A campaign has been launched by Prairie Freedom Movement that is geared towards raising awareness and promoting an independent Western Canada.
The group gained much traction recently in mainstream media and online after billboards were erected asking, “Should Saskatchewan leave Canada?” The campaign follows a similar one launched in Alberta, by a group called Alberta Fights Back, which asks a similar question in their campaign.
The two groups express the same views by promoting separation from Eastern Canada as a way to establish the provinces as economically and politically independent.
Peter Downing, spokesperson for the groups, said since the launch of both campaigns, awareness has peaked and there is an overwhelming response from Canadians expressing similar views.
“I started an organization called Alberta Fights Back in response to the third-party political action committee asking the question, 'Should Alberta ditch Canada?' We had an overwhelming response to the question when we launched the campaign in Edmonton and Calgary. So, the Prairie Freedom Movement has been around since 2016 and they invited me to join their leadership team to help out with their efforts to launch a similar campaign.”
The Prairie Freedom Movement’s campaign was launched last week as billboards with “should Saskatchewan leave Canada?” went up in Regina and Saskatoon.
“The response so far has been overwhelming,” Downing said. “Taking a look at our provinces, we are basically dictated to by Eastern Canada, by part of the country whose economic and political interests are not the same as ours. Between Alberta and Saskatchewan, without even taking Manitoba into it right now, our oil, potash, livestock, forestry industries, our provinces’ hard-working people are getting hit with carbon taxes and their (the East) university students are getting fully subsidized while ours leave university with debt. So, the current situation is basically the east ripping off the West.”
Extreme Views?
However, when the campaign was launched, some Canadians labelled the effort as ‘extreme’ declaring that this is an unrealistic call to action that they do not see happening anytime soon.
In responding to those claims, Downing said, “Well for those who are calling this an extreme attempt, look at what’s happening in England right now with Brexit. Also, take a look at the United States with what’s happening with Donald Trump. People said he would never get elected and look at what happened there. So, I think people need to understand that when a large population of people are being ignored, economically exploited and politically dominated, this will happen if the situation doesn’t get remedied.”
Despite some critics, Downing says there has been an increase in awareness, which is what he says the group wants to establish at this time.
“We’ve been successful so far in what we’ve set out to do and that is to raise awareness. That’s why we launched these campaigns in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The overwhelming responses from small businesses, hard working people and volunteers have been very positive. So, the awareness has been very good so far. People are paying attention because they are sick of being exploited. We are getting left behind in the West and I think it’s time the government take measures to address these problems.”
Angus Reid Poll
Downing and the Prairie Freedom Movement are not alone in their views about western Canada feeling isolated, exploited and left behind. Recently, an Angus Reid Institute study revealed that Canadians in the West feel isolated even though growth in the west is expected to outpace the rest of the region in the next 20 years. This is according to Chairman of the Institute, Angus Reid who did an extensive study.
The study noted that, “By 2036, Canada’s four Westernmost provinces are projected to be home to more than a third of the country. Over the next 20 years growth in the West is expected to outpace every other region in the nation. But as the West grows, so too does the chorus of voices expressing frustration over the economic influence and political clout these provinces believe they should have, relative to what they do have.”
The study continues to explain that, “Against the backdrop of oil and gas production in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Northern BC, pressure to find markets for these products, and a fierce debate over whether Canada’s resource economy should be promoted or suppressed, public opinion data reveals antipathy towards Ottawa and national regulators that hasn’t been seen in nearly two generations.”
Angus Reid further echoes some of the perspectives Downing highlighted.
“What unites the entire West is a widely shared consensus about unfair treatment by the national government. Three-quarters of Westerners feel that the treatment of their province by Ottawa is unfair, compared to slightly less than half in Eastern Canada. And most of those who hold this point of view say this unfair treatment is only getting worse. An in-depth review of perceptions of major federal institutions reveals that negative views are chiefly aimed at the federal government, Parliament and to a lesser extent, national programming on the CBC. More positive assessments exist for the Supreme Court, The RCMP and the Armed Forces."
You can read the study more in-depth at the Angus Reid website.
