The status quo

Separatism runs hand in hand with populism, mainly of the Right but not exclusively so. Separatism clearly implies that ‘we are separate from the other’ (whatever that is, but often mingled with racism). I’m not sure how much this applies to the province of Alberta in Canada, where there is a movement to hold a referendum on becoming an independent state. A roadblock to this plan are Treaty rights of the indigenous population which were agreed with the Crown before the province of Alberta was established. Legal arguments continue. Canada of course is not new to this game, reference Quebec. The thing now is to what extent Trump wants to interfere as a route to weakening Canada. If he knows any history (doubtful) he may recall that President de Gaulle made a high profile visit to Quebec when it was in the throes of separatist activism. Now, the circumstances may differ—de Gaulle after all was not seen as blithering senile idiot—but some people in Alberta see the separatist campaign as a route to great prosperity, which can only mean one thing: close alignment with the U.S. Whatever happens hopefully the same mistake will not be made as the U.K’s Brexit vote where a minority of the eligible electorate determined the outcome on the basis of a pack of lies. Anyone who is happy not to vote in an election should be classed as insufficiently unhappy with the status quo and unless convinced otherwise must count for the status quo.