With a credible new leader, Canada must pay attention to Wexit separatist party
he Alberta-based western separatist party “Wexit Canada” has a new interim leader.
Instead of a guy in a ball cap, the new guy — former Conservative MP Jay Hill — has considerable experience in government; having served as the MP for Prince George-Peace River from 1993 until his retirement in 2010, Secretary of State in the Harper government, and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. Hill began his political career with the Reform Party of Canada, which was folded into the Canadian Alliance in 2000.
Now Hill is back in the saddle and wants to ride out of Canada … with the West in tow.
Wexit was founded by a group of disgruntled Albertans, led by former RCMP officer Peter Downing, following the 2019 re-election of the Trudeau Liberals. The name Wexit is a portmanteau taken from Brexit, the UK withdrawal from the European Union (EU), characterized by many as a fiasco.
Brexit was inspired by Grexit, which had referred to the 2012 possible exit of Greece from the EU, due to the financial collapse of Greece’s economy. Wexit therefore, owes its etymological origins to failure. Grexit had also spawned the term “Graccident.”
Poor association, however “Wexit” does communicate the general raison d’être of the party, and will role off of millennial tongues more easily than the Western Canada Party, the Western Independence Party, or the Western Block Party. It will also probably play better in the environment of “truthiness” prevailing on social media, fit comfortably into the average tweet, prove more thumb-friendly for texters, and respect contemporary linguistic limitations.
In any event, with the addition of Jay Hill, Wexit Canada has upped its game. Overnight, these western separatists have graduated from fledgling extremist niche party to serious political contender.
The original Wexit constitution was clear, “Alberta is a sovereign republic, and has no subordination or obligation to the British monarchy, Government of Canada, or United Nations.”
The platform included “Universal Declaration of Independence from Canada and secession from the British Commonwealth, establishment of an Alberta Constitution, delivery of all essential national government services, head of state to be an elected president of Alberta with an appointed cabinet, withdrawal from United Nations agreements that erode Alberta sovereignty, including but not limited to the UN Compact on Migration, the Paris Climate Accord, and Agenda 2030.”
These statements have since been removed from the Wexit Canada website, perhaps for revision.
Incendiary former leader Peter Downing had pulled no punches describing the party’s approach: “Anybody who stands in the way of western self-determination, Alberta self-determination, you’re our enemy and we’re going to run you over.” He characterized the rest of the country as, “the parasite of Eastern Canada.”
As an experienced politician, Hill is somewhat more diplomatic, but the message is the same; “Western Canada is never gonna get a fair shake from the rest of Canada. Confederation does not work. It cannot work. It is not structured to work. Those in the Golden Triangle of Quebec, Toronto, Ottawa, they
The low support for Western separatism should not be cause for complacency in Ottawa
don’t care about the West except as a cash cow to feed Quebec and the Maritimes.”
Perhaps Hill is right, but a recent Abacus poll showed that only 13 per cent of Canadians would vote for separation.
The same Abacus poll showed that 75 per cent of Albertans feel that the province has been treated unfairly by the rest of Canada.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has spoken out against separatism, “… the whole notion of separation is irrational. Making Alberta a landlocked place within this continent, leaving the Canadian federation, leaving any argument for market access for coastal pipelines, leaving NAFTA as the broader market in North America, none of that makes sense to me.”
The low support for Western separatism should not be cause for complacency in Ottawa.
With a large majority of Albertans feeling poorly treated, a credible leader at the helm of Wexit Canada, and the precedent of a provincial separatist party already in Parliament, Canada needs to consider revision of an electoral system that re-elected a scandal-ridden government with less than a third of the popular vote.
After all, according to Abacus, Alberta has a buyer lined up to the south; 41 per cent of Americans think that the U.S. should offer to buy Alberta for its resources, while 17 per cent support invasion.