Regionalism: Ottawa, the West, the Atlantic, the North and New Parties

One country, many regions

Canada is the world's second-largest country by area. A fishing town in Newfoundland, a high-rise in Toronto, a grain farm in Saskatchewan and an Inuit community in Nunavut have very different economies, histories and needs. When Ottawa makes a decision, it can help one region and hurt another.

That is the root of regionalism. In this lesson you will look at how regional tensions have shaped Canadian politics since 1982, from the CF-18 contract to the creation of new parties, all the way to the Alberta referendum scheduled for October 19, 2026.

Western alienation and the Reform Party

Many westerners were still angry about the National Energy Program (1980), which they believed took Alberta's oil wealth to benefit central Canada. Then, in 1986, the federal government awarded a contract to maintain the military's CF-18 fighter jets to a company in Montreal, even though a Winnipeg company had submitted a lower-cost bid that officials rated as technically better. To many westerners, this proved that Ottawa favoured Quebec and Ontario, where most seats were.

In 1987, the Reform Party was founded, led by Preston Manning of Alberta. Its slogan was "The West wants in." It called for an elected, equal Senate, lower government spending, and more direct democracy (such as referendums and recall). It opposed special status for Quebec.

The 1993 earthquake election

In 1993, Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as Progressive Conservative leader and became Canada's first woman prime minister. In the October election, the PCs collapsed from a majority to just 2 seats. Their former voters split: westerners went to Reform and Quebec nationalists to the Bloc Québécois. Jean Chrétien's Liberals won a majority, mostly thanks to Ontario.

Equalization: sharing the wealth, and the debate

Since 1982, the Constitution (section 36(2)) commits the federal government to equalization: payments to provinces with less ability to raise taxes, so that Canadians everywhere can have reasonably comparable public services at reasonably comparable tax levels. The money comes from federal taxes paid by Canadians in all provinces, not directly from provincial governments.

• Provinces that receive equalization have changed over time. Ontario, long a "have" province, received equalization for about a decade after the 2008–2009 recession hit its manufacturing sector.
• Alberta has not received equalization for decades, while Albertans pay high federal taxes on average because incomes are high. In a 2021 Alberta referendum, about 62% of voters supported removing equalization from the Constitution. The vote had no legal effect, but it showed deep frustration.
• Supporters argue equalization is fair: all Canadians should get good health care and schools wherever they live.

Atlantic Canada and the North

• The cod moratorium (1992) devastated Newfoundland and Labrador (Lesson 9). Many workers moved west to Alberta's oil sands, some commuting thousands of kilometres by air.
• Offshore oil, such as the Hibernia field (first oil in 1997), later brought new revenue to Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
• In the North, the creation of Nunavut (1999) and the devolution of control over lands and resources to Yukon (2003) and the Northwest Territories (2014) gave northerners more control over their own affairs.

Franco-Ontarians: a regional and linguistic community

Ontario's francophone community has its own story since 1982:

• Ontario's French Language Services Act (1986) guaranteed provincial government services in French in designated areas.
• In 1998, Ontario created French-language school boards, managed by francophones, following the Charter's section 23 and the Mahe decision (Lesson 1).
• In 1997, the government planned to close Ottawa's Montfort Hospital, Ontario's only francophone teaching hospital. The SOS Montfort campaign took the fight to court, and in 2001 the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that closing it would violate a constitutional principle of protecting minorities. The hospital stayed open.
• In 2001, Ontario officially recognized the Franco-Ontarian flag as an emblem of the province. Created in Sudbury in 1975, it has a green part with a white lily on the left and a white part with a green trillium on the right.

New and ongoing challenges

• Pipelines and climate policy: western energy producers wanted new pipelines to reach markets; some First Nations, environmental groups and the B.C. government opposed some of them. The federal government bought the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018, and its expansion was completed in 2024. Several provinces challenged federal carbon pricing in court; the Supreme Court upheld it in 2021. The federal consumer carbon price was ended on April 1, 2025.
• New parties: the Green Party elected its first MP, leader Elizabeth May, in 2011. Earlier, Audrey McLaughlin of Yukon became leader of the federal NDP in 1989, the first woman to lead a major federal party.
• Alberta, 2026: after petitions on both sides, Premier Danielle Smith announced in May 2026 that Albertans would vote on October 19, 2026 on whether Alberta should remain a province of Canada or whether the government should begin the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation. In May 2026, an Alberta court struck down an earlier separatist petition because First Nations, whose treaty rights could be affected, had not been properly consulted. Polls in summer 2026 showed most Albertans favouring remaining in Canada. Check the news for the result.