Sun, December 15, 2002

By DAVID SANDS, Sun Media

Premier Ralph Klein expects an uprising on the right to lead a charge for Alberta's separation from Canada.

"There are enough people who are frustrated to form a political party, but I just don't know what they are going to do, other than to mount a movement for separation," Klein told The Sun. "And yes, I am concerned about it."

Voices in favour of Alberta leaving Canada are rising, the premier said.

"I know there are people out there who want to separate. I was listening to a radio show just the other day and there was caller after caller saying, 'We should separate. We've had enough.

" 'We're being ignored, we don't count in Canada. Not only as it relates to Kyoto but the Canadian Wheat Board, gun registration, senate reform, you name it. All we do is give and give and get nothing back,' " Klein said. "I understand that frustration, and I feel the same way. But there's still hope."

Movement by Ottawa on Alberta's continuing complaints is needed, the premier said, or even some provincial Tory supporters will turn their backs on the party because it hasn't had any effect.

Alan Cruikshank, deputy leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party, said Klein is dead right.

"We are trying as a party to keep our noses clean - we haven't taken any position on separation. But we are finding that many of our members are supportive of independence," Cruikshank said.

And, he added, a burgeoning movement in that direction may not be a bad thing.

"In the past, parties that have taken a more extreme position than the Tories on things like separation have often caused the central government to take more notice of Alberta's needs. It indirectly results in a way Albertans can apply political leverage."

Peter McCormick, a political scientist at the University of Lethbridge, said it's unlikely a separatist party would have much success in Alberta's current political climate.

McCormick said the Canadian Alliance on the federal scene and the Progressive Conservatives on the provincial scene both have had recent successes.

"Why would you go for another political party?" McCormick asked.

The Alliance has had the cost of the gun control registry revealed in the House of Commons, while the Alberta PCs have kept fighting the ratification of the Kyoto accord.

"It's the easiest thing on earth to form a political party. It's the hardest thing on earth to get enough votes," said McCormick.

McCormick said it never hurts in a province to have a separatist vein, even with "vague threats" of leaving Confederation, to make other governments take you more seriously.

"It's less likely we would be taken for granted," he said.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 2002