Time for Alberta to exit, stage right?

[Maple]

Alberta, he says, should go it alone.

Almost overnight, we would become one of the most prosperous nations in the world.

But -- and this is his key point -- the main reason to secede is not because Albertans would have more money. Not that there's anything wrong with money.

More importantly, we would create a country that reflects our own political and social beliefs, values and traditions, and our understanding of the common good.

Canada, says Craig, has been so badly governed since the Trudeau era, it has doomed itself to a Third World, banana republic fate.

We will become -- are in fact becoming -- the Argentina of the 21st century.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Link_Byfield/2005/07/09/1123621.html

[jeff30997]

1. Sigh !

I envy the Sudanese,the Ethiopians and the peoples living in favelas in Brazil.

[Maple]

2. The Cons are always

such victims aren't they? Soooo hard done by.

[getmeouttahere]

3. You wouldn't be a Hip fan, would you Maple?

[getmeouttahere]

4. I suppose they want to become part of the US?

I'd bet a sovereignty referendum wouldn't pass there, either!

[Maple]

7. Probably not

There are maybe 12 real separatists in the province. The rest is coffee shop talk.

Cons believe everyone thinks like they do...even after all the election losses.

[getmeouttahere]

10. Just what I suspected.....

lot of talk

[Maple]

5. 'Blow at high dough?' Yes

but my name comes from the trees and the flag. :D

[getmeouttahere]

9. I asked because Day for Night is my second favorite album...

behind Fully Completely

[fudge stripe cookays]

17. Me too!

:-)

FSC,
future Canadian

[getmeouttahere]

6. Also, last time I checked....

Canada had a budget surplus, its dollar had improved 18 cents against the US dollar in the last 2 years or so, and each year it is ranked in the top 3 in the world in standard of living...yeah, that sounds like a third world country all right!!! Yeeeesssshhh!!!

[Spazito]

8. The Byfield family including Ted and Link, who the hell would

name their child Link???, are sooooo yesterdays news. They would whine if the typeset was too small, too big, too black, etc. I bet he had to search far and wide to find just the 'right' professor to espouse exactly what the 'Ted and Link' combo thought.

The Calgary Sun is a piece of trash, spewing garbage to an ever waning audience, with every diminishing hope for western separation,imo.

[getmeouttahere]

11. Hey Spazito! Long time....

Isn't the Calgary Sun one of Conrad Black's rags? I stopped reading CANOE a few months ago, when I kept seeing too much right wing propoganda.

BTW, in which province do you live?

[Spazito]

13. Hey, getmeouttahere, I have been away for a bit so...

am trying to catch up on the latest here. I live in B.C., la-la land, lol. We tend to elect the most bizarre politicians here and our record, so far, is unbeatable although Ralph Klein and Alberta are competing for the title albeit for different reasons, rofl.

[achtung_circus]

12. Sigh.

Although I was born and raised in Ontario and am now living here again, I have spent the bulk of my life in Alberta.

There are several Albertas. The one that the Byfields live in is a dream world of Texas north. Their fundamentalist beliefs play in a small part of the province, the south, especially the Cardston Area.

But even there, they aren't radical enough, Social Credit, in its latest warped morph is strong.

In the rest of the province, however, there is no more than a small but vocal minority who would agree. Interestingly, a study by Environics places Alberta as the most "conservative" part of Canada, but ranks Alberta more "liberal" than the Northeast United States.

The Calgary Sun doesn't particularly care what they print- most of its clientele are buying the paper for the Sunshine Girl.



This is not a Sunshine Girl, but I needed some excuse to post this image and this is the best I could do.

[Spazito]

14. LOL, your post is sooo on point!

Alberta is, like most provinces, made up of many parts albeit more conservative than the rest of Canada in comparison. My adult children live in and around Edmonton, the liberal (small L) oasis of Alberta and feel somewhat surrounded by 'the enemy'. I keep telling them they are still way safer than dealing with the Texas version of the right wing, lol.

[AlwaysQuestion]

15. Byfields - so they're still around, eh? Menacing types they are

.....and this professor.....just who made him spokesperson for Albertans? Where does this yahoo hail from originally anyway? He writes pure tripe--little wonder he's been having trouble rounding up a publisher for his pennings. What an oily little man. If he's representative of the teaching staff at U of A, you'd better steer your kids to another university. We need more progressive types teaching our kids to think, not a neanderathal harping on about Canada's military past.

[iverglas]

16. google "Leon Craig" (professor *emeritus*)

First thing up at google.ca / Canadian pages:

http://www.realwomenca.com/newsletter/1998_May_Jun/article_10.html

THE CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN IN HISTORY
and
WOMEN'S PART IN ENCOURAGING VIRTUE IN MEN
By Dr. Leon Craig
Professor of Philosophy ,University of Alberta
Summary of Talk

Dr. Leon Craig, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alberta, addressed the REAL Women of Canada national conference participants, as well as the AFWUF banquet later that evening.

Dr. Craig's conference presentation topic was, "The Changing Role of Women in History", a subject about which he is well versed. The author of a book on history, with a second one nearly complete, he explored the portrayal of strong women in the classics, as written by Socrates, Aristophanes, Aristotle and Shakespeare. ...

Whoo, the author of A book on history.

Dr. Craig's evening topic was, "Women's Part in Encouraging Virtue in Men". He began by exploring the ramifications of living in our so-called "enlightened" times in regard to education, child rearing, the criminal justice system and marriage, while focussing on the role of the sexes.

"What we understood to be correct regarding all such matters has undergone a major transformation. These changes have come about largely at the insistence of women -- or some women: those we've come to know as feminists (and has there ever been a more ironic name?)" He went on to say, "Now, how is this new enlightened view on the sexes working out? Well, so far as I can tell, general relations between the sexes have never been worse, at least in the half-century of my lifetime: the suspicion, the cynicism, the distrust, the resentment, the lack of mutual respect and goodwill, the outright ill will, the friction in the home and workplace have never been greater -- and not only between the sexes, but within each sex. Most young people still look for, hope for, a satisfying relationship with someone of the opposite sex, but they are less confident than ever as to how to go about finding one."

Alberta's where they have the dinosaurs, right?

It's important to remember that the Byfields aren't just generically right-wing, they're specifically and extremely anti-choice. They're intimate with at least one of the most virulent of the anti-choice brigade in the US, David Reardon.

Huh, there's a Byfield I didn't know about -- Joanne, described on one site as a "lively, little lady", the president of "Life Canada".

Academically, Craig has his fans ... and critics:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.ca/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=30032

Perhaps another illustration of the dangers of letting USAmericans influence our universities?
http://www.publicscience.usask.ca/PDFs/PSProgram_final.pdf

Professor Leon Craig is currently a Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He received his BA fromWashington and his PhD from Illinois.

For some Craig on "Iraq and Hegemony", see:
http://www.inroadsjournal.ca/pdfs/Inroads_14_Iraq.pdf
google cached html version

But heck, we could have guessed all that ...