Albexit is a bad risk to take
On youth activities, fire alarms, and what it says about consistent execution that there's a serious effort afoot to get Alberta out of Canada
Whether Alberta should remain part of Canada indefinitely is a question best left to the people of the province. Self-determination shouldn’t just be an empty virtue that we praise because it sounds right.
■ The fact it has gotten as far as a referendum to be conducted later this year (technically, a referendum on whether to hold a binding referendum) is a troubling sign that all is not well.
■ No state, province, or region should be run with one foot already out the door. So many things are bound up in reasonable expectations of the continuity of the law, among other things, that even contemplating an exit from national union ought to be reserved for true “Break glass in case of fire” kinds of moments.
■ On the other hand, even though threats of secession ought to be so imposisbly rare that no one would even think of them, anyone running a national-level government ought to be hounded constantly by the thought that they could, in fact, lose it all.
■ In a youth organization, absolutely nothing does more to determine the health of the group than program quality. Parents will look past all sorts of shortcomings in promotions, communications, or recruiting, if their kids are always excited about attending Sunday school, youth choir, or Cub Scouts.
■ Likewise, a government that consistently attends to the priorities of voters, no matter how dull or seemingly inconsequential, has a fighting chance at remaining in office. Resentments big enough to rile up a whole province of people, in numbers large enough to call a referendum on whether to stay, do not just emerge overnight.