Alberta Alienation

An Alberta MLA committee looking at a renewed role for Alberta in Confederation will be able to give Prime Minister Paul Martin plenty of food for thought on the problem of western alienation in Canada. The Committee on Strengthening Alberta's Role in Confederation is asking Albertans about the current state of relations between Alberta and the federal government, and how Alberta should go about taking a leadership role in Canadian federal-provincial relations.

Canadian Press reports that high on the list of Albertans' complaints about the federal government is the federal gun registry program. There also seems to be some support for the province taking more control of matters within its jurisdiction, including having an Alberta police force, an Alberta pension plan, collecting its own taxes, senate reform and opting out of the Canada Health Act.

The committee is due to report by June 2004.
More: Province of Alberta