If I recall, I think it was at least partly a product of the extreme poverty of the place at the time. In other words, if you could afford glasses, chances were you were a teacher, a clerk, a business person, a government official, somebody with education, etc. And some of the Khmer Rouge had that extreme Maoist belief that anyone who had received an education had been contaminated by capitalist ideas (conveniently, the Khmer Rouge leadership who were university educated in Paris were exempted from this consideration). It was that whole idealization of peasant collectivism thing.

Really Orson this is a moot point – being 'supportive" or 'friendly." Anyone who has tried to rock that boat in AB has found out pretty quick what the limits of democratic tolerance are…be they dissenting farmer, or engaged environmentalist.

The only thing i can dispute is Trudeau's anti-Americanism. I don't think it was anywhere near that simple. If you read English's bio it becomes plain that heading to Harvard is precisely what pulled him out of the cauldron of parochial Quebec politics and culture. Before that he was certainly anti -anglo. Harvard was the making of him. It became evident later on that he admired a good deal of their political and cultural achievements. Trudeau was no simple anti-American…but he was most certainly a Canadian nationalist….for which he has my undying respect…despite his many flaws.

Iggy wasn't in the video because he was somewhere near Wagga-Doogoo in the Spanish Sahara.

AC did have an intriguing tushie back then. Harper was a few pound lighter.

lol

The Russian's want in too?

Not to speak for Neil, but isn't the relevant point that the auto bailouts were championed by, among other people, leading Ontario politicians, including Premier McGuinty? Yes, the money went to those corporations, but seeing as their Canadian manufacturing operations are overwhelmingly (pretty much exclusively) confined to Southern Ontario and Quebec, it amounts to massive government largesse bestowed upon Ontario.

Re the Suncor, Husky et al. references, I'm genuinely curious: did those companies require bailing out by Ottawa? Has our federal government given them billions?

I am that ignorant of current affairs.

Yes.

But hasn't the counterpoint to that been that Ontario has always received something in exchange for, or to warrant, its fealty to Ottawa — namely, political power and influence in Ottawa. Historically, Ontario has typically always had lots and lots of government-side federal MPs and cabinet ministers to ensure that its interests were represented in Ottawa. Not necessarily so for the West, particularly Alberta.

Understood, and Coyne's point about MPs to be added to partly redress the imbalance caused by recent population gains is an important one. And note I'm talking about historical patterns, not future ones. I think that Quebec's waning RELATIVE influence is one of the key long-term trends in Canadian politics. Quebec will always be extremely important and influential, but they're not going to be the perpetual kingmakers that they used to be.

And by the way, I don't think Westerners' resentment on that point necessarily has to do with not understanding democracy. They understand it perfectly well — i.e., that when someone else vastly outpopulates and outvotes you, you're screwed. You can understand something without necessarily liking it.

I was referring to the squeaky wheel comment used earlier.

You could look at the automakers as the squeaky wheels in this case: they needed money to stave off bankruptcy, and used the threat of massive layoffs to prompt the U.S., Ontario, and federal governments into action. But the Ontario government went a step further than just giving money to the companies. They are now offering a huge tax rebate for buyers of the Chevrolet Volt, up to $10K. How is that not kowtowing to GM? To use your Alberta comparison, it would be akin to government subsidies for Suncor's Petro-Canada fuel when compared to other fuel types.

Or, if you prefer, we could look at the province of Ontario as being the squeaky wheel. The talking point from Ottawa was that their hands were tied into "helping" the carmakers, because the threat of moving jobs otherwise to the states would have crippled the Ontario economy. A while back Colby Cosh wrote a column about how Northern Alberta is being slammed by the recession, with thousands of jobs at risk. And yet, despite the area's importance in developing our resources and creating wealth, it received little coverage. When GM and Chrysler were threatening bankruptcy (which should have happened in the first place, anyways), even noise-canceling earmuffs wouldn't have been able to stop the incessant squeaking from obliterating my ear drums.

Taking north as anything north of Edmonton, possibly 2% as many votes as Ontario. The bulk of Alberta's population (40% of Ontario) is from Edmonton south. Which still makes it the northernmost population centre of over a million in the country