The issue people have with that sentiment, is that the system does not allow certain change – and/or is designed to specifically prevent change.
For example, to get a constitutional change, you need to have 7 provinces, representing 50% of the population on board. In some cases, you need to get every province to agree, such as changing how the provinces are represented in the house. That’s in addition to getting the house/senate to approve, of course.
So if we’re talking about the referendum questions alberta listed that weren’t explicitly about separation, and instead about constitutional change to get more autonomy options for the provinces, it’s nearly impossible to achieve within the current system. Ontario represents ~40% of the country’s population, so they’d need either Ontario to agree, or practically every other province to get on board. BC’s got 14% of the population, so even with every province, if BC and Ontario say ‘nah’, it’s blocked. Quebec has 22% of the population, and has parties that explicitly demand hand outs for Quebec in addition to any law other provinces want to pass, because they generally hate Canada/federalism, so again, blocked most likely. If you’re trying to get more equitable representation for western provinces, the maritimes/quebec would block it, as they benefit from the west being under-represented (note: the only three provinces with fewer seats in the house than their % of the population, are Ontario, BC and Alberta).
If you’re trying to amend the distribution to get more equity for people out west, they need the people out east to agree to giving up their privilege. It’s not realistic that they’d do so, or that anyone would do so (if the west had leverage like that, I would not be at all surprised if the western leaders refused to be equitable to the east).
So the other more realistic option is to nope out of that system, and separate. Even just that threat, has gotten Quebec preferential treatment/perks from the fed – and it’s been implied that it’s why the fed was so gung ho for pipelines lately, in terms of Alberta making those sorts of threats. It’s sorta like the Women’s Suffrage movements to get women the vote from decades ago – men weren’t just going to suddenly ‘choose’ to be equitable, people had to start breaking shit/rebelling to get attention, and progress.
The issue people have with that sentiment, is that the system does not allow certain change – and/or is designed to specifically prevent change.
For example, to get a constitutional change, you need to have 7 provinces, representing 50% of the population on board. In some cases, you need to get every province to agree, such as changing how the provinces are represented in the house. That’s in addition to getting the house/senate to approve, of course.
So if we’re talking about the referendum questions alberta listed that weren’t explicitly about separation, and instead about constitutional change to get more autonomy options for the provinces, it’s nearly impossible to achieve within the current system. Ontario represents ~40% of the country’s population, so they’d need either Ontario to agree, or practically every other province to get on board. BC’s got 14% of the population, so even with every province, if BC and Ontario say ‘nah’, it’s blocked. Quebec has 22% of the population, and has parties that explicitly demand hand outs for Quebec in addition to any law other provinces want to pass, because they generally hate Canada/federalism, so again, blocked most likely. If you’re trying to get more equitable representation for western provinces, the maritimes/quebec would block it, as they benefit from the west being under-represented (note: the only three provinces with fewer seats in the house than their % of the population, are Ontario, BC and Alberta).
If you’re trying to amend the distribution to get more equity for people out west, they need the people out east to agree to giving up their privilege. It’s not realistic that they’d do so, or that anyone would do so (if the west had leverage like that, I would not be at all surprised if the western leaders refused to be equitable to the east).
So the other more realistic option is to nope out of that system, and separate. Even just that threat, has gotten Quebec preferential treatment/perks from the fed – and it’s been implied that it’s why the fed was so gung ho for pipelines lately, in terms of Alberta making those sorts of threats. It’s sorta like the Women’s Suffrage movements to get women the vote from decades ago – men weren’t just going to suddenly ‘choose’ to be equitable, people had to start breaking shit/rebelling to get attention, and progress.