No, not them. The ones out west.

The amusing thing is that the Canadian military is so ineffectual right now, that there's nothing Ottawa could do about it, and it's unlikely that they'd be able to raise an army to do so, given the prevailing attitudes. It could cause a cascade in which most or all of the western provinces break off.

Heh, that's Ott-A-wa. I probably wouldn't care too much, but I live here (there?).

And I sympathize with the writer of that article... but as a citizen of Ontario I should also point out that Ontario is not Alberta's enemy, but rather perhaps their best friend in Canada. For everything he mentioned, he has the Federal Liberal party to thank for. And yes I hate them too. But if he looks at the actions of Ontario's ruling party, The Progressive Conservatives, you'll find our premier Eves walks hand in hand with his preimier Klein. Both are violenty opposed to Kyoto, I saw Chris Stockwell tear it up in the legislature with my own eyes.

Ontario, like Alberta, is a have province that pays INTO the national coffers, instead of withdrawing like so many other provinces. We're both UNDER-represented population-wise in the Commons/Senate in comparison to other provinces.

Anyways, my 2 Canadian cents, and I have to stick up for my city (its spelling anyway) and my province.

Sorry about that. Fixed.

Why would we want to send an army into western Canada?

Well, if you don't want to keep it in the fold, I guess you wouldn't. It would be a different ending than when it happened in the US about a hundred forty years ago, though...

Hey, we'll take the mountain provinces. I hear the hunting's pretty good.

Eh, it's hardly like they're engaging in crimes against humanity now, or like they would be. Absent a casus belli like that, why wouldn't we let them secede?

Why didn't Lincoln let the South secede?

Perhaps because you don't want your country to fall apart? If you don't care, it's certainly fine by me.

Question for Rand. If the south wanted to secede tomorrow, and a vast majority of the population of those states were determined on leaving the union. Do you think the Federal Government would send troops to force them to stay?

50 point follow up question. Do you think the currently cash-strapped undermanned Canadian military could force the Western Provinces to stay if they didn't want to? Or would they just splinter? Would the US get involved at all?