101 REASONS FOR INDEPENDENCE
(AN ONGOING PROJECT)This itemization of the grievances of Western Canada and the description of how Independence could make a difference was started in the first "Western Separatist Paper", published in September, 1993, and is therefore a look back at the recent history of Western Canada and a wake-up call for Westerners, when we realize how badly things have deteriorated in the West since this list was started.
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#1: Canada was not built on Justice, but on corruption, injustice and control. It will eventually fail, is even now falling apart and requires more and more injustice to try and keep it together. Anything based on disorder, ultimately collapses. The imbalance of the Canadian system will not allow it to be corrected. All wishes for the saving of Canada must dissipate in the face of this reality. By its very nature, it cannot be saved. With Western Independence, we could save the West.
(WSP, Vol I, No. 2, October 1983)
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#2: Freedom! Canada has become against freedom. This is proven by the Order-in-Council #1305 (Emergency Planning Order), the new civilian security force, Canagrex, control over virtually every area of our lives, a government that constantly meddles in our economy and worse: tolerance of this lack of freedom by every federal party and institution, who agree that such government control is necessary. There is no place in Canada for the productive, imaginative, free individual. Western Canada, however, would be built by such individuals, upon the premise that all humans are born free and that freedom shall not be abrogated by government.
(WSP, Vol. I, No. 3, November 1983)
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#3: "Anyone who digs into B.C. history soon discovers that B.C. was railroaded (pun intended) into Confederation. British Columbians were against Confederation in 1870 but they were no match for the machinations of Great Britain and Canada, and the hirelings sent out here to drag B.C. into Confederation. Why should we continue in an association that was recognized from the start by thoughtful people as wrong and has gotten worse ever since?" (This reason was contributed by Lee Nunn.)
Further to Mr. Nunn's remarks, here are a few quotes from Dr. John Sebastian Helmcken, one of those "thoughtful people" who recognized the dangers of Confederation. These remarks were made on March 9th, 1870, during the debates of the legislative assembly of the time:
If we are United, or rather absorbed, everything will centralize in Canada, and the whole country will be tributary to Canada...The number of representatives sent to Ottawa from other places would overwhelm the number sent from British Columbia...Is it necessary that we have to pay for the intellect of Canada? Is our own not as good?...I shall not go into the question of Canada being able to defend this colony; I do not believe that Canada is able to defend
itself.
(WSP, Vol. I, No. 4, December 1983)
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#4: In the fiscal year 1982-83, equalization took the following amounts from three Western provinces:
Saskatchewan: $615.6 million
Alberta: $8,147.4 million (or just over $8 billion!)
B.C.: $1,476.3 million (or almost $1.5 billion!)
This money could have wiped-out provincial deficits, if it had remained here. Imagine what the economy of the West could be!
(Source: Government of Canada, Public Accounts)
(WSP, Vol. II, No. 1, January 1984)
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#6: Forced Bilingualism: If the above was not enough [article on the Cost of Canada/Bilingualism,
WSP, March, 1984], everyday in many different areas of life, we see the forced bilingualism of the West to appease Quebec. Everyday, we hear more and more that French is being forced into the throats of Western Canadians.
We trace the symptoms of the breakup of Canada, the patronage, equalization, handouts, bribes and payouts, and they all lead us back to the single fact that the political system of Canada vests much (if not most) of its power in Quebec.
The "Official Language" of a new nation of Western Canada would be English, because of pure common sense, because it is the common language. All other languages would be spoken aby choice; learned and cultivated in freedom, by choice and by choice then they would either flourish or not.
(WSP, Vol. II, No. 3, March 1984)
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#22: Judges as Legislators.
This has happened as a result of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and has had profound repercussions on Canadian life and law.
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#23: The arguments in favour of nations the size that Western Canada would be, as opposed to large nations: "Counting or Weighing" by Doug Christie, March 1997
