A response to a post at The Line by Stewart Prest concerning the divisive nature of the conservative coalition in Canadian politics. Please follow the link below to read the original post at The Line.
Saskatchewan Premier Moe may reflect something of the ideological befuddlement besetting the political descendants of Old John Eh, as Moe recently asserted nationhood for Saskatchewan in a bid for more provincial autonomy.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-moe-autonomy-1.6242880
While provinces seeking more powers is nothing new, musings about being a "nation within a nation" may indicate how bereft the conservatives in Canada have become as Old John Eh's colonial vision crumbles around them. Pallister falls in Manitoba shouting defiance on behalf of all the colonial "builders" upon whose shoulders he stands. So Moe offers a 'coming out' moment for a nation trapped in the Confederation closet since 1905? Does Moe envision himself a modern day Louis Riel, believing he can invent a nation by mumbling something about it in a tweet? Is the nation of Saskatchewan about to rise and rally to the call of its visionary hero?
One might think that a premier of a province with half a dozen numbered treaties straddling its jurisdiction might be a tad more circumspect about pondering the relationship between autonomy and nationhood within Canada. Does Moe's pleading indicate he sees his Pallister-moment looming up before him, his hand reaching out to grasp a last desperate narcissistic vision? Beseeching Old John Eh to arise and lead us once more to the promised land? Blinders be bliss for true believers.
Like Kenney in Alberta seeking to open the constitution over equalization, Moe's mumblings may indicate a tribe running out of ideas. Not a visionary about to launch Canada on a new path to what D'Arcy McGee envisioned as a "new northern nationality".
https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/MIConfederationSeriesMcGeeF_Web.pdf
But a sad little political caricature about to descend into the dusty bin of destiny rallying only sighs of indifference? A final footnote to...nothing in particular.