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Preston Manning: Pushing Back Against the Flawed Narrative on Western Discontent

Preston Manning: Pushing Back Against the Flawed Narrative on Western Discontent
Pumpjacks draw oil out of the ground in a canola field near Olds, Alta., in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh
Preston Manning
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Commentary

Continued expressions of dissatisfaction in Western Canada with the organization and performance of Canadian Confederation—including calls for secession from a minority of citizens—have led to numerous news pieces and commentaries on the subject by central Canadian media and political commentators. But most of these suffer from four main flaws which call for pushback.

Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Author
Preston Manning served as a member of the Canadian Parliament from 1993 to 2001, and as leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2000. He founded two political parties: the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance. Both of these became the Official Opposition in Parliament and led to the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada, which formed the federal government from 2004–2015.