This is the Real Deal!

The UCP has stated that they want a Fair Deal for Alberta in Canada. On the list of objectives in order to secure a Fair Deal, all but one involves spending scarce provincial tax dollars while still sending billions in federal tax dollars to Ottawa every year, and getting little in return. Only one initiative relates to political reform, wanting to have Alberta’s Senators be elected by Albertans, rather than appointed by the federal government. Very laudable, but only window dressing. Constitutionally, Canada is stuck in 1867. Canada constitutionally has only 4 provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the rest of Canada are add-ons, accommodated by minor amendments and concessions, but not as provinces equal to the original four.

UCP thinks that Alberta electing our 6 Senators is going to give Albertans a Fair Deal?

As a democracy, fairness is paramount in the three pillars of government that make, modify, and interpret the laws that control every aspect of the lives and livelihoods of Canadians: Parliament, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. The Constitution is supposed to ensure that fairness. But the Canadian Constitution doesn’t do that. In fact, rather than fairness and equality, it ensures that some provinces are much more equal than others! Most Albertans don’t know or even care, how many Senators Alberta has. They certainly don’t know their names or what they do. They are surprised to find out that Alberta has 6 Senators, especially when some know that in the United States, each state elects only 2 Senators. But what really astounds, and angers them, is when they find out that the 4 Maritime provinces, with a combined population that is only slightly more than half of Alberta’s population, has a total of 30 Senators. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each have 10 Senators, tiny Prince Edward Island has 4 Senators, and Newfoundland and Labrador has 6 Senators. Quebec, with a population that is less than double Alberta’s, has 24 Senators. All of that inequality has its origins in the Canada of 1867. And the UCP thinks that Alberta electing our 6 Senators is going to give Albertans a Fair Deal? But the Senate has no real power you say, quite rightly, but that inequality has ramifications for the House of Commons. Alberta elects 34 Members of Parliament, but the 4 Maritime Provinces elect a combined total of 32 MPs when compared with Alberta’s population, they should have only 19. And Quebec elects 78 MPs when again compared to Alberta’s population, they should only have 67 seats in the House of Commons. How can that happen when the seats are distributed based on each province’s population?

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Senatorial Clause, Grandfather Clause, Representation Clause

The answer is that there are 3 little known clauses that give 7 provinces their excessive and undue representation in the House of Commons, where our laws are made. They are the Senatorial Clause, the Grandfather Clause, and the Representation Clause. The Senatorial Clause says that a province must not have more Senators than MPs, so that over representation in the Senate gives each of the Maritime provinces additional MPS. The Grandfather Clause says that each province must have at least the same number of seats now as they did in 1985, so Quebec and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, as well as Manitoba and Saskatchewan, get extra seats. And then there is the very vague and difficult to understand Representation Clause that benefits only Quebec with additional seats. So much for the concept of Representation by Population that we have all been led to believe is the rule in Canada! The blatant bias in the Canadian Constitution is most evident regarding the Supreme Court. In it, the province of Ontario is guaranteed 3 of the 9 seats on the Supreme Court of Canada. Quebec is also guaranteed 3 of the 9 seats on the Supreme Court. The other 8 provinces get to hope to have the one of the remaining 3 seats occupied by somebody from their province at some point, if they are lucky. Is there any way that Alberta can get a Fair Deal on any of these extremely important bastions of power in Canada? Yes, the government of Alberta could propose amendments to the Constitution to correct these imbalances. In order to be successful, they would need to have at least 7 of the 10 provincial governments agree to the amendment. The odds of having the provincial governments of the 5 provinces that are over represented in the Senate, or the 7 provinces that are over represented in the House of Commons, voting to give up their over representation, is Slim to None, and Slim just left town!

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Canadians don’t want to lose their advantageous over representation in order to give Albertans a Fair Deal in Canada

So, they could probably get at least 7 of the 8 provinces not guaranteed seats on the Supreme Court to support an amendment regarding the Supreme Court. But there is another requirement in the amending formula. The provinces supporting an amendment must represent at least 50% of the population of Canada. That gives Ontario and Quebec, voting together, a veto of any amendment to the Constitution of Canada. Considering all 3 of the amendments that would be necessary to correct these imbalances of power, only Alberta and B.C. receive no preferential treatment and would not be negatively affected by any of them. So, should Alberta even consider wasting its time proposing amendments doomed to failure? Yes, such amendments would do two things. First these amendments would give the people of Alberta the knowledge of these imbalances. Very few Albertans, even those who are very well educated, have this knowledge. But if it was out there in the main stream media and on social media, people would listen and learn. Second, Albertans would learn, when these amendments were defeated, that the majority of Canadians don’t want to lose their advantageous over representation in order to give Albertans a Fair Deal in Canada. Only with that knowledge, can Albertans make an informed decision on whether they want change, or if they are happy being second class citizens forever because Alberta was not one of the original provinces of Canada in 1867! No wonder that Jason Kenney, the avowed federalist, won’t address this and propose the necessary amendments. He doesn’t want Albertans to know how much the deck is stacked against them now, and that they will never get a Fair Deal as a province of Canada.