Re: (ReacTor) Five Futures Where the US Ended Not With a Bang But a Whimper

The Horny Goat wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:09:38 -0400, William Hyde

Why complain about Quebec when the real over representation is in the east?

 Bottom line is that if BC and AB had the same number of average voters
per federal seat that Quebec has BC would have 5 more seats and AB 4.

And they should.  I fully support that.
I notice, though, that you do not mention Ontario, which is every bit as underrepresented as Alberta or BC, nor Saskatchewan or Manitoba, both significantly over-represented.
If we were to go over to a truly fair system, BC, AB and Ont would gain seats, Quebec would stay about the same, and everyone else would lose.
Yet you focus, again and again, on Quebec, which has slightly more people per MP than the national average (107k vs 108, vs 116 for Ont and BC).

Meanwhile "equalization" means Alberta sends billions to Quebec every
year in oil revenues while Quebec leaves their coal

Quebec coal?  I used to own stock in a Quebec oil company, but I've not heard of its coal reserves.
  in the ground and

under-develops their hydro power

You may not remember the vast protests they had to deal with in creating the James Bay and Great Whale projects. Seriously, the site C protests are as nothing by comparison.  Now they are looking for expansion in Labrador.  I can see no case to make that they haven't seriously developed their hydro power.
Alberta, on the other hand, has a great deal of potential hydro power. Which they are not going to develop.
Note that neither Ontario or Manitoba has even the ghost of an idea of similar projects around Hudson bay.
  with zero deducted for resources

known but not tapped.

Like Alberta Hydro?  Start playing that game and anything can happen.

 So yeah - I'd say the current Canadian system is biased against the
western provinces in BOTH houses of Parliament AND economically.
 Out here you hear the metaphor of cow milking quite a lot.

People have forgotten that the Alberta oil industry was given a huge boost when the federal government restricted the import of cheaper foreign oil prior to the oil embargo of 1973 when the Saudis could deliver crude to Edmonton cheaper than we could.
Without a program of this kind, the western oil industry in 1973 would have been tiny, and it would have taken decades to build it up to a worthwhile scale.  A far-sighted decision by the Diefenbaker government, carried on by Pearson and, until 73, Trudeau senior.
William Hyde