Western Alienation Is a Political Ideology That Sees Central Canada as the Economic Exploiter

Economic discontent within Alberta, and within the broader western region, provides the foundation upon which the political superstructure of western alienation has been constructed. In an earlier work, I defined western alienation as follows:

Western alienation is best seen as a political ideology of regional discontent. [It] embodies a socially shared set of interrelated beliefs with some degree of cultural embodiment and intellectual articulation, with a recognized history and constituency, and with recognized spokesmen and carriers of the creed. Western alienation encompasses a sense of political, economic and, to a lesser extent, cultural estrangement from the Canadian heartland.

It is important to note that the dominant theme of western alienation, the belief that the West is always outgunned in national politics and as a consequence has been subjected to varying degrees of economic exploitation by central Canada, enjoys both deep historical roots and contemporary nourishment.

--Roger Gibbins, "Alberta and the National Community," in Government and Politics in Alberta, ed. Allan Tupper and Roger Gibbins (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1992), 70.