While I am glad that Preston Manning will be voting against separatism, I am concerned that he states, “The onus is on the pro-federalists.” I suggest that the onus is on separatists to provide answers to important issues and questions that many raise. Let’s not let the separatists off the hook in their responsibility to provide answers about the effect that separatism would have on the benefits and services we have come to enjoy and rely on.
Benefits of Being Canadian
These benefits come with being part of the large and strong federation that is Canada. Benefits include: health care coverage and pharmaceutical savings; protection of our health and safety through food and drug regulations; administration of CPP, Old Age Security, the Child Benefit, banking regulations, monetary policy and currency; reimbursements for, and administration of, federal assets (bases, airports, prisons, research centres etc); intellectual property; security intelligence, cybercrime; passports, embassies and consulates; coastline access, border control, and national defence.
The Burden of Proof
The onus is on the pro-separatists to address every change that would incur with separatism. These are changes that would overwhelmingly hurt our lives should Alberta leave Canada. The separatists are failing miserably to come up with answers.
Take, for instance, the issue of national defence. The separatists remain largely silent on this issue. I suspect that for many separatists, it is because their endgame is that Alberta will become a part of the United States, though few will come out and say it. We must be firm in speaking up regarding ill-considered and short-sighted positions.
Federal System Challenges
We know that a federal system presents challenges. But it works well most of the time, particularly when open dialogue takes place. Certainly, there are legitimate concerns, and it is worthwhile to make progress in addressing just how to make things work better. In recent years, the concerns have been about barriers to resource development and getting resources to market. Those concerns are being addressed, and barriers appear to be coming down with the new approach under Prime Minister Carney.
I acknowledge that, in some quarters, there continues to be reluctance to support pipeline developments. Much of that reluctance is coming from the provincial government in B.C., and from First Nations with legitimate concerns. These issues will need to be worked out. But those issues are not going to go away by Alberta becoming a separate entity. They may become more pronounced, and there will be no federal government with the oversight capacity to help work things out. (Nor will there be a federal government to backstop funding issues that arise, as they did with the Trans Mountain Pipeline.)
