ONE OF my liveliest encounters with W.A.C, Bennett was upstairs in the boardroom of the Bennett store in Kelowna. As he was inclined to do, he lapsed into a lecture on history: **Read the Rowell-Sirois Report,”’ he instructed, as he jabbed his finger into my chest. “Ottawa never understood British Colum- bia in 1940 and they don’t under- stand now!"” The Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations, co-chaired by Newton Rowell and Joseph Sirois, made nothing but gloomy prophecies for west of the Rocky Mountains. History has proved its report to be so wrong it remains a comical bit of folklore. It argued for a highly central- ized federal government, in order to prop up the provinces, and particularly the weak sister in the west. Robin Fisher’s new biography of Duff Patallo, B.C. Premier from 1933-1941, illustrates the shock this ignorant document caused in British Columbia. Arguing against the recommen- dations, Patullo said: ‘‘Implemen- tation ... would lead to an ever- increasing centralization that, rather than creating harmony, would only aggravate dishar- mony.” He said that Canada was com- posed of five distinct regions and that there were great dangers in suppressing this diversity into ‘‘a “A Place To Go When You're Pregnant And Need Support: GIRTHRIGHT cas 907-7313 « Free Pregnancy Test « Hl 229 Lonsdale | orth vancouver 687-7223 in Vancouver Cau fl Gary Bannerman OPEN LINES common average.”’ W.A.C. Bennett was even more adamant in his effurts to build upon the strength and uniqueness of the regions (British Columbia being one unto itself) as opposed to the recurring federal nightmare of homogenization. ees There have been few moments in Canadian history that have not been marked by a ‘‘unity’* crisis. Just as the country was shaped a piece at a time by independent choices to federate, the relative discomfort of the component parts has always been a topic of debate. The federal government has an identity problem. The provinces don’t. Without a crisis, without a common external enemy, without certain joint venture ambitions, there is no need for Ottawa to ex- ist. It is said in federal circles that Canada is stronger than the sum of its parts. I’m nat so sure about that. Whatever the asset value of the “‘country,’’ the debits are consid- erable as well: the provinces that are nothing more than welfare cases; the staggering levels of fed- eral debt; and the obsession with two highly populated eastern pro- vinces. Nova Scotia has a culture and an identity, from the naval tradi- tions of Halifax, the the Bluenose and the Highland Games of Cape Breton. Newfoundland cherishes its Irish roots, and sea shanty heritage, just as Quebec culture boasts of les habitants of agriculture and Les Habitants of hockey. MOTOR VEHICLE INJURY CLAIMS DEREK A. CAVE A Law Corporation Over 20 years experience in the trial of injury and trauma cases. 687-0258 926-4133 | Sunday, May 19, 1991 ~ North Shore News - @ The trouble with Canada is Manitoba speaks of Louis Riel just as surely as Regina shows off the home of the Mounties. The twin solitudes of upper- class Calgary — the old money Ranochman’s Club and the more contemporary Petroleum Club — stand as pillars to Alberta’s glory. In British Columbia we speak about our own hydro dams, railway and world-ranked ferry system; the ‘‘Bull of the Woods’’ Gordon Gibson, and the forest legends like MacMillan, Bentley, Bloedel, Clyne and many others. Every province has a story. Every province swells with pride and a unique definition of itself. This is the absurdity. Federal Ottawa is without identity. And that is the crisis. The government is no more than a system of management, in- surance and a marketing co- operative. It’s an amorphous creature: totally without romance or culture, As long as prime ministers are desperately in search of thai sense of **being” and of ‘*belonging”’ so cherished by premiers, we will have a serious disease and an unending succession of commis- sions, task forces and studies dispatched from Ottawa. If a prime minister accepts that he is no more than the manager of Ottawa an exclusive club, he can then begin a journey teward greatness. ese Preparing for this column, I heeded an elixir: a chat with one of the country’s principal gurus, Dalton Camp. He’s pleased that Ottawa has stopped responding to Quebcec’s timetable. “It no longer appears that we are going to panic or overreact in- stead of making the issue the reflective and deliberate process it should be.”' He told me that he recently spent several hours with Parti Quebecois leader Jacques Parizeau. The intellectual Quebecer advis- ed Camp that the province felt **savaged’’ by the Meech Lake debate, bombarded by flag burn- ings and vituperative letters to the editor and angry debate. “If we are a hair shirt to the rest of Canada,"’ Parizeau asked Daiton Camp, ‘‘why can’t we just be like Rene Levesque once said, ‘just good neighbors?” Perhaps Parizeau: has pointed the way. Canada is like a strata corpora- tion. We live under 10 roofs. 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