It was mildly amusing and not the least bit surprising, that following Premier Danielle Smith's announcement of her government's “Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act”, Laurentian pundits were on any platform they could find shouting, “Yobbery! Yobbery!”.Most liberal-leaning media organizations went into overdrive criticizing the premier and her government's new policy. One example of many was from the twitter account of CBC’s At Issue..At Issue is a show hosted by Rosemary Barton where Canadians are apparently able to turn for an open, intelligent discussion about Canadian politics. Except their tweet announcing said discussion ended with the hashtag #SovereigntyAct followed by the Canada flag and a face palm emoji..That sardonic emoji, if I’m being honest, didn’t exactly give off strong vibes that it was going to be anything other than a hostile conversation against the new Act. This was confirmed within minutes of starting to watch..Four Ontario and Quebec-based political pundits voiced their haughty distaste and dismissal of the Act with unfettered relish..Andrew Coyne called it, “clearly unconstitutional” and a “fantasy land.” indicating At one point he said, “They don’t have an idea how government works”..Chantal Hebert’s less than brilliant contribution to the discussion was, “Premiers who are not liberals, trying to find all kinds of ways to evade the constitution or to use their powers under the constitution to the hilt.”.Premiers trying to use their powers within the constitution to protect their provinces... how dare they!.Honestly, why bother having elected provincial governments when the chattering political class apparently know what’s best for each region of the country and the federation writ large..The underlying theme of the discussion seemed to be that Alberta, Saskatchewan, and any other provincial government seeking more autonomy should just shut-up and submit to the will of the federal government, regardless of the economic and societal impacts their policies might wreak… because of Canada..Aside from the fact that many constitutional experts, notably absent from the panel, have indicated that the ‘Alberta Sovereignty Act’ is constitutional, why is it that Canadian political commentary is so obviously lacking a western counterpoint to central and eastern Canadian pundit political views?.It is in this vacuum of this echo chamber that the perfidious nature of our political pundits live and breathe. Their one-sided commentary has directly contributed to the current political climate where provincial governments, politicians and their electorate feel that the ‘Saskatchewan First Act’ and ‘Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act’ are necessary..Unknowingly Andrew Coyne, writing for Macleans in 2011, captured how many in the west see him and his peers today. “Whatever may be the cause, we can see the results, the single largest outburst of journalistic nonsense in a generation: swarms of pundits running wild through the op-ed pages, leaving a trail of broken syllogisms in their wake. Such mindless mindlessness can only be condemned in the strongest terms…”.Indeed, in the strongest terms..Moose Jaw-based John Thomson is a retired Canadian Armed Forces veteran, children’s book author and aspiring columnist.
