I didn’t understand western alienation until I moved to Ontario. I grew up lefty: we marched in anti-poverty rallies, I worked as a constituency assistant for Dr Raj Pannu. I hated Alberta’s Big C conservatism. But I moved east+met the small c conservative hegemony of Ontario.
By and large, settlers out here are deeply incurious about Alberta. They believe whatever is reported in dominant media. They are not well versed in prairie issues+much like Canada assuming being slightly better than the US is good enough, Ontario exceltionalism hides many sins.
When they do select someone to become voice of Alberta in media, it’s often someone who moved there in last decade. Alberta is a messy, complicated, white supremacist colonial place. But so is every inch of settler Canada. And hegemony of central Canada erases nuances elsewhere.
A lot of Toronto media outlets write sensationalist pieces about Alberta but they don’t dig deeper. I am a third generation Albertan on my settler side+I have Indigenous ancestors from the prairies who have lived in those territories much longer. I love Alberta with every cell.
Alberta deserves critique. It deserves pushback. But Ontario/Quebec power centres don’t get to rest on their laurels. The settler institutions out here are every bit as racist, corrupt, and in some ways even more insidious because they have perfected ‘settlers moves to innocence’
All I ask is that folks in other provinces cultivate more curiousity about Alberta stories you are not hearing in the media. About the Raging Grannies showing up at every protest for decades. About community groups rallying to support folks after Klein slashed social programs.
Also, what expertise can folks fighting oil+gas hegemonies in Alberta offer to folks in other jurisdictions? I’m serious. Folks in Alberta have been organizing, disrupting, publishing! (Look up Kevin Taft) & surviving in these conditions for decades. We have skills to share.
Lefty Albertans resisted con gov’ts for 40+ years to make 2015 NDP win possible. Aren’t Ontarians even slightest bit curious about how you sustain resistance for that long? Build community? Keep one another going? If Kenney thinks Albertans will roll over, he’s in for a shock.
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