The provincial governments in Saskatchewan and Alberta are being pushed by a group of concerned residents to take action and boost the autonomy of the provinces within confederation.
The Buffalo Project, along with groups of high-profile citizens from the two provinces, have sent letters to Premier Scott Moe and Premier Jason Kenney containing signatures to back their call for the leaders to establish “a fair confederation.”
In the open letter, the group lists five steps that will help ease the economic and social challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. The five actions include fairness when it comes to equalization and fiscal stabilization, an Alberta pension plan, provincial tax collection plans, revisiting trade and immigration policies and proper access to port for the provinces.
Derek Robinson, a spokesperson with the Buffalo Project, believes this is a window of opportunity to make some meaningful change.
“We’re in a global pandemic and an economic crisis, and we’re not getting the support from Ottawa that we need,” stated Robinson during a phone interview.
“The support that we could have had provincially, with our own budgets and our own savings, we’ve given away to the rest of Canada to the tune of billions of dollars, and we don’t have that money anymore.”
He shared that the individual signatories are very prominent and well-respected community members that “typically never speak up like this.” Some recognizable names on the document include former minister and Saskatchewan Party founder June Draude, WestJet co-founder Don Bell and former Alberta finance minister Ted Morton.
“These people are sticking their necks out in a way that they maybe never have before because they feel the importance of changing this now,” added Robinson.
The letter goes on to describe the importance for the provincial leaders to follow through with these requests since recent challenges are “fanning the flames of separation like nothing in our history.”
Robinson said this is an urgent issue to battle the economic crisis, but their group is thinking more long-term now.
“We can’t get back into a situation again where we don’t have control of our economy and we gave all our wealth away in the good times and in the bad times, yet we’re not getting enough back,” he explained.
“We have to change this now so when the next crisis comes, we’re going to be well-prepared for it.”
A recent poll by the Buffalo Project among Angus Reid Forum members showed 75 per cent of Albertans and 72 per cent of Saskatchewan people are dissatisfied with their province’s treatment by the federal government.
