Western separation could be considered, says former politician

A former Saskatchewan politician thinks Western Canadian separation could happen soon.

Allan Kerpan, a former MLA for the Saskatchewan Party and MP for the Reform Party, thinks the federal government alienates the prairie provinces.

He’s been speaking at town-hall meetings as the spokesperson for the “Wexit” movement.

He told Drew Remenda that policies like the carbon tax fuel a desire for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to separate.

“It’s a whole host of issues,” he said. “It’s pipelines. It’s Bill C-69, which is going to put any oil or energy exploration on the shelf. It’s the tanker ban off the west coast to get our oil to tide water.”

He thinks a potential separation referendum depends on October’s federal election.

“I think if, on the 22nd of October, if Justin Trudeau is the prime minister, that’s going to be the spark that sets off the prairie fire,” Kerpan predicted.

He believes it would be better to have a stronger focus on provincial rights rather than to separate entirely.

“I prefer the term ‘independence,’ ” Kerpan said. “One thing I thought would have changed the way this Confederation works would be to have an equal, elected Senate.”

However, he still thinks a referendum would be the best way to achieve that type of change.

“You have to have a stick big enough and strong enough to wield over Confederation to make sure we get some level of better independence,” Kerpan said.