EDMONTON — Four federal Conservative MPs from Alberta issued a manifesto for the province on Thursday, warning against the rising threat of western alienation and separatism and calling for clear efforts from Ottawa that they say would constitute a “concerted effort to repair our national bonds.”
Unless the perceived inequalities within Confederation outlined in the document are remedied, they caution, the strain between Alberta and the rest of the country will push the province to seek separation as its only recourse.
“One way or another, Albertans will have equality,” the letter concludes. It was signed by four Alberta MPs: Arnold Viersen, Blake Richards, Glen Motz and Michelle Rempel Garner. None of the four responded to requests for an interview at press time.
The 13-page “Buffalo Declaration” — named in homage to Sir Frederick Haultain’s original vision of Alberta and Saskatchewan as a united province called Buffalo — was released Thursday online and in the conservative Alberta-based publication The Western Standard. The document had some echoes of the so-called “firewall letter,” the Alberta agenda published in the National Post in January 2001, in that it identified structural imbalances in the country that Albertans believe perennially shortchange the province’s interests. But while that earlier document outlined a policy plan for Alberta to strengthen its powers within Confederation, similar to those Quebec enjoys, and was addressed to then premier Ralph Klein, the Buffalo Declaration aims its demands directly at the federal government and the rest of Canada.
“It is not our job to explain Alberta’s value, it is now up to Canada to show they understand Alberta and our value to Confederation,” the authors say.
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