In the mid-19th century an Italian geographer, Antonio Raimondi, washed up on the shores of Peru and began exploring the country, completing 18 expeditions across the country and writing extensively and favourably about what he saw. Although it is contested, he has been credited with calling Peru a beggar seated on a golden bench (“un mendigo sentado en un banco de oro”). The phrase has been a focus of Peruvian national insecurity ever since.Having retraced many of Mr. Raimondi’s steps, let me borrow his putative phrase and say that Alberta is a beggar seated on a golden bench. If it makes you feel insecure then you are welcome.In reading the many words being written about the possibility, probability and even advisability of Alberta independence, I keep coming back to one central fact. The Constitution of Canada is designed and written to make Alberta (and other western provinces) into beggars. As much as I applaud our premier’s tough talk with her federal counterparts about the need for pipelines and legislative roll backs, her focus on specifics ignores the beggar problem. Without fair and locally determined representation in the House of Commons, the Judiciary and the Senate, Albertans can be nothing but beggars. Madam Premier would argue that a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada following the constitution will achieve all of Alberta’s aims. That is nonsense. We are short seats in both Houses of Parliament and have no role in selecting our senators or Supreme Court representatives. For example, In the next week, the federal government is likely going to give authority over my health to the World Health Organization. Was I consulted on this? Was my parliamentary representative consulted? Isn’t healthcare under provincial jurisdiction? Does anyone care? Of course not. Albertans are beggars. The constitution says so.Here is my concern. We may get a loonie tossed into our cup from Mr. Carney but that will only be to shut us up about independence. Maybe he will offer a pipeline, perhaps the end of Bill C-69, maybe even a change in the equalization formula. But unless we get appropriate constitutional changes, we will remain beggars albeit with a few more coins in our cup — for now.In his “house divided” speech, and his debates with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln argued that the issue of slavery in the United States would have to be resolved because a house cannot remain divided. I argue that the constitutional issues of Canada must likewise be resolved because the western half of the country will not remain beggars to those in the east. Now seems a good time to force that resolution. If those in the east do not understand the urgency and resolve of those in the west, then the result is on them.I applaud the folks at the Alberta Prosperity Project for the yeoman work they have done making the economic case for independence. While I might fiddle with some of the assumptions and input costs, their case seems unassailable to me. But the argument for independence goes well beyond economics. Recognizing this, the APP folks have discussed differences in temperament and culture between eastern and western Canada, but I think it is time to put a finer point on things... I am no longer happy to serve a Family Compact that represents none of my interests because they correctly see me as the constitutional beggar that I am.
