Scrolling through any Canadian newspaper or online source, one finds it difficult to avoid stories pertaining to the country’s issue with natural resources, be it the expansion of pipelines, advances in technology or which provinces benefit the most from revenue generated.
Almost on a daily basis, Canadians are fed news in an apparent “us versus them” scenario that has existed and will continue as the debates wage on in federal/provincial buildings and on the ground.
These headlines condemning or praising such natural resources like the oil sands, for example, are rooted back to Canada’s foundation, as author/journalist Mary Janigan has proved in her new book.
In the daringly titled, Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation, Janigan has explored this somewhat untapped history and its timely relevance to the issues that are as ever present as they were in the 1870s.
“All the way through the years of work on this book, we could not figure out a title,” Janigan said in an interview with the Outlook. “This was a bumper sticker in the West in the early 1970s, so my editor, who was a westerner, suggested we use it for the book.
“Then the subtitle was going to be some version of the West versus Ottawa, but the more I researched the more I realized it was the West versus the rest of Canada,” she added.
“The reason it was the rest of Canada is because the other provinces assumed they had bought the West and therefore owned the resources. If Ottawa tried to give resource control to the west, they wanted something too.”
Starting out with a 1918 Dominion conference in Ottawa between the premiers, including the “Gang of Three” that comprised Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the author meticulously explores Canada’s history and how the fight for resource control is traced back to Confederation.
“I discovered that resources were one of the main themes in Canadian history,” she explained. “Resources remain an equally strong theme that wind through Canadian history since Confederation.
“My story picks up just after Confederation when Ottawa bought, for 300,000 British pounds, Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson’s Bay Company and set out trying to settle it.”
Taking approximately four years to complete the book, Janigan pointed out that several revisions, on her own accord, were made as the history of Canada runs deep with stories and characters such as Louis Riel and Frederick Haultain, of great significance.
“I rewrote it multiple times at my own request,” she said. “I kept seeing more things and discovering more aspects of the story and I couldn’t stop.
“There are a lot of discoveries in this book,” she continued. “Everybody talks about Louis Riel as a folk hero. I discovered he was actually a very educated, accomplished man, at least in 1870. He talked about resource control being the most important provincial power. He was a very significant figure.
“The Northwestern Territory, under Frederick Haultain, tried to obtain resource control with no money, then two provinces are created and they struggle for 25 years to finally get control of their own lands, resources,” she added.
“That’s a story that hasn’t been drawn out as much. I think I did dig up some new facts, new documents and a new take on what’s feeding any tension today.”
Though the economic climate has changed for some provinces, particularly the Prairies, today’s top politicians, environmentalists and taxpayers still deal with tensions relating to the country’s natural resources.
However, according to Janigan, the history of the fight for resources between Ottawa and other provinces continues to repeat itself due to a lack of understanding on both sides of the equation.
“My theory is if you don’t know the past and this story of 60 years of inequality and the provincial fights… you’re doomed to repeat those mistakes again,” she said.
“It’s still there and what’s more, it infests generation after generation,” she added regarding the resentment held by some in either the West or the East. “I think it has become part of a regional identity.
“If you scratch the surface there is still a suspicion of Ottawa and what Ottawa does in terms of moving in on revenues or other controls.”
Concerning some recent matters involving the premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, objecting to Enbridge’s planned pipeline expansion to the Kitimat coast, the author noted that learning about the history of the issue is crucial.
“Clark was demanding a cut of Alberta’s resource revenue,” she said. “If she had understood or known the history, she would not have made those demands in that fashion because British Columbia was one of the big obstacles to the West getting resource control.
“They insisted on their immediate projects, such as the return of the railway land, before Alberta could get constitutional equality.”
Being that this is the author’s first foray into a published work of this length, Janigan said she is proud to bring this information to the public.
“Those 60 years were pivotal in forming the attitudes that prevail in Eastern Canada and British Columbia and prevail almost unconsciously in the West,” she said. “This history is not taught. You can see in Eastern Canada the notion that there is some entitlement to the West’s oil and gas, in term of revenue at the very least.
“I really hope people enjoy the saga,” she added. “It’s a terrific tale. I’m pleased I was able to bring the characters to life again. I’m really honoured and proud to do that.”
