Jared Wesley: Alberta's separatists are all hat, no cattle

The thing about cowboys is that they don't run away when things get hard.

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By: Jared Wesley

With Stampede upon us, the only thing louder than the Cowboys tent will be the sounds of fresh cowboy boot leather hitting the pavement.

You won’t find me doing the annual pilgrimage or donning the hat, buckle, and boots (my grandfather taught me well enough not to pose). But I have noticed separatist leaders are particularly fond of the costume.

Cowboy culture runs deep in this province, which is why separatists lean so hard into the imagery. Their memes, speeches, slogans, and stagecraft are full of campfire bravado. Ottawa is the black-hatted villain; Alberta, the heartland under siege.

But here’s what separatists get wrong about real cowboys like those in my family: they ride into the storm, they don’t tuck tail.

Real cowboys know that survival on the frontier was never a solo act. It takes showing up for each other when shit gets real. You don’t get everything you want all of the time. There is pride in some self-sacrifice to help those who need it more. You don’t pick fights, but you stick up for yourself and your kin when your honour and autonomy are threatened.

That is the sort of hard work and discipline Alberta separatists refuse.

They talk endlessly about courage, but their politics is built on retreat. Rather than form their own political party to contest elections and build popular support for their cause, they hold leadership hostage with wild threats. They’d rather deem all efforts hopeless than come up with constructive ideas to build a stronger province and a better country.

The separatist approach is like a scene from a bad Western. At one end of the saloon sits the belligerent codger, pounding his fist on the bar, muttering about conspiracies, convinced every setback is the work of some shadowy outsider. He has no plan to fortify the town and no interest in confronting the people who live down the trail. Few bother to ask him about his grievances, but those that do are met with angry fist-shaking.

Then comes the carpetbagging huckster, rolling into town with a freshly-pressed suit, polished grin, and a wagon full of miracle cures. Freedom is in the bottle, sovereignty is the tonic. All folks have to do is loan him their vote, ignore the fine print, and drink the elixir.

Strolling in last is the wily prospector, telling tall tales of treasure he’s sure we’ll all find if we all donate a few dollars and trust that the imaginary map he’s waving is real.

Separatist leaders like these three characters sell Albertans a mirage in which politics no longer requires compromise, negotiation, patience, or perseverance. They promise a place where Albertans can finally be surrounded only by people who agree with them, governed only by people who flatter them, and protected from the hard realities of living in a big, diverse country.

Consensus-building in Canada is hard because it requires living with people who see the world differently. It is much easier to declare the whole project broken, blame shady outsiders, and head for the hills.

But Alberta was not built by people who looked at adversity and said, “Let’s quit.” It was built by people who endured bad seasons, bad markets, bad governments, bad luck, and bad neighbours, then got up the next morning and went back to work. They didn’t sit back and take it. They argued, organized, adapted, traded, voted, rebuilt, and kept riding.

People like Stephen Harper, Ralph Klein, Peter Lougheed, and Ernest Manning.

They chose every day to lead, not leave.

They built alliances and persuaded their neighbours of a better way. Sometimes built fences when disagreements were insurmountable. But they got ‘er done. And they still do.

So let the separatist cowboys have their costumes. Let them pound the bar, or promise miracle cures or gold beyond the next hill.

We have a phrase for that in my family: all hat, no cattle.

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