The Western “Colonies”

In Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West Versus the Rest Since Confederation, Mary Janigan addresses a large and contentious issue—the place of the West in Canada—by exploring the historical struggle of the Prairie provinces to secure ownership of their natural resources on the same constitutional footing enjoyed by the other provinces. Her window on this larger issue makes a lot of sense given the centrality of resource development to the regional economy. At the same time, the “let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark” theme is not as broadly representative of the Western Canadian experience as Janigan’s provocative title suggests.

This extensively researched and highly readable historical account, stretching from Louis Riel to Thomas Mulcair and Alison Redford, neatly combines scholarly depth with broad public appeal. Eastern Bastards should find a market well beyond the small community of federal-provincial policy specialists...