Residents’ anger turns to desire for greater provincial autonomy

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Discussions at Strathmore-Brooks MLA Derek Fildebrandt’s second emergency town hall meeting quickly veered from its original topic of pipeline cancellation to cutting the rope that ties the province’s hands – for some that meant Alberta separatism.
More than 30 people attended the meeting at Strathmore Royal Canadian Legion on Monday to discuss pipeline cancellation and Alberta’s options moving forward. While the one-and-a-half-hour meeting covered ground on topics such as interprovincial transfers of goods, property rights, Bill 12 and Fildebrandt’s intentions on running for re-election – on which he remained tight-lipped – much of the meeting was hijacked by the subject of Alberta’s autonomy.
Despite disagreeing with some of the opinions in the room to seek independence from Canada, Fildebrandt spoke of a constitutional referendum.
“Most of this country has bent over backwards to accommodate Quebec to have more autonomy within their border for their people without having to actually pay for it themselves,” he said. “Albertans I think should ask for those same rights or the ability to pay for it ourselves but to keep more of it here at home and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable ask.
“We’re not just talking about economic policy or resource stewardship anymore, we’re talking about the fundamentals of the constitutional basis of this country. It’s been a bad few years for those of us who believe in the constitution. We’re not asking for special status, we’re asking for the original constitution to be applied fairly and to keep a little bit more money at home. That’s a pretty reasonable ask.”
Some of the discussion stemmed from the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent ruling that provinces and territories have the constitutional right to restrict importations of goods across provincial and territorial borders, quashing the hopes of those seeking easier access to cheaper and in-demand products from neighbouring regions. While the ruling also states the primary aim of the restriction can’t be to impede trade, the decision affects products such as alcohol and tobacco.
According to Fildebrandt, the restrictions placed on provinces continue to limit and interfere with Alberta’s ability to prosper.
“For a very long time we’ve had many laws inhibiting the movement of goods between provinces,” he said. “Just a few days ago the Supreme Court ruled that you can’t even move beer across borders; we can’t move our oil across provincial borders, (or) milk and cheese across provincial borders without their permission.
“Alberta being blocked from producing and exporting our resources is like the mom of a 35-year-old kid who won’t move out of the basement, who’s been mooching off of us forever, who then won’t even let us get a job to pay to keep him in the basement. We’re being stopped of producing the wealth that’s supporting others.”
Although Fildebrandt’s intention was for Alberta to voice their anger to the rest of the country and seek a referendum to reassert the Constitution, some folks at Monday’s event were looking to something more extreme.
Larry Smith founded the Alberta Independence Movement, which has an online presence on Facebook of over 5,000 members, although he said support reaches close to 40,000. Smith and other members of the movement were present at the meeting, and said they are in support of Alberta separating from Canada.
“I just don’t see any other option. I know from the time I spent on the Harper team what happens if something comes out of Alberta or Western Canada and goes to Ottawa. If it doesn’t favour Ontario in some way the best response you’ll get is ‘nah’ or you’ll get the ‘no’ and if we get the no it dies, that’s it,” he said.
“If you’re in a position of strength and you’re negotiating with someone and you’re 38 per cent stronger, are you going to say, well hang on a second let me give you 15 per cent of my peoples’ fair argument? You’re not going to do it.”
But not everyone in the room attended the meeting to discuss Alberta’s autonomy. Markus Lehmann is interested in what is happening politically and he said he strives to be an active citizen in the rights and obligations as an Albertan. While he enjoyed the meeting, he was hoping to get more information on generating more revenue using Alberta’s resources.
“It strayed somewhat from the original topic, I think – about the pipeline, the access to tide water for our resources – and it sort of morphed into a constitutional question which perhaps is a different type of discussion, and it has its place for Albertans and for any Canadian who feels disenfranchised,” said Lehmann, president of Navigatio Capital.
“But I think the discussion that Alberta needs right now is how to generate more revenue with the resources that it has – be that hydrocarbon, be that human resources, be that natural resources – which are not being explored at this time. It was a microcosm of, say, the demographic that was present and that’s OK. Their concerns have to be voiced.”
Fildebrandt also hosted an emergency town hall meeting in Brooks late last week.