This is the final installment in the Priming the Pump series in lead up to the November 7 provincial election in Saskatchewan. Today we look at the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan or WIP.
The WIP is not the first Western Canadian separatist party in this province. The forerunner to the WIP was the Western Canada Concept or WCC party that contested the 1982 and 1986 provincial elections. The WCC fielded candidates in most constituencies in 1982 but failed to elect anyone. However many WCC candidates did finish third ahead of the Liberals. The party's strongest showing was in the rural seats south of the Trans Canada Highway; the WCC wave began about mid-election on the eastern side of the province, swept west to the Alberta border and began to fizzle out by election day. Thus the party's best showings were in the southwest rural seats, where 2 New Democrat MLAs managed to survive the 'Monday Night Massacre'.
In February 1986 two renegade PC MLAs joined the WCC, Bill Sveinson and Lloyd Hampton. Sveinson bolted from the PC party in 1983 and joined the Liberals. But in 1985 Sveinson was booted from the Liberals and convinced Hampton to join him in the WCC. Thus for a time the WCC was the Third Party in the Legislature. There was a controversy within the WCC at the time, since the Party Leader welcomed the new MLAs while the Party President did not. However both MLAs were shown the door before the next provincial election. Shortly after 1986 the WCC faded from the Saskatchewan political scene.
The WIP does not appear to share anything in common with the WCC, other than they both advocate the formation of a new nation in Western Canada. In fact the WIP has passed a resolution that supports the State of Israel to deliberately separate itself from the WCC. The WIP was formed on July 12, 2003 and ran 17 candidates in the subsequent election. None of the candidates were elected and the party 0.64% of the provincial vote. Just 8 candidates were chosen for the 2007 election and again no MLAs were elected.
The newest Leader of the WIP is Dana Arnason, and he will be running in the Biggar constituency this fall. It is not clear yet how many other candidates the party will run. At the present time there is no polling that has been done to indicate what kind of support there would be for the Western separation in Saskatchewan at this time. The WIP does not show up in public opinion polling so it is unlikely the party will make a big splash this fall. This party's identity is tied to the issue of Western separation and it is not an issue that is currently on the public radar screen. However if a future government in Ottawa were to make a move that alienates Westerners, support for a party like the WIP in Saskatchewan could explode overnight. The potential for a powerful Western Separatist movement in this part of the world always ripples just under the surface; it is always one insult from Ottawa away. However for now it appears such a movement lies dormant. At this point it appears unlikely that the Western-based Conservative government in Ottawa will come to alienate Westerners in the same way that the federal Liberals did.
1 comment:
I (and people more familiar with that era from our party) read your post and found it to be accurate with only one significant deviation, that the purpose of the Israel resolution was to distance the party from the WCC. I know this as I was the one that originally brought the motion forward as a member of the Board of Directors.
As Geert Wilders recently said in a speech, 'We stand with Israel. We love Israel. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel is part of our civilization.'
Anyone that cannot stand beside the only democracy in the ME is not welcome in the W.I.P. This resolution, approved at our AGM, made it clear to anyone wanting to participate in the WIP that while they had the right to say what they wanted, to speak under the banner of our party required a public commitment to democracy.
I stand with Israel and with Geert Wilders.
Dana
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