Two notable Liberal missteps in the past couple of weeks have enflamed regional tensions in Canada. First, MP David McGuinty apologized and resigned from his post as natural resource critic, after suggesting that Conservative MPs with regionally-based views on energy policy should “go back to Alberta.” Shortly thereafter, Justin Trudeau’s similarly disparaging comments from 2010, which pointed the finger at “Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda,” resurfaced. Though Trudeau promptly issued an apology, all of the comments in question—and the reactions they elicited—demonstrate a willingness by politicians to play up ‘East-West enmity.’ If continued, this rhetoric will certainly prove harmful to Canada’s national unity and democratic effectiveness.
Party politics in Canada, though not as polarized as in the United States, have long been a vicious game, and parties are relentless in their attacks across the aisle. While the nature of our multi-party system somewhat tempers this, the influence and tactics of American politics continue to bleed into our political culture. We’ve seen this recently in Justin Trudeau’s consultations with Obama advisor Mitch Stewart, and in the increased presence of overtly partisan media outlets, such as those under the Sun Media umbrella, often referred to by critics as ‘Fox North’.
The divide between East and West in Canada is nothing new, either. Its defining moment came with Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s National Energy Program (NEP) in 1980. Intended to help the struggling East by regulating oil prices, the economic meltdown that it caused in the West resulted in immense cross-country hostilities. The West’s subsequent caustic slogan, “Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark,” is a telling indicator of attitudes at the time.
If the comments in dispute seem to point to continuing friction today, the Conservatives’ responses to them only affirm this tension. Even the Prime Minster joined the pile-on, declaring it “shameful that 30 years after the National Energy Program, these anti-Alberta attitudes are still close to the surface in the Liberal Party.”
In reality, a certain amount of regional party divide is natural. The purpose of parties is to value the priorities of their constituents, of which will align better with the experiences and interests of certain regions than others. As such, Alberta’s alignment primarily with the federal Conservative party isn’t entirely unfounded nor is it the source of impropriety here. What’s problematic is that members of the Opposition propagate a view of Alberta or ‘the West’ as their adversary. Likewise, responses to this—that paint the entire East as resentful of Alberta’s oil wealth and seeking to disadvantage the West—are both misguided and misleading to voters on both sides.
[pullquote]All of the comments in question—and the reactions they elicited—demonstrate a willingness by politicians to play up ‘East-West enmity.’ If continued, this rhetoric will certainly prove harmful to Canada’s national unity and democratic effectiveness.[/pullquote]
Canada is a federalist nation, whose leaders are elected from provinces each possessing a level of individual autonomy and competing values and interests. This makes it even more imperative for the role of federal representatives to be to unite the country by its common interests, not to divide. This is not just a matter of political principle, but of federal well-being.
At its core, the message propagated here is not just that certain parties only represent the interests of certain regions, but that they actively pursue policy detrimental to other regions. If people were to take this message to heart, and vote solely based on understood regional divides, the issues would no longer matter. Elections would essentially become a foregone conclusion, with the winner being whichever party most successfully instills the electorate’s mistrust in their opponents.
Parties would no longer be held to the same level of accountability by the electorate, nor would they have any real desire to accommodate to the needs of regions that did not elect them. Assessments of regional estrangement would quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy. At best, this amounts to a huge obstacle to electoral legitimacy; at worst it, it would amount to a total circumvention of democracy. In any case, it is not an acceptable outcome.
Political leaders of all stripes need to step up, take accountability when they speak rashly on such matters, and behave graciously when their opponents do the same. Most of all, they need to stop pitting Canadians against one another. Partisanship and posturing have their place and time; but these must ultimately take a backseat to the ongoing sustenance of a united, healthy Canada.
