When Barry Cooper was six years old, he and his mother were stopped at a level crossing while a train passed.
asserted
train → stop → crossing
“There goes the goddamn-CPR,” he chirped.
asserted
he → go → ?
His mother reached into the back seat and slapped him.
asserted
mother → reach → him
, she said.
asserted
she → say → ?
He thought goddamn-CPR was just what the company was called.
asserted
company → think → what
Growing up in the Western Canada of the early 1950s, he’d only ever known the railway as a source of bitter resentment.
asserted
he → grow → resentment
Freight rates designed to help business in the east meant that it was cheaper for the Coopers to buy apples from Nova Scotia than the nearby Okanagan.
asserted
Coopers → design → Okanagan
The goddamn-CPR, with its headquarters near Montreal’s Golden Square Mile, represented the almost colonial arrogance of the Laurentian elites, who seemed to view Alberta and Saskatchewan as provinces “in the Roman sense” – breadbaskets to be exploited and kept passive.
asserted
who → represent → sense
As a child, Barry may not have reached for that classical allusion, but it comes to his lips easily now, at the age of 83, sitting in his office at the University of Calgary department of political science.
uncertain
it → reach → science
All these years later, Prof. Cooper has emerged as the intellectual godfather of the Alberta separatist movement.
asserted
Cooper → emerge → movement
His mother’s slap didn’t have the desired effect: He has continued to blaspheme against Canada’s sacred institutions, from equalization payments to official bilingualism to Confederation itself.
asserted
He → have → Confederation
For the West, and especially for Alberta, the Canadian federation has been a terrible misadventure, Prof. Cooper believes.
asserted
Cooper → believe → Alberta
“One hundred and twenty years of history have been 120 years of economic exploitation,” he said in his dimly lit office, decorated with taxidermied deer and pheasant, during a long interview this summer.
asserted
he → say → interview
Few separatists have so many copies of Virgil and Thucydides in their libraries, but a significant percentage of Albertans share Prof. Cooper’s worldview.
asserted
percentage → have → worldview
The province is about to embark on its first independence referendum, of sorts – really a vote about holding a vote on independence.
asserted
province → embark → independence
Leaving Canada is effectively on the ballot in not one but two provinces.
asserted
Leaving → leave → provinces
Alberta’s referendum will come just two weeks after a provincial election in Quebec on Oct. 5, where the Parti Québécois is leading the polls with a promise to hold a third “popular consultation” on independence.
asserted
Québécois → come → independence
They see national unity being attacked from within at the most dangerous time, when American threats to our sovereignty have bred existential anxiety about our closest neighbour as well.
asserted
threats → see → neighbour
It can seem like Canada is battling for survival on three fronts, apparently out of nowhere.
asserted
Canada → seem → fronts
The anger and alienation endangering Confederation run centuries deep.
asserted
anger → endanger → Confederation
Canada has too much geography for it to be otherwise: With population and resources scattered across an expanse of 5,500 kilometres as if by some spiteful Greek god, and more languages than the Habsburg Empire, it is no wonder we have always had separatist movements.
asserted
we → have → movements
The reassuring news for federalists is that the current separatist fever may be breaking.
uncertain
fever → break → federalists
The same upsurge in elbows-up patriotism that has rallied Canadians against the American threat has the potential to undermine the drives for secession in Alberta and Quebec.
asserted
that → rally → Alberta
But this is not an argument for complacency: Support for independence in both provinces hovers around 30 per cent.
asserted
Support → hover → cent
If that sounds high, it has become the norm in Wild Rose country and is well below average in la belle province.
asserted
it → sound → province
In the future, these movements could flare up again, more severely than before.
uncertain
movements → flare → future
From the beginning, from Victoria to St. John’s, the virtues of coming together as a country were far from obvious.
asserted
virtues → come → country
Nova Scotia was dragged into the Dominion reluctantly; separatists dominated the first provincial legislature in Halifax.
asserted
separatists → drag → Halifax
Many British Columbians wanted to leave when the pace of railway construction slowed.
asserted
pace → want → construction
Manitoban farmers threatened to break away partly because of, yes, CPR freight rates.
asserted
farmers → threaten → rates
Alberta, too, was born angry – a baby with teeth.
asserted
Alberta → bear → teeth
Carved out of the former North-West Territories in 1905, some of its leaders hoped to remain conjoined with Saskatchewan in a bigger province, to be called Buffalo.
asserted
some → carve → province
The federal government rejected the idea – it had a vision of the West as an inland empire, supplying grain for the rest of the country and a captive market for Central Canadian manufacturers.
asserted
it → reject → manufacturers
Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were denied control of their natural resources, unlike other provinces, a power grab that was only reversed in 1930.
asserted
that → deny → 1930
Newspapers such as the Calgary Herald raged against Ottawa’s treatment of the West from the beginning.
asserted
Newspapers → rag → beginning
“Can Albertans be forced to eat dirt and say they like it?” one editorial thundered.
asserted
editorial → force → it
The first book floating the idea of Alberta independence was published as early as 1911.
asserted
book → float → 1911
Alberta was developing its own identity, influenced by American immigrants who constituted the largest group of newcomers.
asserted
who → develop → newcomers
“The Yankee province” was recognized for its swaggering, democratic personality and its entrepreneurial spirit.
asserted
province → recognize → personality
It was the U.S. promoter Guy Weadick who organized the first Calgary Stampede in 1912, an enduring embodiment of that culture.
asserted
who → organize → culture
…and 138 more, not listed.
The Aporia
