The western provinces are not monolithic. Edmonton does not follow the mold of “alienated Alberta”. Calgary is behaving more and more like a large urban centre (liberal). In BC, the interior is more like Alberta in their political leanings but they are buried by the large urban population of Vancouver area. The idea of western alienation is nonsense. A more useful descriptor would be urban vs rural. Rural regions are economically tied to the land. The economies of these areas are dominated by agriculture, resource extraction (fossil fuels as well as mining.) Their politics are conservative. When you divide the nation up on rural vs urban, Western Ontario, the farm belt of the Great Lakes lowlands, the farmlands of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan line up well with the hinterlands of BC.
Ontario dude discovers geography. Learns there is no “the West.” Next lesson? The Ontario numbers clearly don’t count as their identity is built around a delusion of being Canada by themselves.
As a person who has lived in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and BC, I could have predicted these results: Alberta and Saskatchewan’s “provincial” focus and right wing politics stem from the fact they're petrostates who resent any interference in the generation of wealth the fossil fuel industry generates for them.
Ya when Alberta cons use the west in this context, they aren’t really including BC. They’re talking about the Prairies but if they say “the west” it sounds more principled and suggests BC agree with them
Ya they have a very specific vision of the volk they're referring to. But they want it to seem like more people agree with them, so they're going to keep saying "Western Canada"
If broken down another way, one could tie in the Federalist, or Centrist, philosophy with how a province’s citizens regard themselves. Ontario, where the national power base exists (politically, at least) takes a more nationalistic view of itself. In other provinces, those considered the “have” provinces are more tribalistic than the “have nots”, BC excluded. Given these assumptions, my guess would be that the Maritime provinces would lean heavily Canada first as well
I’ve been trying to tell anyone who would listen that BC is NOT even close to Alberta and Saskatchewan, and they should stop talking about the “west” when they mean the central provinces. Hell, a large portion of the population probably thinks Canada ends at the Rockies.
Some Albertan’s believe in an us verses them rhetoric (that is unfortunately fuelled by the UCP provincial government). Claims include blaming the ‘feds’ for everything that is wrong. People buy into this nonsense when they are ill informed. Canada comes first and every Canadian should stress this every chance they get. I’m living in Alberta presently and my circle strongly believes in Canada first.
Well I guess we all have different political view points. Somewhat like an EU. Brexit
proved how separating worked out. And after tallying the benefits they are now missing, have changed their collective mind. I think we’re stronger together.
After travelling extensively as a Canadian I liked my reception. We are respected and actually loved by many other citizens.
I love the fact Quebec is part of our Canadian family. We are all richer. Together.
The western provinces are not monolithic. Edmonton does not follow the mold of “alienated Alberta”. Calgary is behaving more and more like a large urban centre (liberal). In BC, the interior is more like Alberta in their political leanings but they are buried by the large urban population of Vancouver area. The idea of western alienation is nonsense. A more useful descriptor would be urban vs rural. Rural regions are economically tied to the land. The economies of these areas are dominated by agriculture, resource extraction (fossil fuels as well as mining.) Their politics are conservative. When you divide the nation up on rural vs urban, Western Ontario, the farm belt of the Great Lakes lowlands, the farmlands of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan line up well with the hinterlands of BC.
The fossil fuel industry owns the public discourse space in Alberchewan in a way that is unique to those provinces.
Ontario dude discovers geography. Learns there is no “the West.” Next lesson? The Ontario numbers clearly don’t count as their identity is built around a delusion of being Canada by themselves.
Recall also that in the last Mulroney government,he took a majority of seats on only TWO provinces: Alberta and Quebec. The other 8 rejected him.
As a person who has lived in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and BC, I could have predicted these results: Alberta and Saskatchewan’s “provincial” focus and right wing politics stem from the fact they're petrostates who resent any interference in the generation of wealth the fossil fuel industry generates for them.
Or that they were added as a bundle waaaaaayyy after confederation with little public input…
Ya when Alberta cons use the west in this context, they aren’t really including BC. They’re talking about the Prairies but if they say “the west” it sounds more principled and suggests BC agree with them
Or perhaps ‘western, rural, prairies’ ?
Ya they have a very specific vision of the volk they're referring to. But they want it to seem like more people agree with them, so they're going to keep saying "Western Canada"
If broken down another way, one could tie in the Federalist, or Centrist, philosophy with how a province’s citizens regard themselves. Ontario, where the national power base exists (politically, at least) takes a more nationalistic view of itself. In other provinces, those considered the “have” provinces are more tribalistic than the “have nots”, BC excluded. Given these assumptions, my guess would be that the Maritime provinces would lean heavily Canada first as well
I’ve been trying to tell anyone who would listen that BC is NOT even close to Alberta and Saskatchewan, and they should stop talking about the “west” when they mean the central provinces. Hell, a large portion of the population probably thinks Canada ends at the Rockies.
Some Albertan’s believe in an us verses them rhetoric (that is unfortunately fuelled by the UCP provincial government). Claims include blaming the ‘feds’ for everything that is wrong. People buy into this nonsense when they are ill informed. Canada comes first and every Canadian should stress this every chance they get. I’m living in Alberta presently and my circle strongly believes in Canada first.
Interesting stuff. I was born in Quebec, have lived in Regina, Winnipeg, and now Southern Ontario. The analysis resonates with what I experienced.
Well I guess we all have different political view points. Somewhat like an EU. Brexit
proved how separating worked out. And after tallying the benefits they are now missing, have changed their collective mind. I think we’re stronger together.
After travelling extensively as a Canadian I liked my reception. We are respected and actually loved by many other citizens.
I love the fact Quebec is part of our Canadian family. We are all richer. Together.