Jim Dinning, a proud Canadian campaigning for Alberta to remain part of the federation, is not contemptuous of those who want to create a separate country. The former Alberta finance minister told National Post's John Ivison that he is sympathetic to Premier Danielle Smith's push to give separatists a chance to express their strongly held sentiments in a referendum scheduled for October.
Dinning Defends Separatists as Neighbors, Not Deplorables
“Some people want to dismiss these people as, to use a Hillary Clinton phrase, a basket full of deplorables. They are not. They are our neighbours, some of them are our friends, they’re fellow Albertans. I’ll bet you a bag of doughnuts that they were once proud and patriotic Canadians, but they have come to the end of their tether and we cannot be dismissive of their concerns,” Dinning said.
Ottawa Must Address Underlying Grievances
Ralph Klein’s former treasurer said Ottawa will have to work hard, if the Remain side triumphs, to ensure it tends to the underlying grievances or the push for independence will go in cycles. “Ottawa needs to wake up and realize that not all parts of the country are the same and they shouldn’t expect (provinces) to be conforming and uniform because that’s not the nature of this country,” he said.
Resource Development Key to Reducing Alienation
Dinning said he thinks the premier and the prime minister are on the right track when it comes to developing Alberta’s resources. “But the sooner we see shovels in the ground, men and women at the end of shovels or driving a D9 Cat (bulldozer) and moving dirt, (the better). (We need) projects approved in this abhorrent regulatory process that we have in this country. When those boxes get ticked and dirt starts moving, then I think that alienation, that sense that nothing can get done in this country, will begin to melt away. Action is what we need because we’ve had more soothing words of nonsense over the last 11 years under the Liberal regime that has just sickened the people of Alberta. That’s where this alienation and anger has risen from,” he said.
Lack of Understanding of Albertan Mindset
The larger problem, he said, stems from a lack of understanding of the Albertan mindset. “That’s why (Ottawa) expects conformity and uniformity, and when they don’t get it they sort of refer to those (separatist) guys as a bunch of knuckle-dragging grease monkeys. That we’re part of the hinterland … (But) the fact is that Alberta and Albertans are major contributors to the economic engine of Canada.”
Alberta's Outsized Contribution to Canada
Dinning saw firsthand his province’s outsized contribution to the federation when he led an engagement panel looking at the prospect of Alberta leaving the Canada Pension Plan. A provincially commissioned report suggested that Alberta was entitled to more than CPP’s assets, despite having just 12 per cent of the country’s population. Dinning said even he found that calculation hard to swallow, but the age and earning profile of the province suggests if not half, the province would be entitled to far in excess of 12 per cent of the assets.
“Natural resource development is what has built our country and given us the lifestyle that we now enjoy. For somebody to say: ‘No, just keep it in the ground, it’s dirty, and if we need it, we’ll just import it from Nigeria,’ to Albertans, those guys just don’t understand this country. And that’s what fuels the anger, which fuels the separatist instinct.
“This virtue-signalling nonsense can get me riled up and bloody angry. And I’m considered a moderate compared to many of those who are pushing the separatist line,” Dinning added.
