October 17, 2006
Kamloops Daily News

It's puzzling why Prime Minister Harper would copy U.S.
policy and rhetoric when Canadians define themselves as
distinct from Americans.

It's less puzzling when you consider that Harper's home
province of Alberta was settled and influenced by Americans.

Calgary is the most American city in Canada with about 8 per
cent of its population from the U.S. The former U.S.
ambassador to Canada, James Blanchard, half-jokingly
described Calgary: "It's just like Texas, only less
anti-American."

The American influences on Alberta's history and traditions
become clear when you compare it with its sister province of
Saskatchewan. Both provinces entered confederation together
and developed in parallel but ended up quite differently.
Alberta is now seen as the heartland of free enterprise and
low taxes while Saskatchewan is the home of social programs
such as medicare.

Although Alberta's population is greater now, that wasn't
always the case. Both provinces attracted thousands of
homesteaders. Both experienced rapid growth in the late
1880s as settlers came looking for the "last, best West,"
according to historian James Pitsula. By 1911,
Saskatchewan's population was greater than Alberta's by 30
per cent.

The demographics of both provinces were different from the
beginning. Alberta was flooded with Americans looking for
cheap land whereas Saskatchewan was the destination of
British immigrants.

By the 1920s Americans outnumbered the British by two to one
in Alberta. In Saskatchewan there were more Britons than
Americans.

Although the demographics of each province were different,
there were some similarities in their early development.
Both had Liberal governments. Both developed crown-owned
telephone companies and financed farmer-owned grain elevator
companies. Women won the right to vote in both provinces in
1916 and both prohibited the sale of alcohol.

The bleak years of the dirty thirties forged the politics
that eventually defined each province. The depression left
both provinces feeling betrayed by central Canada. While
the West had become the breadbasket of Canada, farmers were
treated like the wastebasket. They felt that central Canada
regarded the West as a colony; a resentment that lingers
today.

In times of crisis, the federal government ensured that the
economies of Ontario and Quebec did well at the expense of
the West. For example, when grain prices were high Ottawa
set price limits that reduced farmer profits. When prices
went low, the limits were removed and farmers starved to
death.

The indifference of central Canada was a catalyst for the
rejection of old political parties. Missouri-born Henry
Wise Wood shaped much of Alberta politics. He rejected
Conservatives and Liberals as bought and paid for by big
corporations.

Henry Wise Wood promoted the radical idea of "group
government" in which groups from the community - - farmers,
labour, and professionals - - entered politics as a
political class. His politics of class government were
attacked for being "soviet" and alien to British traditions.
His reply was that he was only advocating what big business
had already done; organize to protect their interests. And
for the Americans in Alberta, the label of anti-British was
taken as a complement.

Socialism took a different turn in Saskatchewan under the
leadership of Tommy Douglas. In a whirlwind of change,
Douglas encouraged the formation of unions. Saskatchewan
was the first province to enshrine a bill of rights
prohibiting discrimination, the first to implement
government car insurance, and the first to institute a
hospital insurance plan.

In Alberta, the Social Credit party formed government under
the leadership of William Aberhart. The theory of Social
Credit was hazy but the idea of giving money to destitute
farmers was popular. Aberhart proposed the creation of
purchasing power to ordinary people by giving them a $25
"social credit dividend."

Aberhart's idea was not only half-baked, it was illegal.
Only the federal power could regulate banking and Aberhart's
give-away was never enacted.

Alberta's goofy politics and were swept away by the gush of
oil in the forties. Social Credit morphed into the
Conservative party in 1971 and Alberta's destiny has been
tied to the fortunes of oil since then.

The prime minister is convinced that Alberta's wealth is due
to an American ethic of individualism and small government,
not the good fortune of natural resources. Harper's
challenge will be to convince the rest of Canadians that the
American ideals that made Alberta great will work for all
Canadians. It will be a tough sell.

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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