Saskatchewanians Most Willing To Join U.S.

Obviously western alienation is an important issue for Vive to cover.

The following is posted for fair use only; copyright remains with CP.

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Saskatchewanians most willing to join U.S.

By Dennis Bueckert -- The Canadian Press OTTAWA - The federal government was warned in late 2002 that Western Canadian alienation had reached disturbing levels just after Canada ratified the Kyoto environmental protocol, with almost one-quarter of Saskatchewan residents polled saying they wouldn't care if they joined the United States.

Research done 14 months ago by the Ekos polling firm, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information law, doesn't blame alienation on the Kyoto issue.

Ekos points instead to a sense among residents in almost all provinces that their interests and values are ignored in Ottawa.

''On the whole, western disaffection is a real issue which is somewhat inflamed, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan,'' said an analysis accompanying the poll.

Twenty-three per cent of Saskatchewanians said they would not be too concerned if their province joined the United States - more than in Alberta or Quebec, where 19 per cent in both those provinces expressed that view.

The poll found majority support for the climate treaty in all provinces except Alberta, where 50 per cent of respondents opposed the accord, compared with 41 per cent who supported it.

The poll may help explain why Prime Minister Paul Martin has made western concerns a key priority while moving cautiously on the Kyoto file. Although he criticized predecessor Jean Chrétien for lacking an implementation plan, Martin himself has not introduced one.

The sense of belonging to Canada among westerners has dropped sharply in the past decade, the Ekos study found.

As recently as 1995, between 94 and 97 per cent of those surveyed in the four western provinces voiced a strong sense of belonging to Canada.

That had declined to between 82 and 86 per cent at the time the Ekos poll was taken in December 2002.

The Ekos analysis said the federal government was left with ''a new and daunting'' national unity challenge: ''To address an additional layer of disaffection in the West which is rooted in a perception of both values and interest neglect.

''The potential for a widening of this Western disenchantment is ... a serious concern (although) the evidence suggests it is more a possibility than a likelihood.''

Note: 23% of Saskatechewanian... Saskatchewanians most w...