CKNW Editorial
for December 19, 2000

Today I'm going to assess last month's election from the point of view of a lifetime British Columbian who has always thought of himself as a good Canadian. The trouble is, evidently, what I think of as good Canadianism and what the establishment thinks are two very different things altogether.

Let's look at history for a moment starting with the fact that the election, as with the eight preceding ones, demonstrated that British Columbians do not agree with the National Liberal Party's view of Canada. The election of 1993 showed with explosive clarity that we don't agree with the new Tory view, as articulated by Joe Clark either. The most illuminating of all votes was the 1992 referendum on the Charlottetown Accord which made it plain that British Columbians will not countenance any special deals with any province, period.

Hugh MacLennan talked about Canada as "two solitudes". He was wrong because there are three and have been since 1871.

The myth was born with the 1967 Royal Commission of Bi-culturalism and Bi-lingualism which spoke, for the first time officially, of "two founding nations". I say this is a myth because it is. The Founding fathers including George Etienne Cartier neither spoke of "two founding nations" or implied it. Indeed it wasn't in their thoughts because they were creating one nation for all Canadians of all backgrounds, a sentiment articulated best by Cartier himself.

The Bi and Bi Commission spawned the notion that we were to be a country, from coast to coast, true to the principle of two founding nations. It was a heady time being our 100th birthday and any who didn't go along with this new version of Canada were held out to be anti-French bigots ... which, in fairness, some people were. The fact was that as soon as the freezing of the national birthday wore off it was clear that British Columbia wasn't about to become a bilingual and bicultural province. It was at this point - and the 1972 election was probably the starting point - it became clear that there were now three solitude's in this country - Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia along with Alberta. But, and this is the critical point, this was not, has not and never will be acknowledged by the Canadian establishment. They didn't believe us when we screamed that Meet Lake as a lousy Idea and to this day they don't acknowledge that the Charlottetown Referendum even happened. To acknowledge the glaring fact that nearly 70% of British Columbians - a staggering majority - rejected the establishment's idea of what Canada is all about was just too much for them. Unable to walk and chew gum at the same time the establishment insisted and insists to this day that the entire country revolves around the great Upper Canada/Lower Canada debate and that British Columbia must line up behind Ontario and do as she is told by her betters.

What is fascinating is that British Columbians have been consistent in their position from day one. Indeed in the last nine elections and the Referendum the public of BC has told the Central Canadian establishment whether it be the Liberal or new Tory version to get stuffed. (For those who think the Mulroney election wins were an exception, not so. We thought in 1984 that Mulroney understood our point of view and in 1989 we voted for free trade, the only debated issue.)

Now we have reached this point - in the far west there has been a consistent and large rejection of the "two founding nation" myth yet the three centrist parties, the Liberals, the Conservatives, and the NDP, continue to espouse it as their fundamental principle. There is no compromise possible - either you believe that Canada is made up of ten juridically equal provinces or you don't - we do, they don't.

All of this must also be seen in light of the terrible political system under which we live and about which I have written and said so much. Not to put too fine a point on it, under our system 50%+1 of the House of Commons gives 100% of the power. If you have 14% share of the Commons (which we don't though we should) we have 0% of the power. Whatever we get will only come if it is also in the best interests of Quebec and Ontario.

Moreover, thanks to Jean Chretien this cannot even be discussed much less changed. You will recall that he gave, in December 1995, a veto over all constitutional change to Quebec. This has constipated the body politic.

What do we do?

There is only one thing we can do and that's continue to protest at every opportunity and work as best we can for change. Then, when the inevitable happens and Quebec again seriously talks of separation, we prepare ourselves for an independent British Columbia.

I never thought I would ever publicly utter those words. It is the antithesis of all I have ever worked for. But I didn't draw the battle lines - the establishment in central Canada, through their political parties did. It was they who rejected our view of Canada and our politics that reflected that view.

The British Columbia solitude didn't have to happen. The Central Canadian parties, especially the Liberals, made it happen by pretending that there was only one fault line in the country. The CBC made it happen as did the Toronto Globe and Mail. The Senate of Canada, appointed by the Central Canadian Establishment to serve its purposes made it happen. But most of all the Central Canadian establishment itself, through ignorance as well as bloodymindedness made it happen.

Yes, as the polls will show, we British Columbians love Canada. But it is our Canada, the Canada of equality we love. We don't see the country through the warped prism through which the Ontario centrists view it.

The day will come when there will have to be a choice - a country where Quebec has special status or a Canada without Quebec. When that moment comes it must be understood that there is no western Canadian option or BC/Alberta option. They won't be there for a lot of reasons. British Columbians will have to make their own choices. And with the Central Canadian Establishment in power for the foreseeable future, we would do very well to start assessing our options right now.