The Western Independence Party (WIP) was a Canadian political party that advocated the separation from Canada of the western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as the Yukon and Northwest Territories to form a new country.
The WIP ran 11 candidates in the Canadian federal election of 1988 - one candidate in British Columbia, seven in Alberta, and three in Manitoba (although one of the Manitoba candidates appears to have withdrawn before election day). All the candidates were soundly defeated with none garnering even 1% of the popular vote in any riding.
The party also has or had provincial branches in each of the four provinces. The federal wing of the Western Independence Party was dormant; they have not run any candidates in any federal elections since 1988. The party has been resurrected in April, 2005 at a founding convention in Strathmore, Alberta under the new name "Western Canada Party".
The WIP should not be confused with the Confederation of Regions Party, which sought greater autonomy for western Canada, but not full independence.
Read more about Western Independence Party: Founding, Alberta Independence Party, WIP of Saskatchewan, Party Program
Famous quotes containing the words western, independence and/or party:
“Cinema is the culmination of the obsessive, mechanistic male drive in western culture. The movie projector is an Apollonian straightshooter, demonstrating the link between aggression and art. Every pictorial framing is a ritual limitation, a barred precinct.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“Traditionally in American society, men have been trained for both competition and teamwork through sports, while women have been reared to merge their welfare with that of the family, with fewer opportunities for either independence or other team identifications, and fewer challenges to direct competition. In effect, women have been circumscribed within that unit where the benefit of one is most easily believed to be the benefit of all.”
—Mary Catherine Bateson (b. 1939)
“What is the disease which manifests itself in an inability to leave a party—any party at all—until it is all over and the lights are being put out?... I suppose that part of this mania for staying is due to a fear that, if I go, something good will happen and I’ll miss it. Somebody might do card tricks, or shoot somebody else.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)