Posted on 02/02/2019 10:30:56 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Alberta as our 51st state is not as far-fetched as it sounds at first blush. The idea was written about by Peter Zeihan in Accidental Superpower (2014) and recently broached by Holman Jenkins, Jr. in no less than the Wall Street Journal. Before diving into the politics and practicality of a Alberta leaving Canada, let's first review some background to see why such a traumatic event could even be considered.
Unlike the U.S., which is netted together with the world's best river system and a favorable geography and climate, Canada is the opposite. Zeihan shows that three barriers split Canada into five largely autonomous regions. They are the Rocky Mountains, the Canadian Shield, and the St. Lawrence River. He says:
Geographically, Canada just isn't a unified entity, and that's without even considering its more publicly discussed challenges such as the Anglophone-Francophone divide or the country's confederal political system, or that because of cold climate most of the Canadian landmass is simply too inhospitable to support a large population, condemning everyone to live on the country's extreme southern fringe.
This makes Canada inherently unstable and unwieldy from both a political and a geographic point of view.
In two significant ways, Alberta is unlike the rest of Canada. First, Alberta is energy-rich. Thanks to a several-decade-old energy boom, Alberta has a high per capita income. This results in the central government in Ottawa sucking taxes out of Alberta. For every dollar Alberta sends to Ottawa, it gets back only about 65 cents in return. This means that Albertans pay $21.8 billion more in taxes than they get back. And it is the aging population of Quebec that benefits the most from this income transfer.
To make matters worse, neighboring provinces have blocked landlocked Alberta from building pipelines for its oil and gas.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
2) Alberta's population is getting younger, more highly skilled and better-paid. As the demographic and financial disconnect between Alberta and the rest of Canada grows, these younger, more highly skilled, and better-paid Albertans will be forced to pay ever higher volumes of taxes to Ottawa to compensate for increasingly older, less skilled, and lower income Canadians elsewhere in the country.
The core issue is pretty simple. While Quebecois – and to a slightly lesser degree the rest of Canada – now need Alberta to maintain their standard of living, the Albertans now need not to be part of Canada in order to maintain theirs.
3) Unlike, say, Puerto Rico, which is (and will continue to be) a welfare state and where Spanish is the native language, Alberta is vibrant, wealthy in energy, and English-speaking. Culturally, Alberta is more in sync with America than is Puerto Rico. As a state, Zeihan claims that Alberta would be per capita the richest. Some will say Democrats would object to adding a "white" state to the Union. Yes, but this knee-jerk racism of the Democrats could be placated by the prospect of having more tax revenue flow into Washington.
If California would like to secede,I’d gladly trade her for Alberta.
What would we do with all those kangaroos?
Surely you jest! :)
Finally America could be maple syrup independent.
How about we take Alberta and give Puerto Rico to Canada?
Sounds like win/win to me!
Hood idea
And don’t call him/her shirley.
I'm sure the rest of the state, minus the clowns in Albany, would be glad to be free of the yoke.
feed them to the hyenas of course
Trade California for Alberta.
MAGA - Make Alberta Great Again!
And the Boa Restricters.....they have a load of those.
While it looks good on paper, don’t expect Albertans to vote for it right away.
The “separation vote” percentage in Alberta has never gotten above 20% ... most people here are patriotic and aren’t ready to give up on Canada yet, we just freaking hate Justin Trudeau and his band of bleeding-heart idiots
(BTW I live in Calgary)
I have some Shirttail Relatives who live in Alberta.
I also have some Shirthead Relatives who live in Minnesota.
Believe it or not, you're likely to find stronger opposition to the idea of joining the U.S. in Alberta than in most other provinces in Canada. The rationale for this is simple: As bad as it is for them in Canada now, they know it would be far, far worse if they had to deal with a swamp-infested den of corruption known as the U.S. Federal government. Ottawa is a bunch of crooked bureaucrats, but they're feckless and often inept. Washington is far, far worse.
I see the problem for the socialists being 2 senators and 6 Representatives that likely would be republicans. - tom
And that's why the Canadian government will never let Alberta secede. It's the golden goose, the gravy train, the pot o'gold. They can't let it go or they'd have to earn their own money.
I doubt Albertans would want to send their wealth to Washington any better than to Ottawa.
And as far as making it a 51st state? Fuggedaboutit.
Ain’t happening with the Democrats no more than Puerto Rico is feasible with the Republicans.
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
- - Steely Dan "Black Friday"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.