Breaking up is hard to do. Or so say songwriters and poets.
But Laurie Gourlay is leading the charge to break up our British Columbia. Mr. Gourlay is working on an ambitious plan to make Vancouver Island its own province by May 16, 2021.
After all, way back when, in the beginning and all that, Vancouver Island was its own British Colony completely autonomous from the mainland. It even had its own legislative assembly.
No less a personality than Armor de Cosmos managed the transition that saw the joining of Vancouver Island to British Columbia in 1866 and the further inclusion of British Columbia in the newly formed confederation of Canada in 1871.
It could have played out differently. Vancouver Island could have been included in confederation independent of the rest of British Columbia. It could have been its own province from the beginning and we would have been a country with 11 provinces instead of 10.
This is one of those ideas that might seem absurd at first glance but think about it.
There are many advantages to severing the link.
For example, we on the mainland would no longer need to hang our heads in embarrassment over the overtly British flavour of our provincial capital. Double decker buses? Tea at the Empress? More English accents than you would hear at Buckingham Palace? Who needs it?
On top of that if Vancouver Island was to separate, they would get to keep the legislative buildings which are pretty to look at but not particularly practical for a modern government. They could even keep all of the MLAs and the bureaucrats who work in Victoria. We would have a chance to start over and get it right.
We wouldn't need to worry about ferries anymore - fast or otherwise. Indeed, the ferries would become federal infrastructure as they would be an interprovincial transportation corridor. Heck, we might even get the federal government to shell out some money to build our own version of the Confederation Bridge.
And speaking of the Confederation Bridge, it was built to link that other island province to the rest of the country. Little ol' Prince Edward Island has been a province since 1873 - almost as long as British Columbia - and it is only a fraction of the size of Vancouver Island.
Consider that Prince Edward Island is a fully-recognized provincial member of Canada with senators and everything, but it has a population of only 140,204. That is dwarfed by the 748,937 Islanders. And Vancouver Island is almost six times the size of Prince Edward Island.
I'm not sure what the Province of Vancouver Island would do for an economy. After all, there are only so many people that want to travel to Long Beach or hang out at Cathedral Grove or visit Miniature World. At its heart, an economy needs some form of resources to operate and the island economy is perhaps just a little too laid back.
But that is their problem.
If they separate, they will have to find their own economic way. And while they are likely to be a "have not" province and receive federal transfer payments, it would probably cost the rest of us less than what we now send to Victoria.
There is something to be said for Vancouver Island separating.
Of course, if the island were to go, what city would become the capital of British Columbia?
It couldn't be Vancouver. That is concentrating too much power in one place. If you want to see what happens to a city that is both the business and government hub of a province, just check out Toronto.
Do we really want Vancouver to become another Toronto? Isn't one Toronto bad enough?
As to the Fraser Valley communities, it is hard to take places named Abbotsford or Chilliwack seriously.
No. The provincial capital would need to move right out of the lower mainland which really leaves only two choices - Kelowna and our own beloved Prince George.
There are obvious reasons why Kelowna couldn't possibly work. With its lakes, skiing, world class golf and ridiculously-warm summers, getting the bureaucracy to come to work every morning would be nigh on impossible. Being too lovely is a definite detriment in the race for being the new capital.
There really is only one clear solution. B.C.'s northern capital, Prince George, would have to take on the responsibility for the whole province. Just think of what it would mean locally to have a new legislature building constructed in town or have 20,000 bureaucrats moving in, not to mention the other assorted buildings that would be required.
And if anyone complains about the name of our fine city, well, if it is good enough for a future king of England, it should be good enough for British Columbia.
