Wexit, Wheatland and Saskatchewan Petitions What Are They?
Three motions or petitions. Each has its own angle, but ultimately do they come with the same end goal? This is the question many would like answered, and rightfully so. Without background knowledge these political nuances, can be hard to understand. How do you sign something you don’t comprehend? Today these efforts will be broken down, in an effort to help people understand, so that educated decisions can be made.
Wheatland County MD, Jason Wilson, presented a motion, that if Ottawa decides to reject or ignore, would force a referendum on Alberta’s Independence. Normally I would summarize it myself, but Dave Naylor of the Western Standard does it better than I could, so I will quote his explanation, which makes it pretty clear. “Therefor be it resolved: The Government of Alberta act on the following recommendations in order to insert Alberta’s constitutional rights within confederation.
1. That the Province of Alberta withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan and create an Alberta Pension Plan offering the same benefits at lower cost while giving Alberta control over the investment fund. Pensions are a provincial responsibility under section 94A of the Constitution Act. 1867.
2. That the Province of Alberta collects its own revenue from personal income tax, as the province already does for corporate income tax. There is no reason to have Ottawa collect Alberta’s revenue. Any incremental cost of collecting our own personal income tax would be far outweighed by the policy flexibility that Alberta would gain.
3. That the Province of Alberta use Section 88 of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Quebec Secession Reference to REMOVE EQUALIZATION from the Canadian Constitution. The federal government and other provinces must seriously consider a proposal for constitutional reform endorsed by “a clear majority on a clear question” in a provincial referendum.
4. That the Province of Alberta again uses Section 88 of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Quebec Secession Reference to demand Senate reform. Alberta has acted decisively in holding Senate elections. Now is the time to drive the issue further.
5. That the Province of Alberta start preparing options to replace the RCMP as the province’s police force. Alberta is a unique province and needs a police force operated, owned, and directed by the people they serve. Like the other major provinces of Ontario and Quebec, we should have our own provincial police force that answers to the Government of Alberta and understands the regional needs throughout the province. We have no doubt that Alberta can run a more efficient and effective police force than Ottawa can.
6. That the Province of Alberta enter into an agreement with the federal government, similar to the Canada-Quebec Accord, allowing Alberta to oversee its own immigration that depicts the regional, cultural and economic needs of the Province.
Further be it resolved: If the federal government does not deal with these demands in good faith; if they block, hinder, or otherwise prevent Alberta from exercising its rights as outlined above, that the Government of Alberta will hold a Referendum with a “clear question”, as defined by The Clarity Act, on the secession of Alberta from the Canadian Confederation on October 18th 2021.” This motion covers the majority of what westerners, Albertans especially, have been demanding change on. Provincial police force, CPP removal to replace with APP, Equalization removal, senate reform, no federal GST, instead replace with Alberta’s own tax, and control just like what Quebec has already. These are all things that Westerners in general wish for, so glad that Jason Wilson and our team have been able to get more and more counties on board with this, including Medicine Hat. Keep writing your MDs and MLAs to get these things pushed through.
As for the Saskatchewan petition that our group has also put forth, it has the same end goal, just a bit of a different angle that is being taken. This petition asks for a plebiscite for separation from Canada. A plebiscite is, “The direct vote of all members of an electorate on an important public question such as a change in the constitution,” according to the Oxford Dictionary. The change being referred to in this petition separation, though this is not actually it’s end goal. The preferred result of this petition is exactly what the Wheatland county motion is desiring. Wording it this way simply provides another option, should these demands not be met. It gives our political leaders an idea of how important these things are to their constituents. They want to know how people feel and are thinking about the forced government action. Right now, it takes the form of an online petition, which in and of itself, actually means very little, it just acts like a pre-polling before a written petition comes out, which IS significant, as a written petition will hold up in court. The group working on these motions, in part, is the Unify The West Discord group. Once the desired signatures are collected it will become a clear signal to both the federal government, but more importantly the provincial government, as they are the ones with the power in this. Provincial governments hold these referendums, not federal governments, so getting a federal party in place is not necessary, and in fact is a waste of effort, when attention, money and time, could be spent at the provincial level where it really matters. Saskatchewan wants meaningful changes, as does Alberta, and this petition makes that known. It is important for Saskatchewan and Albertan residents to stand up for themselves. Stand up for their rights, demand that they be given a fair shake in the Eastern run country of Canada, or I guess you could call it Eastanada. Have western voices be heard, make Ottawa and our apparently deaf and blind Prime Minister Trudeau, who also seems entirely clueless about country leadership, listen.
The Wexit movement no-doubt has some vested interest behind it coming from the Alberta public. However, upon further investigation the Wexit movement inherently lacks substance, mostly bolstered by empty rhetoric stemming from the concerns and frustrations almost every Albertan and many western Canadians have now in Canada’s history. Let’s start with the leader, Peter Downing, who himself has said that he is easily replaceable, is a former RCMP and Canadian military veteran who has become the face of the trendy western separatist movement[1]. Adopting the popular catchphrase Brexit, which stands for the separation of the British Isles from the EU, Wexit, represents the intended separation of the 4 westernmost provinces of the Canadian confederation into its own sovereign state. [more about Peter Downing] Peter Downing’s goal as a party is mainly and for the most part solely devoted to becoming provincial and federal parties, I encourage you to find out more of the intended platform other than cutting taxes and ending the equalization transfer. In the meantime, Peter Downing and his future party are campaigning across the western provinces hoping to gather enough signatures to be recognized as a political party, approximately 8 thousand are needed in Alberta[2].
Backed by the evidence of pollsters asking Albertans if they would support a separatist movement, a hesitant 60% would vote in favor of separation, hesitant because voluntary polling has its many flaws and biases meaning that those numbers are inaccurate, despite the inaccuracy of volunteer bias the sentiment to separate is present in the west[3].
In respect to this article, this is where the Wexit rhetoric appears unsubstantiated. In comparison to the Saskatchewan Plebiscite petition, which calls for “Alberta firewall” like action yet in relation to Saskatchewan, there are clearly laid out points and objectives that the plebiscite wants to accomplish when bargaining with provincial authorities, however the Wexit petition cries out with the grievance of one issue, how Saskatchewanians are tired of the unfair equalization transfer payment deal the province is locked into[4]. That’s it. In contrast the Sask. Plebiscite which names out the grievances that are had towards the carbon tax, the mishandling of foreign relations by the misguided Trudeau leadership which is negatively affecting the trade of provincial goods internationally, and the poor representation that is had in Western Canada because of the unfair distribution of voter influence in Canada’s legislative assembly, on top of stating how equalization transfers are an unfair agreement for the province in tangible clearly stated terms, not baseless rhetoric relaying the complaints of western Canadians without figures to back up those claims much like is found in the Wexit petition. In the end both efforts seek to accomplish the same end, begin a referendum in Saskatchewan that represents the desire for Western Canadians to be heard in our federal assembly by first separating from it to gain their own voice, so why not adopt the stronger politically minded leadership and forget Peter Downing. Unify the West advocates don’t even want to be affiliated with him anymore, him and his pose’s provincial townhalls are getting tired, spewing the same old empty rhetoric that may have the right conviction but isn’t backed up with the fact minded initiative the western separation movement needs.
Written in collaboration between Tony Peters and Spencer Mathews
https://discord.gg/rBKxjD3 Unify The West Server
https://www.facebook.com/groups/443787693008469/ Unify The West Facebook
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