Is Saskatchewan more similar to Manitoba or Alberta overall?
 

Thoughts?

Saskatchewan is more similar to Manitoba in terms of aboriginal presence, including in cities (around 10% are FN or Metis in Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon).

Alberta's population growth pattern is quite different from either. Saskatchewan already had around 1 million people in 1931 and Manitoba's population has grown slowly since that time as well. Only Alberta's population has grown rapidly since then.

Manitoba however is quite a bit older than Alberta and Saskatchewan, having joined Confederation in 1870 while the latter joined in 1905 (and there was consideration of it being province).

Manitoba is dominated by one city, while Alberta and Saskatchewan have two major cities.

In terms of economy, it seems Saskatchewan has shifted from more like Manitoba to increasingly like Alberta.

Politically too, Saskatchewan, once the most left-wing Prairie province, seems to have moved "closer" to Alberta. Though now the old pattern has broken down with the provincial NDP being very weak in Saskatchewan and the election of an NDP government in Alberta. Federally Alberta and Saskatchewan were the only provinces to stick with the Conservatives, though the federal NDP vote in Saskatchewan is the highest of the Prairie provinces.

When times are good SK aligns themselves with Alberta, when times are bad SK aligns itself with Manitoba!;)

The labels do not translate well between provinces. For example, in Saskatchewan the crown corporations are not going anywhere regardless of which party is in power. A traditional right of centre party would want to privatise SaskTel, SaskPower, SaskWater, SaskGas, ....

What is far more striking about all the prairie provinces is the divide between rural and urban ridings.

The Alberta shift to the left had more to do with being tired of the old party that had been in power for a generation and wanting change than a fundamental change in values.

No question. Alberta.

Yes.

(In the past though, SK was more akin to MB.)

Given the vast numbers of people who left SK to go to AB, I'm not surprised that by this point there would be numerous similarities between the two places :P

A quip that people repeat around here is that Calgary is Saskatchewan's largest city.

I'll trot out a couple of things that will for sure piss off some eastern Manitobans

Interlake, Red River Valley and SE MB will gravitate towards Winnipeg.

You take a line from around Pilot Mound north to Neepawa up to Dauphin to Swan River across the border to about Tisdale south to Regina and then South to Weyburn to the US border and you would be hard pressed to find any real differences between any of the people there.

The Ranching culture of SW SK and Southern Alberta is hard to tell apart.

Same as for NW SK (South of Medow Lake) and NE Alberta (Wainright, Vegreville areas)


But to an European who would drive across the Prairies? I would argue that they would have a hard time (except for maps, road signs and license plates) telling the three provinces apart.

^ I'm outraged!!!! :lynchmob:

I said some, obviously not you.
You're reasonable .........for a Blue Bomber fan ;)

Yep, basically the way of life in one particular area or another is not defined by a political border or it's longitude, it's defined more by the environment and the natural geological borders. Only the immediate vicinity of urban areas are significantly defined politically.

Nice angry mob.

I like to call myself Albertoban. Although, you need to pronounce the ber like you're Ricardo Montalban.

Our socialist beginnings definitely push us towards Manitoba, but the resources today say Alberta. As has been stated. Saskatchewan is probably equally Albertan and Manitoban and you could divide the province at a certain meridian and call one side all Manitoba and the other all Alberta.

:d

I look to similarities in the mindsets of the people. Having worked in fed/prov relations for years I would say Sask is far closer to MB in terms of the mindset and politics of the people. Alberta is more like a foreign country in the same way many Americans view Texas as a foreign country. I worked in Calgary and some of the biggest a-holes were right wing sask ex-pats that tried just a little too hard to differentiate themselves from Saskatchewan. I don't think resources have anything to do with the question other than the false sense of arrogance and superiority that slowly develops in a province where you can just buy your way out of trouble year after year - Saskatchewan isn't there yet and I hope we never do get there. In my mind we are closer to BC than we are to AB. Ontario and AB are very similar.

I wonder if this is a real urban problem between Edm-Cal-Saskatoon-Regina-Winnipeg.
In the rural prairies you don't see as much viseral hatred with each other like the urban people do. Yes the farmers can get into some real heated debates over the Wheat Board (but those battles are done) and sometimes you cannot get them to agree on the time of day, but there seems to be a genuine interest in how folks are doing across the prairies. Probably because their issues are all quite similar where as the issues within the cities can be quite a bit different between the bunch of them.

Hard to say. Definately more similarities than differences between the provinces. Looking for differences requires a microscope.

Interesting thread.

I recently read somewhere political analysts arguing that Manitoba is more like Ontario than the rest of the Prairies (politically and economically). Of course, because more than 2/3 of the MB population resides in Winnipeg, this is really saying that Winnipeg is more like Ontario. I agree that southwestern MB is very much like the rest of the prairies in terms of politics and economy.

Winnipeg (and to some extent the Interlake, Red River Valley and Pembina triangle) area are more dependent on manufacturing than other parts of the prairies. Trade unionism is strong in Winnipeg (like ONT) but not in other parts of southern MB or SK.

The politics in Winnipeg tends to lean toward the centre (or centre left). In recent years, Winnipeg is like a microcosm for the national (read ONT) political scene (most WPG ridings went LIB this election).

Natural resources have always been a smaller slice of the economic pie in MB (compared to AB and SK), but Hydro is huge in Manitoba (more like BC, Quebec and Ontario than SK or AB). Am I right in thinking that there are no major hydroelectric dams in SK and AB?

Probably should have included a poll.

Kind of like how the Republican stronghold of North Dakota still has a state bank.

Minor Hydro in Sask - used for peak not base power loads as far as I know. I always thought the biggest natural resource in Manitoba was the federal government? Equalization and a disproportionate share of federal jobs (thanks Lloyd).