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Good luck trading with each other across our borders. You want to drive through you need a passport. Sorry, new management. Border's closed for "renovations". And make sure you fill up in B.C. because our gas pumps are only open for Prairie citizens and Europe.
Don't come here Trudeau. Prairies are off limits to you. If you want to get to B.C. you will have to fly over American airspace.
USA: No pipeline from Alaska is going to come through here anymore except with a 25% royalty on every bbl. Well, if USA can set a 25% tarriff on our essential exports then right back at ya!
I think a lot of Canadians fail to understand just how much of Canada's budget comes from money paid by Alberta and Saskatchewan in the form of equalization payments. Without the money which comes from the prairie provinces, the rest of Canada might be in financial trouble.
Don't forget that the GDP of all other Provinces outside AB and SK still represents the majority of the GDP of the country. So that GDP Is the value of all goods and services in Canada means all Canadians benefit from that overall output taxes etc. You make it look like equalization payments are the fiscal be all to everything.
They are relatively small amounts of money to redistribute wealth to less wealthy Provinces with lower per capita GDP. We are looking at around 15 billion dollars a year in an economy of more than 2 trillion dollars. If for Example Ontario separated from Canada, 900 Billion dollars of GDP would be lost and all the taxes that represents. That would be a heckuva lot more impactful than 15 billion dollars of equalization breadcrumbs. If AB and SK separated from Canada, about 450 billion dollars of GDP would be lost (about the same as Quebec). So yes, it would be impactful but lets put it all into perspective here. 15 billion dollars is peanuts in the grand scheme of things, so you know where you can take your chest thumping here.
Speaking of GDP - the per capita GDP of AB and SK are the highest in the country among Provinces - so.... First world problems I guess that we are arguing over breadcrumbs now?
Good luck trading with each other across our borders. You want to drive through you need a passport. Sorry, new management. Border's closed for "renovations". And make sure you fill up in B.C. because our gas pumps are only open for Prairie citizens and Europe.
Don't come here Trudeau. Prairies are off limits to you. If you want to get to B.C. you will have to fly over American airspace.
USA: No pipeline from Alaska is going to come through here anymore except with a 25% royalty on every bbl. Well, if USA can set a 25% tarriff on our essential exports then right back at ya!
What exactly would the Prairie Provinces look like without the R.O.C. Care to provide the same sarcastic witty repartee for that scenario? Some in here like to poke poke so you know when that happens people will either just take it or they'll poke back.
Personally, I think your scenario and analysis is ridiculous. Gas pumps only open to Prairie provinces and Europe. Like that seems to be pulled out from the wacky hat. If we want to solve problems - threatening people with your scenarios is not a good call. Is this how one goes about their interactions in life.
The people in the majority of B.C.'s geography think similarly on many issues as the prairies but that Southwest corner of the Greater Vancouver Area and Vancouver Island are very very different and they control the province because they have 3/4 of the province's population.
Winnipeg alone has 55% of Manitoba’s population and from what I’ve seen, residents are not in favor of separation. I doubt the various First Nations communities around the province are in favor of it either.
I'm of the age of having had to listen to this separation nonsense for it's entirety, save for the bit involving Louis Riel that could arguably be said to be the genesis for all of this separation blather.
"Running away from home" has been a traditional threat resorted to by virtually every immature voice at least once in their life.
The folly of that threat usually comes as a learning lesson within a heartbeat of it leaving our lips when we were handed the paper sack containing a peanut butter sanny and an apple while told to not bother taking any of the clothes purchased with dad's hard earned paycheque, "they'll fit your brother next year".
I'm of the age of having had to listen to this separation nonsense for it's entirety, save for the bit involving Louis Riel that could arguably be said to be the genesis for all of this separation blather.
"Running away from home" has been a traditional threat resorted to by virtually every immature voice at least once in their life.
The folly of that threat usually comes as a learning lesson within a heartbeat of it leaving our lips when we were handed the paper sack containing a peanut butter sanny and an apple while told to not bother taking any of the clothes purchased with dad's hard earned paycheque, "they'll fit your brother next year".
....... "Running away from home" has been a traditional threat resorted to by virtually every immature voice at least once in their life........
Yeah. I think talk of seceding (running away from home) is easily talked about but easier said than done and the population of the whole nation has to be in agreement about it. It's a huge, time-consuming hassle to accomplish and to reduce borders. The following linked article was written about QC but it's applicable to all provinces and territories. https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/.../fulltext.html
Some people may talk about seceding but they don't seem to understand that even if the entire population of the whole nation is in agreement with a segment leaving, the people who leave will be on their own and won't have much of anything they can call their own. They can't take a whole province and its resources away with them when they secede because it doesn't belong to them in the first place, it never did. The land itself and its resources isn't their personal possession to keep and do with as they please, it belongs to somebody/something else that is much bigger than them and isn't going to be willing to give all of the land away and let it go. People are replaceable but land isn't. The true owner(s) of the land might be willing to grant them a much smaller allotment of land that they can call home though. It's just not worth all the hassle to get permission to leave and then end up with virtually nothing.
The Canadian population density is heaviest at Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal and other "Great Lakes" cities, thereby forming an electorate whose votes determine who wins the title of Prime Minister even before polls are cast or counted in western Canada.
Essentially it's taxation without representation that's the problem for the western provinces and has triggered a recent western separation sentiment in Canada. It's not new, by all means. It's being going on for several decades.
All the way back to 2000, western Canada (except for the Vancouver area) has voted overwhelmingly
for the conservative party. If we didn't vote that way we wouldn't be represented in parliament. Even then it's a stretch.
Ottawa regulated the demise of the fisheries in the Maritimes, because of the dwindling of cod stock while France continues to overfish on the borders of international waters just outside of Canadian waters of the Maritimes. Now there is a further suppression of salmon fishing. Ottawa regulated the price of grain in the prairie provinces so farmers were forced to sell their product at Ottawa's prices and not be able to compete. Montreal gushed 2 Billion gallons of sewage into the St. Lawrence River but they won't allow any pipelines to cross their province because they fear pollution. BC attempts to ban western oil pipelines to their ports except for the Washington state oil they buy and the Alaska oil tankers that pass through.
With the Russian oil crisis in Europe don't you think western Canada is uniquely positioned to help the world get off of dirty Saudi and Russian oil and gas? But Canada, our own country, won't even allow western Canada to distribute our product to the Maritimes refineries, and have closed Hudson Bay, banning any pipeline development for transport to Europe. Quebec allows Venezualan tankers ito the seaway and Irving Oil is forced to buy Saudi and others.
Trudeau hangs his hat on being the most environmentally friendly nation on Earth so he can be seen as a saviour and admired for it, while he kills our country. This is white collar abuse.
*snip*
Essentially it's taxation without representation that's the problem for the western provinces and has triggered a recent western separation sentiment in Canada. It's not new, by all means. It's being going on for several decades.
All the way back to 2000, western Canada (except for the Vancouver area) has voted overwhelmingly
for the conservative party. If we didn't vote that way we wouldn't be represented in parliament. Even then it's a stretch.
*snip*
That’s a stretch? You’re being less than honest. Stephen Harper, a resident of Calgary, and former leader of the Conservative Party, was Prime Minister for almost 10 years (Feb 2006 - Nov 2015). Trudeau has been PM for just less than 8 years. Yeah, I know it seems longer.
I’m ignoring the rest of your post for now, as it’s too tempting to whine about how badly the Liberals have treated Manitoba. Compared to Ontario and Quebec, we’re not worth bribing for potential votes.
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Compared to Ontario and Quebec, we’re not worth bribing for potential votes.
