ESTEVAN — Unified Grassroots explained its desire to have a referendum on Saskatchewan leaving Canada during town hall meetings in Estevan and Weyburn on June 29.
Organization president Nadine Ness spoke to a crown of about 100 people during a town hall meeting at Estevan's Wylie-Mitchell building.
Ness told the crowd she is originally from New Brunswick and has been in Saskatchewan since 2009. She confessed she was a supporter of former U.S. president Barack Obama and even voted for the federal Liberals, led by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, in the 2015 Canadian federal election. Her perspective changed when she met her husband.
"I hope I'm going to give you a bit of hope, because there are a lot of people who are still brainwashed and asleep the way I was. So, I know that reality, I know how to speak with them, so that's why I'm going to equip you with doing the exact same thing with this presentation," she told the audience.
Ness noted that as an organization, Unified Grassroots has received just about everything it has asked for thus far, and she hopes it can have a referendum.
She listed the differences she sees between the east and the west, and issues of imbalance that she sees, such as Senate representation, a lack of Western Canadian cabinet ministers, language laws, equalization payments, the forced carbon tax, harmful climate legislation, urban-biased policies and more.
"One of the biggest hits that we got in Saskatchewan that shows sacrificing the west for the east is the canola tariffs," Ness said. "They [the federal government] put a hundred per cent tariff on electric vehicles from China last year. They were trying to save about a $16 billion industry by doing this. China retaliated by doing a 100 per cent tariff on canola, which cost us $46.8 billion."
She applauded Premier Scott Moe for the provincial government's recent announcement that it was going to extend the life of the province's coal-fired generating stations.
"I want to see more of that kind of backbone from him," said Ness.
Ness also highlighted the White Paper released by the provincial government a few years ago, which included a number of recommendations for the province.
And she pointed out that during the spring sitting of the legislature, the provincial New Democratic Party was trying to pass a bill to prevent the provincial government from calling a referendum.
"We don't have a referendum option that is citizen led," said Ness. "The only option for a referendum in Saskatchewan is if the provincial government says we're going to have a referendum. We can't do petitions like Alberta does. What we do have is a plebiscite."
Ness said she wants to see the government hold a citizen-led referendum on Saskatchewan's place in Confederation. Right now, Unified Grassroots is gathering the people who would be willing to sign the petition. According to its website, it has 4,604 of the 125,000 signatures it needs, as of the afternoon of July 6.
She told the crowd Quebec has some measures in place should it become independent, including its own police force and pension plan in place. The Alberta Prosperity Project is more advanced, she said, because it has more money and is more organized, and it has been around four more years.
While Unified Grassroots was pleased to see Trudeau resign, she believes new prime minister Mark Carney is worse, thanks to what she called an even more "extreme ideology" than Trudeau. She added Carney has the smarts to implement it in a way that most people won't realize until it's too late.
"When Mark Carney starts implementing some of his policies that he has in his books, a lot more people will get there, and we need to be ready with open arms," she said.
Ness encouraged people to engage others respectfully, to understand the arguments for and against independence, to be consistent with the message, to collaborate with other groups, to have a long-term vision, and to not rely on one political party They must also avoid in-fighting, nor can they assume anything will happen.
She noted if a referendum happened today, it would likely fail, and it would leave Saskatchewan in a much weaker position. But if residents vote yes in favour of sovereignty, it doesn't necessarily mean independence right away; Ness said it could mean going to Ottawa and renegotiating terms for such things as more senate seats or allowing Saskatchewan to take care of its own trade.
"The terms that would be negotiated at the time don't necessarily mean full independence or a new country. Could it lead to that? Yes. That's why when people say I don't want a referendum, the best kind of comeback is to say 'Do you know even if we say yes on the referendum, it still doesn't mean we separate?"
It would put Saskatchewan in the best negotiating position as a province, she said, and it would be a multi-year process.
An independent Saskatchewan would also benefit Indigenous people, as Ness believes they could negotiate modernized agreements with Saskatchewan, and she believes that would be their best bet. Unified Grassroots is trying to arrange a meeting with Indigenous leaders on how this would look.
She also encouraged the crowd to vote in nomination meetings to determine candidates for political parties in their constituency, and she said this is the opportunity to get a like-minded person in government to represent them. People can also exercise influence by getting added to a party's provincial council or they can attend the party's annual convention. Not many people are aware of this, she said.
Ness warned the crowd that they might want to boot Moe as premier, but she doesn't believe there is a ready replacement.
She also cautioned against Saskatchewan becoming the 51st U.S. state, as she doesn't want to go from Ottawa controlling this province to Washington, D.C., controlling it.
Ness said she is going to be stepping down from Unified Grassroots at the end of July. She said she would still be involved, but she won't be in charge, and she stressed the push for a referendum needs to be grassroots-led, and not top-down.
After answering questions from the audience, Ness wrapped up her presentation and travelled to Weyburn, where she gave a similar talk.
