The great divide between Edmonton and Ottawa

The distance between Alberta and Ottawa is not just geographic. It is also linguistic. An Albertan visiting the national capital quickly discovers that the locals speak a different language. And if you ever get the opportunity to work in Ottawa, as I did in 2000, you discover that the gap between yourself and most of the civil servants is more than just geographic and linguistic. It is ideological. And it's one more example of how what was a minor annoyance 30 years ago, today is yet another barrier for Albertan and Western Canadian concerns to get a fair hearing.

When former prime minister Pierre Trudeau introduced official bilingualism in the civil service, it was sold as a language proficiency test. In practice it has meant much more. As Trudeau's biographer Richard Gwyn observed in 1981, “Bilingualism in truth was nothing less than a social revolution.… But … no one in authority in Ottawa in the late 1960s … let on that massive change was about to happen.” Gwyn understood that bilingualism was not just about language, but an ideology and a new mission statement for the federal government.

Its immediate effect has been to benefit the 16 per cent of Canadians who are bilingual, two-thirds of them francophones and nearly all from Central Canada.

Indeed, Canada has the most centralized civil service of all the English-speaking democracies. Over 40 per cent live in or near Ottawa. Forty-five years ago — before official bilingualism — it was only about 25 per cent.

Geography is only half the story. Official bilingualism has enhanced the influence of a small and unrepresentative demographic of Canadians — francophones, anglophones who chose to remain in Quebec (a small minority) and the more educated, upper middle classes of Ontario. Not coincidentally, each of these groups is shrinking as a proportion of Canada's increasingly diverse and more Western population. This class becomes increasingly isolated, and increasingly convinced it is the guardian of true Canadian values.

Nevertheless, the larger the government becomes, the more influential this group becomes. This trend is found in all modern welfare states. As the state grows, so too does the permanent bureaucracy. This “new class” is powerful because it has what elected politicians don't have: job security and policy expertise. Elected politicians come and go. Bureaucrats don't. This is the new “permanent government” that is eroding democratic accountability in all contemporary welfare states. Predictably, it creates policies and shapes institutions in ways that benefit its own interests.

Since the adoption of official bilingualism, the size and scope of the federal government has expanded from a budget of $15 billion in 1970 to over $355 billion today. Over this same time period, the size the civil service has increased 50 per cent — from just under 200,000 in 1970 to 290,000 today. Almost half — 43 per cent — are designated as bilingual. At the senior levels, this figure is higher, but not publicly available.

But bilingualism is about more than just proficiency in French and geography. It entrenches the belief that a central priority of the federal government is to pre-empt the separatist threat by giving Quebecers a disproportionate presence and influence in the national government. Francophone civil servants are the immediate beneficiaries of this policy. Anglophone civil servants who manage to survive the government's multi-year bilingualism training program emerge with this deeply entrenched belief.

As a result, the bureaucracy's advice to cabinet ministers as well as administrative decisions are made through an ideological lens that prioritizes national unity, and national unity is understood as keeping Quebecers happy. The concerns of Western Canada (and Atlantic Canada) are decidedly secondary. As Donald Savoie observes: “The votes for winning power in Ottawa are in Ontario and Quebec, the senior bureaucracy straddles the Ontario-Quebec border and the national media speak from these two provinces.” In other words, official bilingualism was never just about language. It was — and is — about the ideology of a Quebec-centric national unity and its promotion by a powerful and permanent bureaucracy.

This means that for Albertans and Western Canadians more generally, our concerns and priorities will always be secondary to those of Central Canada and the Laurentian elites. Since this is not going to change anytime soon, I have become a strong advocate for reforms that will increase Albertans' ability to be self-governing by taking over programs that are currently administered by Ottawa: policing, pensions and tax-collection. So I am encouraged by the Fair Deal Panel's report, and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney's response to develop these options over the next several years.

At this point in Alberta's history, they are our best choice. Decisions made in Edmonton may not always be right, but at least they will be made by people who speak the same language, live in our neighbourhoods, share our concerns and will have to live with the consequences of their decisions.

CANADA HAS THE MOST CENTRALIZED CIVIL SERVICE OF ALL THE ENGLISHSPEAKING DEMOCRACIES.