Political Factors Of Western Alienation

Western Alienation is a term used to describe the isolation and alienation sensed by the western provinces from the Central Canada and the Federal government. Based on the claims by the Western Alienation ideology, the four western provinces- British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba- have been politically underrepresented, and economically less favoured, more significantly compared to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. There are three major factors which have contributed to the overall dissatisfaction of the western provinces: Political factors, geographic factors and economic factors. The political factors include the low representation of the western provinces in the federal government, and the claim that the federal politics are predominantly decided by the Eastern Canadian politicians. Geographic factors can be traced back to the early days of the settlement of Canada. The first permanent French settlements were located in southern Ontario and Quebec and the western Canada was too far away from the population centers of the time. And the economic factors including, equalization payments and the introduction of National Energy Program have caused contributed to the resource rich provinces of the west especially …show more content…
This paper will examine each of the three major factors contributing to the Western Alienation in great detail throughout the history and the current state of the Western Alienation in