The Missing Link

Link Byfield decided to extol the virtues of Alberta Separation in yesterday’s Calgary Sun. You can read some reaction to this here, here, and here.

It’s hard to know where to begin picking apart a column like this, so I’ll simply throw down some of “the best of Link” with my own rebuttal/snarky comments.

A University of Alberta professor I know sent me a lengthy article he's trying to get published, entitled: "Let's get while the getting's good."

Trying to get published? Sigh. If only the Alberta Report were still around…

Almost overnight, we would become one of the most prosperous nations in the world.

…until the price of oil drops. Or Canada decides not to let them into NAFTA. Or head-offices of Canadian companies leave Calgary. Or there's a mass exodus of human capital.

And there is no way a rich nation with 3 million people would have even remotely as much clout in the world as a slightly less rich nation of 30+ million people.

More importantly, we would create a country that reflects our own political and social beliefs, values and traditions, and our understanding of the common good.

Translation: This is the only way to prevent man on man monogamy.

Canada, says Craig, has been so badly governed since the Trudeau era, it has doomed itself to a Third World, banana republic fate.
We will become -- are in fact becoming -- the Argentina of the 21st century.

Is this guy serious? Canada has the best economy in the G8.

And Alberta owes it to itself, to its future citizens, and to like-minded people
in the rest of the country to save itself.

As a sovereign and independent nation, he suggests, our population -- viable to begin with -- would double in 10 years, even allowing for a welcome exodus of Albertans who would be happier back in Canada.

Alberta’s population will double in ten years? This means that either:

a) Alberta will dramatically increase its immigration rates - something I rather doubt.
b) There’s gonna be a lot of fucking going on in the new Alberta.

And you’re telling me Craig hasn’t found someone willing to publish his article? Colour me surprised.

We must now face the fact that the old Canada is gone forever and the new Canada is disgusting.

Yeah, Canada sure does suck, eh? I really hope that Link has just done a poor job of repeating Craig’s arguments because otherwise, this paper is really nothing more than an anti-Canadian paper with no real substance behind it.

And given the stern rejection of the Reform party by eastern Canadians, it's impossible to refute that the only forceful thing Albertans can do is to separate.

“I lost so I don’t want to play any more. Waaaaa!”



It’s hard to really argue against an idea that no one in Alberta takes seriously and I don’t want to waste too much time on it. Suffice to say, Canada is one of the best countries in the world to live in by any objective measure you choose and a new Alberta would have zero clout in the world. I also tend to think the economy might take a bit of a hit as, you know, all those head offices of Canadian companies in Calgary might prefer a different location to work out of. The only thing scarier than Link’s article is that the people of Alberta voted for him to be their Senator (even if it was, at best, a quasi-election).