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Penalizing the resource-rich West is divisive and dangerous for the country we call Canada.

The West gets hardly any benefit from an Ottawa thousands of miles away, but it gets a heavy burden of taxation,-- money that is squandered on vote-buying elsewhere.

It can easily enough walk, since most of its necessities come from outside of Canada. If it did so, it would take Canada's carbon-rich export #1 ($77.8 billion, 19% of total exports), and probably sink the rest of the country with a disproportionate dependence on imports.

Confederation was about building prosperity. Instead of vilifying and obstructing the West, Ottawa should be seeking to reward its productivity and encourage the success-story on which this country depends.

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