This Ontarian understands Western alienation

I was born in Vancouver and lived there for the first four years of my life before I moved to Ontario. Whenever I feel the need to show Western credentials, I laughingly pretend that these formative first years give me enough ‘cred’.

The rest of the truth is that I’ve lived most of the rest of my life so far in the province of Ontario. I joked with a friend out West today that being a Conservative in Ontario shows that by not being a Liberal by default in this province, my type is serious about bringing change in the province and to the rest of Canada.

Anyways, to my friends out West (many of whom I haven’t met yet), I understand what you’re going through because I read it today in the Globe and Mail.

Take a look at this article and, if you’re from Ontario (and not a twit driven by a false sense of entitlement), you’d be likely to empathize with the alienation that Westerners are feeling.

I’ll cut right to the worst of it:

Alberta’s energy riches are propelling its surplus toward $7-billion, raising questions about how the province will use its windfall while not creating jealousy among the country’s cash-strapped provinces.

“there are concerns about how the Ralph Klein Conservatives will use the riches

However, if the wealth is largely hoarded by Albertans, [Gibbins] predicts there could be national consequences.

“That guy in downtown Toronto who is pumping $1.10 litre gas into his car is going to react quite differently,” Mr. Gibbins warned. “He is going to make an argument that something is fundamentally wrong.”

Seriously, who writes this way and gets away with it? Apparently Patrick Brethour and Katherine Harding, that’s who. They win the biased media prize of the day.