Western Canada must separate

Dear Editor: U.S-protectorate status would be a far better deal for land-locked Alberta and Saskatchewan. Included would be the B.C. Peace River District.

The B.C. Peace folks have wanted to join Alberta since 1924.

From the moment Western Canada joined Confederation, we have literally got the short end of the stick. There was a hidden agenda. Citizens in Alberta and Saskatchewan could pay their $10 for a quarter section (160 acres) of land. They could clear the land and farm or ranch it; except the minerals underground did not belong to the land owner. Those mineral rights were owned by powerful men in Eastern Canada.

Sixty-six years were to pass from July 1, 1867 to 1933 before the Prairie folks would be permitted to own their own mineral rights. Those ownership rights came about because of two very important international protocols: Adolf Hitler was elected in Germany in 1933 and the British introduced the 1931-33 Statue of Westminster to change the Empire into the Commonwealth.

Ontario and Quebec were adamant. Come hell or high water they were not going to relinquish their “stolen grip” on Western Canada’s natural resources (mineral rights). Had Alberta and Saskatchewan not been granted the right to own their own mineral rights by 1933, the west from Winnipeg to Victoria was ready to return to Colonial Colony Status by 1935, then complete independence by 1939.

There are many other reasons why the two oil-and-gas provinces must leave Canada. Canada has not pulled its NATO or NORAD weight since 1968 when Pierre Elliot Trudeau was elected in '68.

A major advantage of protectorate status, western oil and gas exported to the U.S., means our American cousins would be obligated to pay the world price for petroleum products instead of the bargain basement prices they pay now.

U.S. President Donald Trump could have other cards up his sleeve. The U.S. has protected Canada since 1968. Trump might use that statistic as pressure when dealing with Alberta, Saskatchewan and the B.C. Peace River district. Who really knows; however, almost any deal with the U.S., would be better than getting the “eastern shaft” on a continuous daily basis 24/7. Ernie Slump

Penticton