Enjoy this B.C. Day long weekend, 91原创 Islanders, because it could be one of your last.
After we have been getting along quite comfortably for 147 years as a vital part of the province, not one but two separatist groups have sprung up to advance the idea that 91原创 Island should go it alone.
These people are to be viewed with suspicion.
On the eve of B.C. Day, I stand proudly for the garish flag, the stoner reputation, subsidized bike paths and the sacred laid-back West Coast lifestyle (heavily supported by federal pensions). In the face of these upstart separatist notions, it鈥檚 never been more important to follow the Island mantra: Leave things alone, we like them just the way they are.
It鈥檚 particularly dubious that there are two separate bunches of separatists. If they can鈥檛 get together to agree on how to pull the province apart, how many breakaway groups will form to lead breakaways from the breakaways?
The Island could easily wind up as a balkanized string of semi-autonomous communes if this goes anywhere. We鈥檙e well down that road as it is. The capital region already boasts 13 separate municipalities.
The first out of the gate a few weeks ago was the Sovereign State of 91原创 Island movement. They got so exercised about a federal riding boundary change that splits the village of Cumberland down the middle they advanced their launch date.
The Nanaimo Daily News tracked them down in the midst of that argument. Two Conservative MPs objected to a boundary change that splits Courtenay down the middle, so they offered an alternative that splits Cumberland, instead.
SSVI, which was already planning to start an independence campaign, seized on the Cumberland solution and opened the campaign early. They cite federal 鈥渘eglect, intransigence and oversight鈥� and now want to bolt.
But if federal neglect were grounds for separation, everything west of Thunder Bay would have seceded ages ago.
Thankfully, the comments section of that newspaper reflect some common sense.
鈥淭hese people need to put their tinfoil hats back on.鈥�
鈥淗ow could 91原创 Island be its own country? Your primary export is illegal.鈥�
Another reader pointed out that half of Canada鈥檚 navy is floating in Esquimalt. That鈥檚 a good point to keep in mind. If things were to get ugly, it would take a lot more than sport-fishing boats and stand-up paddle boards to break away from Canada. Even if the submarines are useless.
The rival movement is somewhat milder, in that they only want to secede from B.C.
They have some hazy vision of 91原创 Island becoming a separate province of Canada.
Laurie Gourlay of the 91原创 Island Province movement has a pretty website and two petitions so far with 106 signatures on them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like reaching maturity,鈥� he told me. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the right time. You hit 21 and it鈥檚 time to leave home. You鈥檙e not saying you hate your parents, you just think it鈥檚 time to manage your own affairs.鈥�
But anyone watching the sewage-treatment debates knows that we鈥檙e still a few years and about $800 million away from that frame of mind.
The outfit is working toward a referendum in a few years and wants to see 91原创 Island declared a province by 2021.
The website is full of poetic observations about self-sufficient Island life and interesting historical facts. It鈥檚 got everything except a solid reason for breaking away from B.C.
Because there isn鈥檛 one. The Salish Sea gives the Island all the geographic separation it needs. For political separation, all people need to do is look at the election results.
There are only two government members on the entire Island. And the nearest one is 160 kilometres away from the legislature. We鈥檙e already safely separated from the threat of the provincial government doing anything on the Island. We just don鈥檛 realize it.
