Putting the pancake pilgrimage in focus

It’s a simple enough recipe: one-and-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, one tablespoon of sugar, two-and-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt, one cup milk, one large egg and one tablespoon of canola oil.

That’s all you need, according to the Good Housekeeping test kitchen, to make the best pancakes ever. The secret, apparently, is not just what you put in the bowl: it’s also knowing not to mix the ingredients too thoroughly and also knowing the exact right time to flip the pancakes.

Only a small portion of the total ingredients is oil and even that oil can be replaced with melted, cooled unsalted butter.

The Good Housekeeping recipe says nothing about political leaders trekking halfway across the country to flip the pancakes on a Calgary Stampede griddle, often looking ridiculous in the process.

But in this country, oil and pancakes make for an interesting mix.

It happens almost every year, with prime ministers and opposition leaders heading to the Stampede to step up to the griddle, as well as wearing an obligatory cowboy hat and often being photographed awkwardly riding horses.

It is an Albertan political expectation — one which federal leaders dutifully satisfy, year in and year out. And yes, it’s a good spot for a little glad-handing, with big crowds and lots of partying Albertans.

But why does it seem that the province gets more slavish attention, not only at the pancake breakfast table, but at the federal-provincial negotiating table as well?

And why does Alberta always want more?

Because oil is money and money is power, Alberta has come to expect a kind of deference to its particular political desires that other provinces — outside of perhaps Quebec and Ontario — never seem to get.

Perhaps, as we head through the summer towards a fall referendum-on-a-referendum about Alberta separatism, it’s not the right time to point out that a lot of Alberta’s complaints about being ignored by federal politicians are being regularly abused by Alberta politicians to feather their own political nests.

After all, how many provinces feel they have a right to dictate and demand what is to happen in parts of the country that are clearly not under their jurisdiction? How dare, for example, British Columbia use their own provincial rights and jurisdiction to decide whether or not pipelines should cross their province?

It’s like listening to your rich neighbour complain about the high cost of insuring their massive house and cottage while you’re trying to find enough money to insure your 10-year-old beater. Hard-done-by Albertans complain about taxation on their natural resources inheritance while paying lower levels of sales tax, personal income tax and corporate income tax than almost any part of Canada. They get far more federal attention than you would expect their population of five million — one-eighth of Canada’s population of 41 million — would get.

And they regularly demand more — with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith now essentially saying her preferred option would be what looks perilously like special status for Alberta within the Canadian federation.

“I have repeatedly stated that the position of the UCP caucus, and UCP government, is to build a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” she told Albertans earlier this year.

Sovereign, in case you’ve missed it, is defined as “having the highest power or being completely independent.”

It’s not a recipe for a happy federation.

While we mostly hold our tongues and wait for the October outcome, it’s hard not to feel that, like dry pancakes, Alberta’s perennial complaints are perilously hard to swallow.