Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Alberta separatists in the CPC?

Free Dominion describes itself as the 'Voice of Principled Conservatism' and contains a wide-range of Conservative opinion ranging from the centre-right to the far-right to the extreme far-right.

Anyway one of their more prolific posters, Psycho, makes a point that has been made all too glibly in Conservative circles in recent years (here):
Many of us in Alberta are working on our last federal campaign if the Liberals remain in power - we will be working on Alberta separation after January 23...
Hailey responds here:
I don't think that western separation is at all realistic. It's been talked about since the 1980s and they've yet to win a seat. Those who are separatists ALWAYS talk about wanting to separate and it's always right around the corner...blah, blah, blah.
and here:
What makes you so certain? Western separatism has been talked about for over 2 decades without any outcome. Not a single election of a MP.
Psycho responds here:
I am not sure how closely you are working with the local campaign in your riding but I am fairly positive 1/2 our campaign team will be working for separation after January 23 if the Liberals remain in power.
Hailey responds here:
I've heard that Rahim Jaffer has a significant number of western separatists working on his campaign and I quite believe that. That's Rahim. I've heard the same thing about Rajotte - not sure I am convinced though.
Should we take such rumours seriously? One might be sceptical.

But Psycho clearly self-identifies as a separatist, and speaks with some authority as an insider within his local constituency.

Nor is this a new story. Myron Thompson and Darrell Stinson, both Conservative MPs in the last parliament (Stinson has retired, Thompson is running for easy re-election), attended the founding convention of the Alberta Independence Party some years ago, Thompson making vague statements of support.

So, the question is how many such separatists are there working for the Conservatives in Alberta?

4 comments:

Jim (Progressive Right) said...

Should we take such rumours seriously? One might be sceptical.

One might be, because I generally don't find guys named 'Psycho' terribly reliable.

Jim Parrett said...

One can only wish. And perhaps Quebec will join them. Of course, Alabama and Texas have stayed in the USA and they hate the rest of the country. In all seriousness, are you kidding? Nothing will happen. We need Alberta. And Quebec for that matter. If for nothing else than a chuckle or two. Well, in the case of Alberta, a gulp or two. There doesn't seem to be much humour out there. Pretty serious folks, it seems.

Dan McKenzie said...

Any idea who this Psycho guy is campaigning for?

buckets said...

Goldring, apparently (see here)