All good things come to pass. Nations and empires rise and fall. Canada and the provinces was a good idea; unfortunately eastern greed and stupidity got in the way. Canada was really finished before the ink dried on the BNA Act.
When the eastern establishment opened western Canada for settlement and development—rather than treating the west and its future people with respect and fairness—the eastern power brokers—Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal decided to maintain possession of the west’s natural resource base: newcomers to the west could break and farm the land but were prohibited from owning the mineral rights on or under the ground—included was the ownership rights of oil and natural gas.
Westerners could not own their own mineral rights until that “right” was granted by the British government’s 1931-33 Statute of Westminster.
The NDP is expected to win the next provincial election. Premier Dix in waiting has declared that his government will not support pipelines – both for oil and natural gas across the northern part of the province to the west coast. Supporting Dix are the BC Indians—neither will the two groups support expanding the pipeline which terminates in Burnaby.
With Dix announcing that his government will increase government expenditures, apparently he has forgotten how he will pay for those costs; also forgetting about how the money will be raised to pay for the BC Indians’ free ride – are the Indians themselves.
Canadian Indians today have discovered that their situation is an uncomfortable spot to be in; they are seen by the taxpaying public as being in the same boat as the free-loading French Canadians in Quebec.
May I remind both groups that after Ontario and Quebec refused to invest and help Alberta develop its oil and gas; our American cousins jumped at the opportunity to join Alberta in developing its petroleum industry. I am sure the fine folks in Montana, Idaho and Oregon will take up the slack left by Dix and the Indians—by building pipelines to a super port on the Oregon coast. Such a port would also benefit the petroleum industry in Oklahoma, Wyoming and North Dakota.
On any given day, most of the people in the BC Peace River district—BC’s oil and gas country would rather be Albertans: no pipelines to move Alberta oil and gas to Asian markets.
I believe we will see more pipelines very soon built in the Pacific Northwest states. No sales of western Canada’s oil and gas through BC to Asian markets certainly means less, or very little or no taxes paid to support the BC NDP government and their Indian pals. The BC Interior, less the Peace River district, would soon be an economic wasteland.
When the BC Peace joins Alberta, the Okanagan, the Cariboo, and the Kootenays would soon follow. The end of BC really is in sight.
Ernie Slump, Penticton
