Canada simply deferred its real estate reckoning and has had a stagnant economy for at least 10 years while America has moved on. A real estate bust could potentially re-allocate capital from real estate, which is a non-productive asset class, to something better.
The US is in the grips of an avian flu problem that is temporarily driving up the cost of eggs. Over time, egg prices are substantially lower in the US. What is special about dairy and poultry that it needs government management? The Canadian grain and beef industries somehow manage to thrive without technocratic oversight. Supply Management is more than simply keeping out foreign competition. It also limits domestic competition and allocates quota by province (https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/sector/animal-industry/canadian-dairy-information-centre/statistics-market-information/farm-statistics/monthly-exchange-quota).
Reworking the Constitution would more or less me impossible, but don't expect national unity to improve until Atlantic Canada's and Quebec's inordinate political influence is rectified. Pierre Trudeau f's us still.
Thank you. My sentiments as well
The notion of manifest destiny, the predetermined godly right to the land and its bounty remains forefront in many minds.
It’s antithetical to what is required from us if we want a world for future generations. You cannot endlessly remake the world for your own fortune at the expense of anyone and everything else.
They feel this in their core - the lack of imagination and absence of empathy isolates them from the difficult truth and hard work required to make the world somewhere on which we can all thrive.
🧡
Interesting article
Fantastic essay and dovetails perfectly with my shoddy paragraph or three about who this new CPC party really is. A mix of Alberta and Saskatchewan Reform/Alliance/PPC drifters and rememants of Joe Clark’s Conservatives.
Insightful and well written. Makes me wonder whether and how political leaders and parties will embrace a less defensive position …
Love your articles!
Great piece. Helps me to understand some of the 'issues' friends and neighbours have, and also puts the challeng out there, as to what we need to do to move beyond this feeling wanting to look backward to days that have past.