There are many takeaways from learning what creates wealth in countries. A thorough reading of Why Nations Fail by economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson explains a lot about why Canada has become a chronic underperformer.It is also a warning for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Hitched to a country in decline and increasingly controlled by Ottawa, the western provinces must never become, as have some provinces east of Quebec, supplicants to the federal government or the Laurentian Elite (LE). Due to a lack of political power in the West and after sincere but unsuccessful attempts at reform, westerners much conclude that central Canadians either don't believe the response from the West will be significant or they don't care.My wife often reminds me of a truism — when the other party is intransigent, the solution resides with you. It appears that insight is growing in Saskatchewan and Alberta, as governments are utilizing economic power and legislation as a shield from the extractive institutions in central Canada and the federal government.The Saskatchewan First Act and the Sovereignty Act in Alberta gained mixed reactions in central Canada, with some tut-tutting and poo-pooing. The impetus for Alberta to withdraw from the CPP has the attention of central Canada and the federal government — issues of fairness are dismissed as whining, but those with direct implications receive a response.For that reason alone, the pension process should continue. It is a strong message that Western Canadian’s secondary status is no longer acceptable.Equalization could be the next issue pursued to assert economic muscle in the absence of political parity.But, back to Why Countries Fail. The Alberta and Saskatchewan governments are critical institutions, both strongly engaged in making Canada more pluralistic and wealthy. We need to follow the strong leadership of Danielle Smith and Scott Moe. Indeed, we might be experiencing a “critical juncture” regarding the future of our country. Pretentious perhaps, but possibly true, the determination of the two prairie provinces to mitigate established extractive institutions could be positive influences for a country in decline.Our institutions need to be strengthened. Already the formation of the Alberta Council for Business provides another strong voice. Alberta's premier has formed advisory groups across a range of issues, important for policy generation, participation and support.In Saskatchewan for example, the North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA) is currently changing its name, has become a strong business voice. There's also the local and provincial Chambers of Commerce and all the protest organizations that spontaneously erupted after the Trudeau administration withdrew approval for the Northern Gateway pipeline. Many of these organizations still exist.The one most familiar to me is the Buffalo Project. Full disclosure, I have contributed both funding and feedback respecting their quiet but thoughtful initiatives, important in the most recent federal and Alberta provincial elections.However, the importance of such grassroot organizations cannot be overstated. Perhaps the need today is at the civic level, as low turnouts have enabled unlikely candidates to be elected. This needs to change so civic institutions also support standing up for the West. Another problem is that throughout North America, universities have lost their way. Rather than educating students and developing a culture of inquiry, learning and diverse views, they have become purveyors of woke correctness — islands of oppression in a sea of freedom, as they say.Sadly, it is probably too late to expect our universities to join the important defence of our western classical liberal values, inclusive institutions and important industries. Maybe reduced funding would change behaviour, but it might be quicker to fund new educational institutions that require economics as core curriculum and support free thinking and expression.It was sadly indicative The Fraser Institute recently released a study indicating a majority of young people 18 to 34 “prefer socialism.” This highlights economics are not taught in K-12 and only as an option in post-secondary education. What are the provincial governments thinking?(Full disclosure again: I am a long-time director at Fraser. Nevertheless, it is by far the highest rated think tank in Canada.) Most media, even in the West, are not sympathetic to free market and western values. Hats off to the Western Standard, a digital publisher with an outstanding group committed to the well-being of our provinces. WS also welcomes outside parties to share their views and experience. It deserves your attention and support. Try publishing in the Globe and Mail which pretends it is a national paper but is really the voice of the Laurentian Elite!Both the Canada West Foundation and the School of Public Policy research publish relevant and factual information important to our future. There are many other important institutions that we need to support.Now, the politics of the moment. The recent Alberta election was a close one: imagine a Notley government accommodating current demands foisted on Alberta and Saskatchewan by the federal government. Socialists, by definition, are centralists.The federal Conservative party looks like a government in waiting and is strongly supported in the west, for obvious reasons. Common sense market-driven governments of Mulroney and Harper provided solid government for the whole country.But the challenge for a prime minister named Poilievre will be to fundamentally reform our country and address western vulnerability. We need a fundamental restructuring of the way government and industry work together, such that a third-generation Trudeau cannot wreak more damage.If elected, will Poilievre advance such a critical juncture?The last commentary alluded to his potential incredible opportunity to gather the “low hanging fruit.” More difficult and important will be resetting the table for a more inclusive and prosperous country for the long term.A good start would be granting all provinces the same rights as Quebec. We need to stop resenting Quebec and do what they do instead.Passing down tax points while reducing the size and role of the federal government, would also limit the role of future governments and support the Poilievre desire to make Canadians the “freest in the world.”A range of measures indicate Canada, as a country, is failing. As proud Canadians, we in the west have an obligation and are well positioned to deal with the issues raised in Why Nations Fail. Alberta and Saskatchewan want to contribute to make Canada free, fair and functional, an outcome only possible if Ontario and Quebec engage with open minds.Unfortunately, failure here is possible, maybe a likelihood. This highlights even more the importance of a Poilievre revolution. If not, the only default option — independence — is unfortunately becoming more attractive by the day. In our country, controlled by and for the benefit of Ontario, Quebec and the Laurentian Elite, is this outcome inevitable?The current government in Ottawa is different than previous administrations which successfully extracted wealth from resources in Western Canada, primarily oil and natural gas but also Agribusiness, uranium, and fertilizer. The ideologues today are more interested in destroying wealth production than capturing it.Whether Canadians understand this is doubtful but they instinctively understand that the current government is on the wrong path.The extract of national energy program in the early 1980s left westerners stunned and scrambling for survival in a high-interest rate world. Very few real estate companies in Alberta or Saskatchewan, for example, survived the combination of a deep recession and high-financing costs.What has changed today is this time Alberta and Saskatchewan know who they're dealing with and have engaged in what unfortunately can be characterized as the fight.Another take away is the need to identify and strengthen institutions that will continue to create prosperity and defend against current and most certainly future attacks from central Canada. All parties know the west has absolutely no political power and is vulnerable. The memorable words of Keith Davey, a political advisor to the father Trudeau, “Screw the west, we'll take the rest”. And so, back to my wife's advice that if the other party is not going to change, then the onus shifts to you to solve the problem. This is what Albertans and Saskatchewan people now understand.With repeated and most certainly further intrusions of the federal government into provincial affairs, the response has been the Saskatchewan First Act and Alberta's Sovereignty Act. These shift the onus back to the feds to make their case in the courts, with the current issue being the arbitrary 2035 date to eliminate fossil fuels from electrical generation.This is the fifth and last in a series of five columns by Saskatchewan writer Herb Pinder, looking at how Canada's structural difficulties impact the West.
There are many takeaways from learning what creates wealth in countries. A thorough reading of Why Nations Fail by economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson explains a lot about why Canada has become a chronic underperformer.It is also a warning for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Hitched to a country in decline and increasingly controlled by Ottawa, the western provinces must never become, as have some provinces east of Quebec, supplicants to the federal government or the Laurentian Elite (LE). Due to a lack of political power in the West and after sincere but unsuccessful attempts at reform, westerners much conclude that central Canadians either don't believe the response from the West will be significant or they don't care.My wife often reminds me of a truism — when the other party is intransigent, the solution resides with you. It appears that insight is growing in Saskatchewan and Alberta, as governments are utilizing economic power and legislation as a shield from the extractive institutions in central Canada and the federal government.The Saskatchewan First Act and the Sovereignty Act in Alberta gained mixed reactions in central Canada, with some tut-tutting and poo-pooing. The impetus for Alberta to withdraw from the CPP has the attention of central Canada and the federal government — issues of fairness are dismissed as whining, but those with direct implications receive a response.For that reason alone, the pension process should continue. It is a strong message that Western Canadian’s secondary status is no longer acceptable.Equalization could be the next issue pursued to assert economic muscle in the absence of political parity.But, back to Why Countries Fail. The Alberta and Saskatchewan governments are critical institutions, both strongly engaged in making Canada more pluralistic and wealthy. We need to follow the strong leadership of Danielle Smith and Scott Moe. Indeed, we might be experiencing a “critical juncture” regarding the future of our country. Pretentious perhaps, but possibly true, the determination of the two prairie provinces to mitigate established extractive institutions could be positive influences for a country in decline.Our institutions need to be strengthened. Already the formation of the Alberta Council for Business provides another strong voice. Alberta's premier has formed advisory groups across a range of issues, important for policy generation, participation and support.In Saskatchewan for example, the North Saskatoon Business Association (NSBA) is currently changing its name, has become a strong business voice. There's also the local and provincial Chambers of Commerce and all the protest organizations that spontaneously erupted after the Trudeau administration withdrew approval for the Northern Gateway pipeline. Many of these organizations still exist.The one most familiar to me is the Buffalo Project. Full disclosure, I have contributed both funding and feedback respecting their quiet but thoughtful initiatives, important in the most recent federal and Alberta provincial elections.However, the importance of such grassroot organizations cannot be overstated. Perhaps the need today is at the civic level, as low turnouts have enabled unlikely candidates to be elected. This needs to change so civic institutions also support standing up for the West. Another problem is that throughout North America, universities have lost their way. Rather than educating students and developing a culture of inquiry, learning and diverse views, they have become purveyors of woke correctness — islands of oppression in a sea of freedom, as they say.Sadly, it is probably too late to expect our universities to join the important defence of our western classical liberal values, inclusive institutions and important industries. Maybe reduced funding would change behaviour, but it might be quicker to fund new educational institutions that require economics as core curriculum and support free thinking and expression.It was sadly indicative The Fraser Institute recently released a study indicating a majority of young people 18 to 34 “prefer socialism.” This highlights economics are not taught in K-12 and only as an option in post-secondary education. What are the provincial governments thinking?(Full disclosure again: I am a long-time director at Fraser. Nevertheless, it is by far the highest rated think tank in Canada.) Most media, even in the West, are not sympathetic to free market and western values. Hats off to the Western Standard, a digital publisher with an outstanding group committed to the well-being of our provinces. WS also welcomes outside parties to share their views and experience. It deserves your attention and support. Try publishing in the Globe and Mail which pretends it is a national paper but is really the voice of the Laurentian Elite!Both the Canada West Foundation and the School of Public Policy research publish relevant and factual information important to our future. There are many other important institutions that we need to support.Now, the politics of the moment. The recent Alberta election was a close one: imagine a Notley government accommodating current demands foisted on Alberta and Saskatchewan by the federal government. Socialists, by definition, are centralists.The federal Conservative party looks like a government in waiting and is strongly supported in the west, for obvious reasons. Common sense market-driven governments of Mulroney and Harper provided solid government for the whole country.But the challenge for a prime minister named Poilievre will be to fundamentally reform our country and address western vulnerability. We need a fundamental restructuring of the way government and industry work together, such that a third-generation Trudeau cannot wreak more damage.If elected, will Poilievre advance such a critical juncture?The last commentary alluded to his potential incredible opportunity to gather the “low hanging fruit.” More difficult and important will be resetting the table for a more inclusive and prosperous country for the long term.A good start would be granting all provinces the same rights as Quebec. We need to stop resenting Quebec and do what they do instead.Passing down tax points while reducing the size and role of the federal government, would also limit the role of future governments and support the Poilievre desire to make Canadians the “freest in the world.”A range of measures indicate Canada, as a country, is failing. As proud Canadians, we in the west have an obligation and are well positioned to deal with the issues raised in Why Nations Fail. Alberta and Saskatchewan want to contribute to make Canada free, fair and functional, an outcome only possible if Ontario and Quebec engage with open minds.Unfortunately, failure here is possible, maybe a likelihood. This highlights even more the importance of a Poilievre revolution. If not, the only default option — independence — is unfortunately becoming more attractive by the day. In our country, controlled by and for the benefit of Ontario, Quebec and the Laurentian Elite, is this outcome inevitable?The current government in Ottawa is different than previous administrations which successfully extracted wealth from resources in Western Canada, primarily oil and natural gas but also Agribusiness, uranium, and fertilizer. The ideologues today are more interested in destroying wealth production than capturing it.Whether Canadians understand this is doubtful but they instinctively understand that the current government is on the wrong path.The extract of national energy program in the early 1980s left westerners stunned and scrambling for survival in a high-interest rate world. Very few real estate companies in Alberta or Saskatchewan, for example, survived the combination of a deep recession and high-financing costs.What has changed today is this time Alberta and Saskatchewan know who they're dealing with and have engaged in what unfortunately can be characterized as the fight.Another take away is the need to identify and strengthen institutions that will continue to create prosperity and defend against current and most certainly future attacks from central Canada. All parties know the west has absolutely no political power and is vulnerable. The memorable words of Keith Davey, a political advisor to the father Trudeau, “Screw the west, we'll take the rest”. And so, back to my wife's advice that if the other party is not going to change, then the onus shifts to you to solve the problem. This is what Albertans and Saskatchewan people now understand.With repeated and most certainly further intrusions of the federal government into provincial affairs, the response has been the Saskatchewan First Act and Alberta's Sovereignty Act. These shift the onus back to the feds to make their case in the courts, with the current issue being the arbitrary 2035 date to eliminate fossil fuels from electrical generation.This is the fifth and last in a series of five columns by Saskatchewan writer Herb Pinder, looking at how Canada's structural difficulties impact the West.
