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Effects Of The Alienation Of Western Provinces

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Western alienation is described as “a feeling of resentment by some inhabitants of western Canada against perceived favouritism by the national government towards the western provinces” (Collins, 2015). This alienation from the government can also be seen and demonstrated in the Senate, leading the growing western provinces to be underrepresented. The current system of allocating seats has not been significantly changed since confederation (Boyer, 2014).This has caused the alienation of provinces and discourse throughout regions due to the lack of considerable representation and recognition of distinct attributes and needs of provinces who are grouped together when they should be considered a region on it’s own (Boyer, 2014, 221-223). The …show more content…

The west accounts for approximately 24.6% of the entire Canadian population, with British Columbia accounting for 13% and Alberta accounting for 11.6%, with growth rates for western provinces exceeding 35% and rising (Statistics Canada, 2014). The diverse natural resources that British Columbia has alongside the oil richness and agriculturally sophistication Alberta has, it is apparent that both provinces have distinctions that can be separated from the other regions. Amalgamating these growing and distinct provinces into one region with limited number of seats to represent them, only lessens the representation that these economically important provinces can obtain. The alienation of western provinces in the Senate with the lack of representation for their concerns, further pushes the citizens away from their government making them develop distrust and confidence in officials who claim to be representing them (Lawson 2005, …show more content…

The Triple E Senate would be comprised of elected senators versus the unrepresentative appointment of individuals by the Prime Minister (Makarenko, 2006). An elected Senate would benefit the entire nation as it would allow different regions and provinces to choose exactly who would best represent their interests, versus the Prime Minister practicing political patronage. The triple E Senate would also permit, “greater equality in provincial representation, with a more equal distribution of Senate seats among provinces” (Makarenko, 2006). This change would substantially affect the representation within the provinces as more senatorial seats would be added to provinces rather than conjoining each province into regions. This reform option would also give Senators more effective legislative powers which could be used “to play a greater role in the federal legislative process” (Makarenko, 2006). All three components to the Triple E Senate proposal would produce a far superior representative Senate chamber that would touch upon the issue of regionality and inadequate representation

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