CKNW Editorial
for October 2, 2000

On Saturday I chanced to see the CBC production called The Champions. It was first rate and all who missed it missed that most rare of things, something of value on TV. It was the story of Rene Levsque and Pierre Trudeau and their fight through the referendum of 1980 and the patriation of the Constitution exercise. It was truly riveting – but I was left with the eerie feeling that I had not watched anything in which I had participated or really had a stake in. Of course I know that I had, as a Canadian a very important stake but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all so very foreign to a British Columbian. Throughout the entire production there was no one from British Columbia involved … oh there were some cameo shots of Bill Bennett and if you were lightening fast the odd glimpse of Garde Gardom and on one occasion me … but you had to know what you were watching for. No, this was a Central Canadian exercise from start to finish … in fact it was a Quebec exercise unless you count the fact that during Joe Clark’s brief premiership he was seen as very good news for the separatists going into the 1980 vote.

It was depressing watching for a Canadian from British Columbia. For if this is all that Canada is really about – the Upper Canada/Lower Canada struggle for a unity that suits them then we really are in trouble. I felt like I was in a distant British Colony watching Parliament debating the Corn Laws or the Stamp tax. I had a stake in the outcome all right … but I wasn’t a player. Using the theater analogy, I wasn’t even in the Dress Circle. In fact, I wasn’t even in the gallery … I was outside waiting for the reviews to be published. Little wonder that under these circumstances that Canada’s leaders, who for the vast majority are from Ontario and Quebec, can’t see anything else than the ancient struggle.

As this three hour production began to sink in I found myself asking how long a country can stay together when its only raison d’etre is a struggle to find an accommodation between it’s two biggest regions. Here we were the third largest province in Canada which would, according to projections, be the second largest by the half way mark of this century yet we don’t really matter very much. Will the country be able to adapt to the changes that will come if we can’t even see the present with any clarity? Given what I saw the answer is a clear "no". All our concentration will continue to be on our navel.

And I looked at what was immediately ahead – were there men and women of vision who would see that there was more than one national problem on the table? The answer was, of course, obvious. The system makes whores of politicians on the government side west of the Lakehead. Just look at the Liberal MPs – not a courageous one amongst them. Political whores all – selling themselves for a chance to be in cabinet. One of them, Herb Dhaliwal is even prepared to pretend that the system works just fine. David Anderson who is supposed to be our powerful cabinet minister seems as unwilling to tackle the United States on Sumas 2 as he was to tackle them over salmon.

I am not a natural supporter of the Alliance. I am so much further left than Stockwell Day as to be irreconcilable to even his most liberal moments. I am a Christian who rejects the sort of Christians I see supporting Mr Day. I want no part of the redneckism that can be suppressed for a moment here and there but always pops up like a bad penny any time an immigration or criminal law matter gives the opportunity for the red neck to play to the cheap seats. Yet I find myself drawn to Stockwell Day because he seems to represent the best chance for this country to be governed outside the Plains of Abraham where the battle is now 241 years old and still occupying all our attention.

The country cannot continue to survive under the present system where all the power rests in a small central triangle. British Columbia is entitled to a share of power commensurate with its population and importance. It cannot much longer tolerate the likes of Hedy Fry, Sophie Leung, Herb Dhaliwal and Lou Sekora. There is no NDP or Conservative option.

The short term is, in effect, the long term. For if we cannot change the way we govern ourselves … it we cannot move the national debate to include British Columbia the country cannot survive.

I simply don’t see the changes happening with Jean Chretien, or that Meechkin of all Meechkins, "Offshore"Paul Martin.

I came away from this fascinating program even more convinced than ever of the need for profound change, and soon … and equally clear that like the drowning man clutching at the thinnest of reeds we may have no other choice but than support Stockwell Day and the baggage he drags … which, when all’s said and done, can’t possibly be much worse than the baggage taken from BC to Ottawa by Jean Chretien.