Harrumph.

Canadians are really good at grumbling about each other. So much so that someone once said that the national symbol of Canada should be the grouse rather than the beaver.

The inter-regional complaining has been a feature of the country since before Confederation in 1867. To help overcome this we built highways and railways from west to east; ribbons of steel and blacktop were going to be the ties that bound us together. To some extent the strategy worked. Despite its geographic and cultural differences, Canada has held together as a nation. Our federalist system has bent but not broken--yet.

But, regions still like to complain about other regions getting a better deal. For a long time the rivalry between Quebec and Ontario dominated Canada's political history. More recently, these power centres have been challenged by western Canada's growing economic/population base (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). Meanwhile, Atlantic Canada maintains its own struggle to wrest power from central Canada.

For almost 20 years these fault lines have shown up every time there's been an election. The last time a government was formed in Ottawa with a good balance of MPs from every region was 1988. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives captured 169 of the 295 seats and elected MPs from every province except Prince Edward Island. A prime minister with a balanced caucus can put together a balanced cabinet. Such a balance means that the views of every region of the country get an airing in the innermost circles of power. As this is written, another national vote is brewing, and it looks as though it will deliver a regionally split Parliament just as its recent predecessors have done.

Alberta will elect mostly Conservatives, possibly only Conservatives. The clear majority of MPs from Quebec will be from the Bloc Quebecois whose ambition it is to have their province separate from Canada. Ontario will send mostly Liberals to Ottawa, with a sprinkling of New Democrats and Conservatives. Elsewhere, there will be more balance in representation, but whoever forms a government will have to rely on a regional base.

The election result will lead to the usual griping from the regions about being ignored in the inner circles of power. Proportional representation could overcome this problem. National parties could pick their list of candidates to ensure a regional balance in government. Then, no one could grumble about being left out.

We could still all grouse about the weather though.