Culture minister bashes ‘Laurentian elites’ as Alberta celebrates birthday holiday
EDMONTON — Alberta celebrated its inaugural birthday party holiday with Culture Minister Ron Orr bashing the prime minister and “Laurentian elites” while asserting the province has received the short end of the stick in the federation for more than a century.
“The family compact of Laurentian elites have always skewed the deal in their favour,” Orr told assembled dignitaries, including Premier Jason Kenney, Indigenous leaders and Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani, on a sunny morning Thursday near the legislature grounds.
“There are many in our province who are frustrated … that Alberta has never really been granted that full fair deal with the federal government that was promised.”
Orr said Alberta has been treated unfairly from the start, noting it wasn’t granted provincial status until Sept. 1, 1905, almost 40 years after Confederation.