Conservatives, Firewallers and Hypocrites.

Conservatives (both large and small “c”) never cease to amaze me. While listening to CBC AM the other day I heard proponents of the so-called “firewall” for around Alberta. They claim, that by pushing Ottawa out of areas that the Alberta provincial government has constitutional authority, such as health and policing. I bring the conservatives into this as the people who propose the firewall are almost exclusively conservative if not Conservative. Their sense of frustration with the rest of the country not agreeing with their views is the cause of this need for more distance (philosophically) from the central government. They claim that the federal government is ignoring the “majority”, read people who think like the conservatives (despite the fact that they pull less votes than their main opposition, let alone the other left leaning parties) and that we need to pull out of confederation to some extent to fix this. After all, the people of Alberta keep voting the correct way.

They also feel that Alberta is getting a bad deal out of Confederation since more money leaves the province than returns through federal transfers. By pulling away from Confederation, they feel it will send a message to Ottawa and the rest of Canada about this.

This is where the hypocrite comes in. The conservative firewaller does not see what\'s good for the goose is good for the gander. For example, the firewaller\'s frustration with Ottawa is the same frustration that the 55% of Albertans who didn\'t vote for the Klein Conservatives feel every day when trying to deal with that government. The firewaller just doesn\'t see that as a problem since they tend to agree with the government in Edmonton on policy issues. That this same government is doing to the majority of non-Conservative Albertans is the same thing that the federal government is doing to conservative Albertans is irrelevant to the firewaller.

Another fact that the firewaller conviently ignores is that until oil was discovered, Alberta was a have-not province. In fact, during the thirties, Alberta became the ONLY province to default on a government bond issue. The rest of the country gave to help then, a fact the firewaller ignores. They seem to have a “screw everyone else, as long as I win” attitude, which does nothing to foster community within the province, let alone the country. This is counter to the “family values” spiel these people tend to spout off with as well.

This is my main frustration with these people, that the concessions and reforms they demand from Ottawa they aren\'t willing to apply here at home. It\'s almost a “look at the wookie” response for them, if they can make people look at the flaws with Ottawa, that we won\'t see the warts on our own noses.