Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday urged Alberta to remain in Canada, warning that a vote next week on whether to hold a referendum on leaving Canada would begin a “long and uncertain process” at a dangerous time for the country.
“This year, Thanksgiving is a bit different,” Carney said in a holiday message to Canadians. “A week from today, Albertans will have the opportunity to make an important decision about their future, whether to remain part of Canada or begin a long and uncertain process through which Alberta could separate from Canada.”
Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in October, unlike the U.S., where it falls in late November.
The Oct. 19 vote asks Albertans whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the process of holding a referendum on separation.
Other countries, including the United States, will divide and conquer until the imbalance of power is sufficient for them to get what they want from what was once Canada, at a reduced cost.
The Canadian federation is not perfect. Nothing is. But in the long run, ever smaller fragments of Canada will be less powerful than an intact Canada with an improved federal government. So, unless the separatists can demonstrate that improvement to the federation is impossible or sufficiently improbable, I think they are proposing a solution to immediate problems that is detrimental in the long term.
It may be less beneficial to some short term interests, but I think in the long term it will be better to keep Canada together and work on improvements to the federation.
Follow the money. Who stands to gain from a divided Canada? How will those gains be distributed among the people?