Western Seperation

[cakadu]

Deb and others - you may be interested in a conference being held next week that is going to address where rural communities are going to be in 2015. It is called Roots and Wings and is sponsored by the Western Agri-Food Institute. You can find out more about it at:

www.westernagrifood.org

Who authored the book you refer to and where can one find it?

[cowman]

Deb: Is this a bad thing? That we are moving toward a union with the U.S.?Why wouldn't we want to be part of the greatest economy the world has ever known? Has NAFTA been good for the west? Does the CBC represent the Canadian public or the eastern power elite?
Do you realize without American capital and investment there never would have been an oil and gas industry in western Canada? The eastern banking system would not take a chance on what they considered too great of a risk! Do you realize without our American markets our agriculture industry would be belly up? Would you like to return to a time when everything we produced went east at whatever price they decided? And everthing we bought came from the east, again at whatever price they decided?
I have a bumper sticker on my truck that says it all "My Alberta doesn't include Canada!"

[Deb]

Writing Off the Rural West is edited by Roger Epp and Dave Whitson, published by the University of Alberta Press in 2001. Your local bookstore will order it for you if you can't find it.

[Deb]

I don't know where you've been, but the world is entirely pissed off at the U.S. and there's a bunch of nutcases in charge, ready to nuke the world. Bush and his government are made up of oil and munitions barons and they are using "terrorists" as an excuse to invade other countries. I don't want my son to go to war for oil corporations.

CBC represents all of Canada, that's why I listen to it all day. My relatives are spread across Canada and this helps me understand their needs and thoughts and CBC binds Canada together nicely. That eastern elite you despise so much is rapidly chopping up the CBC so you don't have to worry, soon there'll be no public broadcasting.

As for oil and gas, agriculture, and NAFTA, I'll never convince you that American takeover has left us horribly vulnerable and small oil producers, like small farmers, have been swallowed up by American corporate imperialism. The profits go south.

[cowman]

When you say the entire world is pissed off with the U.S. do you include our own government who are basically in lockstep with Bush? Or Tony Blairs' Britain? Why is it that the American public are squarely behind their leaders if they are a bunch of "nuts"? Are we so much more enlightened and morally right than our American neighbors?
Do you really believe the CBC is unbiased? Can you not detect a strong leftist bias? Why should we even have public broadcasting? Is it fair to the private companys trying to compete?
The truth of the matter in the oil and gas business is that it is an international business. There are big players from all over the world. And Deb there is not one thing stopping you from buying shares in American oil companys and getting your fair share of those profits! Would you be happier if the profits went down east to Bay Street? Or maybe to the old state-owned Petro Canada?
You need to realize that the whole idea of a socialist state has proven to be a complete failure. The American republic is the best system the world has. Not perfect...but still the best.

[Muttley]

It is easy for people to say the U.S.A. is pushing it's weight around the world. When there are nuts like terrorists or people like Saddam out there I'm very proud to be neighbors with the United States.
I feel that the U.S.A. could offer us more than the east can ever. Would I be willing to join the states as a country is not quite so clear to me yet. I think I would, but how much of my thinking is clouded by my hatred for our eastern government.

[Deb]

Americans are waking up from shock after 911 and wondering what is going on with their warmongering government that's eager to start invading more foreign countries. Read "Stupid White Men" by Michael Moore. It's #1 bestseller all over. By the fifth day of release, the book had gone into its 9th printing! Thousands of people are lining up to hear Michael Moore speak out.

You won't hear much from private media because their advertisers (corporate America) have them blackmailed into not questioning what George Bush, the oil industry, and the CIA are doing.

Canada is afraid to piss the U.S. off. Most of the free world is very, very dismayed at what the oil-backed U.S. government is contemplating.

I don't invest in the oil and gas industry because it causes air pollution through noxious gases and greenhouse gases as well.

That is false to say that social governments have all failed. Lots of countries like Denmark are doing just fine. Besides, as with any government, it is the character of the people who run it that counts as well as the character of the people behind the people who run it.

[cowman]

I have not read that book but I sure will!
I'm always a little concerned when people rip the oil and gas industry. I always wonder...Do you drive a car. Do you enjoy your computer, television, microwave, hot tub etc. All mostly powered by gas fired generators. And how about plastic? What would our world look like without plastic? I guess we could replace a lot of plastic products with wood...but then we have to consider the trees rights, too! Oil and gas have driven our economy in Alberta for many years. This is the industry that allows us(and a good portion of Canada, through our transfer payments) to have the affluent lifestyle we have. It is one of the few industries that allows a young person to make a decent living, without spending years/mega-dollars in extended(and often worthless) education.
I am always amazed how people have a tendency to bite the hand that feeds them!

[cakadu]

Deb, that Stupid White Men book sounds kind of intriguing and I will be sure to find it and read it.

Do you happen to have the ISBN number for the book - Writing off the Rural West? It's usually found on the back of the book and makes it much easier to track and order.

Thanks

[Deb]

Writing Off the Rural West's ISBN number is 0-88864-378-0 Enjoy!