Preston Manning, former Member of Parliament and founder of the Reform Party of Canada, has raised concerns about growing Western alienation following the re-election of a Liberal minority government under Prime Minister Mark Carney.In a statement released Tuesday, Manning said polling is underway to assess whether the continuation of Liberal rule has deepened the estrangement of Western Canada from Ottawa and the rest of the country. He noted that Carney’s assurances of a "180 degree turn" from key policies of the Trudeau government — including on climate change, pipelines, immigration, and what Manning described as “proliferate deficit spending” — remain to be tested.“The first test of the truthfulness and believability of those assurances will come via the content of the June Throne Speech and the follow-up actions of the federal government,” Manning said.In response to long-standing concerns in the West, Manning revealed that consultations are currently underway to explore the creation of a Canada West Assembly — a democratic forum designed to evaluate the region’s future within or possibly outside of Confederation. According to Manning, the assembly would present, debate, and vote on a range of options, from pursuing a “fairer and stronger position” in the federation to examining independence-oriented proposals.Manning emphasized that the initiative would include not just Alberta but the broader Western region, and would ultimately make recommendations to the provincial governments affected.“Only time will tell whether the newly elected Carney government ignores or addresses the root causes of national dis-unity,” he said. “But whether it does so or not will positively or negatively influence the direction in which the responses of the western provinces and the proposed Canada West Assembly will point.”
