u/Special_Purpose2903

Western Alienation is nothing new, while it has faced a resurgence and some of these figures are aligned with less than savory Maga Trump types who I'm no fan of, Alberta Separatist in my view have a valid point for the following reasons.

1. Provinces should be treated relatively equally, however the coffers and resources and economic development of Alberta have been raided to fund other provinces of Canada through programs like equalization and asymmetrical federalism
2. Asymmetrical federal a policy whereby structural advantages are granted for Quebec and other provinces. These arrangements give goodies to non-Alberta provinces for being not-Alberta and is a form of a system rigged against its economic and democratic interests. [1]

ie: Asymmetrical Policies Benefitting Other Provinces

• Equalization Formula Exemptions: Hydro-electricity revenues in Quebec, British Columbia, and Manitoba are excluded from the Federal Equalization Program calculations, keeping their fiscal capacity artificially low to maximize federal payouts. [1]
• Hydro-Quebec Pricing Rules: Quebec calculates its domestic hydro rates below market value, which lowers its provincial revenue on paper and increases its share of the national equalization pool. [1, 2, 3]
• Supply Management Protections: Federal quotas shield dairy and poultry sectors—highly concentrated in Quebec and Ontario—from global competition, while Alberta’s export-driven beef and grain sectors face full market volatility. [1, 2]
• Auto Sector Subsidies: Ontario consistently receives billions in federal manufacturing bailouts and green transition subsidies, while Alberta's energy sector faces strict environmental caps. [1]
• Federal Infrastructure Carve-Outs: Central Canada frequently secures direct federal funding for massive transit projects, while Western resource infrastructure faces protracted regulatory delays.

Now, Democracy - or lack thereof lets look at that:

Undemocratic Preferences Harming Alberta

• Senate Seat Misallocation: Alberta has only 6 Senate seats for 4.8 million people, while Quebec has 24 seats for 9 million people, and the Atlantic provinces hold 30 seats for just 2.5 million people. This is just downright undemocratic and wrong and turns Alberta into a 2nd class who is under-represented in what should be a Democracy!
• House of Commons Under-Representation: Electoral boundaries systematically under-represent fast-growing Western provinces, giving an Alberta voter less democratic weight than a voter in PEI or Quebec. Another shot at Alberta to ensure Albertans have less say!
• The "Grandfather Clause" Protection: Constitutional rules guarantee that no province can have fewer MPs than Senators, permanently protecting Atlantic Canada’s voting power despite declining populations. Which dilutes Alberta's voting power.
• Quebec's Fixed Seat Guarantee: Federal law ensures Quebec cannot lose seats in riding redistributions, freezing its political power regardless of Western population growth. Which means Alberta has proportionally less say, again made into a 2nd class by asymmetrical federalism!
• Supreme Court Seat Monopolies: The law guarantees Quebec 3 of the 9 Supreme Court seats, while the entire West (four provinces) must share just 2 or 3 seats. Ensuring they get to use the court to preserve their system which is unfair to Alberta! It isn't based on most qualified judge, or fairest person but just on where you come from, and this is just unfair!
• Federal Public Service Concentration: Over 40% of all federal jobs are located in the National Capital Region (Ottawa-Gatineau), ensuring policy is viewed through an Ontario-Quebec lens. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] By placing the federal gov't policy makers so heavily in that region they come to only view issues through a narrow Ontario-Quebec lens.

I could go on and on and mention things like dual standards on:

immigration, pension, distinct society status, provincial pension plan, own police force and revenue collection, language laws and cultural control, administration of federal programs and special opt out clauses for Quebec with full compensation using Alberta dollars, all with no strings attached [other provinces have to attach strings], Quebec gets guaranteed seats on the supreme court 3/9 and gets guarantees over its civil law traditions, quebec get sway over cultural and broadcast in a way Alberta doesn't, and Quebec gets special rights over post secondary funding.

All of these combined turn Alberta into a 2nd class province in terms of rights, democracy, federalism, and economy in Canada and it starts to look more like colonization than a meeting of equal provinces with equal rights, so who can blame Albertans for wanting to leave when you are so thoroughly disregarded? This doesn't even address the severe undemocratic nature of the senate which unfairly favors the East and Quebec.

If the federal gov't wants to stop Alberta separatism they need to give Alberta all the same powers/treatment and benefits as Quebec and Ontario and the East. Telling someone to shut up for being treated poorly/unfairly is a bad strategy and doesn't work.

Western Alienation is nothing new, while it has faced a resurgence and some of these figures are aligned with less than savory Maga Trump types who I'm no fan of, Alberta Separatist in my view have a valid point for the following reasons.

1. Provinces should be treated relatively equally, however the coffers and resources and economic development of Alberta have been raided to fund other provinces of Canada through programs like equalization and asymmetrical federalism

2. Asymmetrical federal a policy whereby structural advantages are granted for Quebec and other provinces. These arrangements give goodies to non-Alberta provinces for being not-Alberta and is a form of a system rigged against its economic and democratic interests. [1]

ie: Asymmetrical Policies Benefitting Other Provinces

• Equalization Formula Exemptions: Hydro-electricity revenues in Quebec, British Columbia, and Manitoba are excluded from the Federal Equalization Program calculations, keeping their fiscal capacity artificially low to maximize federal payouts. [1]
• Hydro-Quebec Pricing Rules: Quebec calculates its domestic hydro rates below market value, which lowers its provincial revenue on paper and increases its share of the national equalization pool. [1, 2, 3]
• Supply Management Protections: Federal quotas shield dairy and poultry sectors—highly concentrated in Quebec and Ontario—from global competition, while Alberta’s export-driven beef and grain sectors face full market volatility. [1, 2]
• Auto Sector Subsidies: Ontario consistently receives billions in federal manufacturing bailouts and green transition subsidies, while Alberta's energy sector faces strict environmental caps. [1]
• Federal Infrastructure Carve-Outs: Central Canada frequently secures direct federal funding for massive transit projects, while Western resource infrastructure faces protracted regulatory delays.

Now, Democracy - or lack thereof lets look at that:

Undemocratic Preferences Harming Alberta

• Senate Seat Misallocation: Alberta has only 6 Senate seats for 4.8 million people, while Quebec has 24 seats for 9 million people, and the Atlantic provinces hold 30 seats for just 2.5 million people. This is just downright undemocratic and wrong and turns Alberta into a 2nd class who is under-represented in what should be a Democracy!
• House of Commons Under-Representation: Electoral boundaries systematically under-represent fast-growing Western provinces, giving an Alberta voter less democratic weight than a voter in PEI or Quebec. Another shot at Alberta to ensure Albertans have less say!
• The "Grandfather Clause" Protection: Constitutional rules guarantee that no province can have fewer MPs than Senators, permanently protecting Atlantic Canada’s voting power despite declining populations. Which dilutes Alberta's voting power.
• Quebec's Fixed Seat Guarantee: Federal law ensures Quebec cannot lose seats in riding redistributions, freezing its political power regardless of Western population growth. Which means Alberta has proportionally less say, again made into a 2nd class by asymmetrical federalism!
• Supreme Court Seat Monopolies: The law guarantees Quebec 3 of the 9 Supreme Court seats, while the entire West (four provinces) must share just 2 or 3 seats. Ensuring they get to use the court to preserve their system which is unfair to Alberta! It isn't based on most qualified judge, or fairest person but just on where you come from, and this is just unfair!
• Federal Public Service Concentration: Over 40% of all federal jobs are located in the National Capital Region (Ottawa-Gatineau), ensuring policy is viewed through an Ontario-Quebec lens. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] By placing the federal gov't policy makers so heavily in that region they come to only view issues through a narrow Ontario-Quebec lens.

I could go on and on and mention things like dual standards on:

immigration, pension, distinct society status, provincial pension plan, own police force and revenue collection, language laws and cultural control, administration of federal programs and special opt out clauses for Quebec with full compensation using Alberta dollars, all with no strings attached [other provinces have to attach strings], Quebec gets guaranteed seats on the supreme court 3/9 and gets guarantees over its civil law traditions, quebec get sway over cultural and broadcast in a way Alberta doesn't, and Quebec gets special rights over post secondary funding.

All of these combined turn Alberta into a 2nd class province in terms of rights, democracy, federalism, and economy in Canada and it starts to look more like colonization than a meeting of equal provinces with equal rights, so who can blame Albertans for wanting to leave when you are so thoroughly disregarded? This doesn't even address the severe undemocratic nature of the senate which unfairly favors the East and Quebec.

If the federal gov't wants to stop Alberta separatism they need to give Alberta all the same powers/treatment and benefits as Quebec and Ontario and the East. Telling someone to shut up for being treated poorly/unfairly is a bad strategy and doesn't work.

If PQ wins and cancels Alto in Quebec, what 4-5 stops should Alto build in Ontario?

-If Parti Quebec akaa the Bloc/separatist in Quebec win and block HSR/TGV in Quebec, where or what should ALto place these stops in Ontario?

Toronto> Peterborough> Ottawa

Since

Montreal, TR, Laval, and Quebec City will be removed, that got me thinking, where should the gov't put those 5 stops in Ontario?

Maybe make like a hub model?

Perhaps add on GTA suburbs like Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, Barrie, Oshawa

OR should it reach further out to like to Hamilton, London, KW?

Or maybe run it to Niagara Falls to link up with NY some day?

Or what about running it West to like Thunder Bay Winnipeg, Calgary Vancouver?

What stops would you add and where and why?

Edit 1: For people saying Quebec cannot stop it b/c it is a federal project, this is technically true. However Carney said he won't build it over their objections. Also Quebec could slow the project massively by slow walking permits, denying local police help for protest, Environmental Assessment could stall the project for years, zoning permits would be delayed by Commission de protection du territoire agricole du Québec (CPTAQ), endless lawsuits, province controls the environmental and land-use certificates necessary to begin construction. If the Quebec government refuses to grant local permits or cooperate with federal expropriation processes, it creates a massive legal and logistical bottleneck.

Does Chinese have a version of like Kanji maps that show how/why characters are what they are?

In languages like Japanese I seen there were tools like Kanji maps, they are basically tools that explain why a character looks the way it does so it makes it way easier/faster to learn than just being shown a bunch of lines on a paper that are really hard for a Westerner.

Just curious if these exist for Chinese/Mandarin?

If you could add any 1 or 2 stops to Alto HSR [or remove or alter], what would change and why?

As the title says, would you move the Peterborough stop to Kingston, maybe add a Gatineau stop, maybe extend the line to the southwest to include Mississauga/Airport or perhaps move the line to North York instead of union station? Maybe you want to extend it to the maritimes, or perhaps drop the Trois Rivieres stop or heck extend it the otherway from Toronto to Vaughan or Thunder Bay. Or maybe you think too many stops, and want to see it just cover Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and that is it for maximum speed? Should the line from Ottawa to Montreal be more straight? What are 1 or 2 [or maybe even 3 things] you'd do in the ideal line?

What would you do and why?