British Columbia's Economic Elites Threaten to Separate from Canada because of an Unfair Share of Economic Development Money

Since the 'contract' for federation, BC has always been sensitive about getting its 'fair share' of economic development moneys. Whenever nineteenth-century federal governments questioned the desirability of building the long-promised railway to the Pacific, BC politicians never hesitated to threaten separation. The province saw the railway as its share of the Confederation pie, as well as being absolutely essential to its economic expansion, a view that ever since has set the tone for Ottawa-Victoria relations over development aid. The demand for a fair share has preoccupied many BC politicians. The threat of separation has mellowed somewhat in the last three decades, but a belief still lingers among some of the economic elites that if there were to be no obvious net economic benefit, then BC should go its own way by setting up independently, joining the United States, or even starting a new union. This financial-ledger style of relationship has frustrated federal politicians.

--Edwin R. Black, "British Columbia: 'The Spoilt Child of Confederation,'" in Politics, Policy, and Government in British Columbia, ed. R.K. Carty (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1996), 34.