Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest since Confederation
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by Mary Janigan
Knopf Canada, Toronto, 2012.
440 pp., illus., $32 hardcover
Some have said Canada is a country with too much geography and not enough history. On that point, they’re wrong — we have plenty of history. Unfortunately, much of it is the story of a jurisdictional tug–of–war between regions — and regional politicians — over everything from taxation to resource ownership.
In Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark, journalist–turned–historian Mary Janigan delves into the annals of interprovincial relations to seek the root of our Canadian discontent. The title is a reference to the angry epithet that gained prominence in Alberta during the National Energy Program crisis of the 1980s.
Janigan points out that interprovincial animosity is nothing new. From the moment Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company, the inhabitants of the vast northwest hinterlands have struggled against the notion of being junior partners in Confederation.
Of course, from the perspective of powerhouse provinces Ontario and Quebec, the status quo was just fine, thank you. And what of the Atlantic provinces? Well, immediately after Confederation, Nova Scotia held a general election and voted overwhelmingly for a separatist government bent on leaving Canada — so what does that tell you?
Janigan’s book may not solve all our differences, but reading it is a good first step in understanding them.
— Mark Collin Reid (Read bio)
Mark Collin Reid is the Editor-in-Chief of Canada's History.