Even though the attacks on Alberta and Albertans have not been as numerous as in the previous elections, the reflex seems still to be fairly present across parties in the country. Jack Layton vilified our lame duck premier and wants to use Alberta’s oil in a trade war against the United States. Midweek last week, we all remember Buzz (lightless) trying to rescue Martin from the electoral flames by attacking Albertans as lesser Canadians. The day before yesterday, Martin attacked Peter McKay, and declared him a political invalid in the presence of the Calgary Cabal. The cowboys would leave him even more incapacitated than he already is, according to Paul Martin.

Yesterday, the Bloc started airing ads to frighten, warning Quebeckers as though they were Indians from the mid western plains: the Calgary cowboys are coming, they are going to burn your tee-pee, smoke your tobacco, kill your dog, flatten your lodge, kill all the wild life and destroy their heritage.

To boot, all of this is done with the marxoid flavour that peppered Duceppe’s former life as a communist, aided an abetted by the Globe and Mail. Consider the first sentence below from the G&M, almost plagiarised from the overly-dramatic first line in The Communist Manifesto: “A Spectre is haunting Europe –the spectre of communism.”

…there is a western menace hanging over Quebec.

“We will not let Calgary decide for Quebec,” the ad states in bold letters.

And on top of the word Calgary in the ad, there is the drawing of a little cowboy hat to remind voters of the Albertan city’s far-west heritage.

Duceppe knows better because he’s been here many a time, and we have treated him with kindness and respect in spite of our political differences. Oh, but can one imagine if the blocquistes were portrayed in an ad by a Canadian party as “coureur de bois” or “habitant,” chasing pelts or bleeding syrup from a tree?

We are not ashamed of our cowboy hats here in southern Alberta, and cheap shots like that chafe no sensibilities. Cowboy hats are not for us the cultural icons some believe. They are part of our work equipment, as much as a saddle, a truck, a rope, or a computer keyboard. Cowboy hats are, however, symbols of the spirit of autonomy we received from those who opened the west. I will wear my cowboy hat at the Convention Centre tomorrow.
Quebec will decide for itself as it always has but the choices from which it may have to choose about greater autonomy have often been thought out in Calgary. How quickly does Duceppe forget, as Quebec is the Canadian jurisdiction to have used the notwithstanding clause the most, that Quebec has made those choices with an instrument mostly fashioned in the West. We’re not ashamed of that either.

Update: The WS has an image of the ad here.