FIREWALL ALBERTA

What the spectre of Alberta separatism means for Canada

In October, members of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party (UCP) will elect a new leader who will then become Alberta’s next premier.

Lisa Young, Professor of Political Science, University of Calgary, University of Calgary \and Jared Wesley, Professor, Political Science, University of Alberta - 

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Edmonton demonstrators gather to protest against COVID-19 measures and support the 'freedom convoy' in February 2022. Research suggests Alberta separatist sentiments have as much to do with antipathy about the federal government and Justin Trudeau as actually leaving Confederation.

A defining issue in this leadership race is Alberta’s place in Canadian Confederation, with several contenders openly discussing “sovereignty,” “autonomy” and even “independence.”

Are Albertans really so keen to sever ties with the rest of Canada? Should Canadians pay much attention to the separatist movement in Alberta? To answer these questions, we looked at data from the recent Viewpoint Alberta survey.

© Author provided

An infographic that shows the key findings of the Viewpoint Alberta survey.

Separatism and the economy

Support for separation remains a minority view in the province, with one in five believing Alberta “should separate from Canada and form an independent country.”

This is a small base from which to build a province-wide following. Yet separatists make up one-third of UCP voters — a sizeable constituency for would-be leaders to court.


© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshBrian Jean is among those vying to replace outgoing Premier Jason Kenney. His campaign slogan is ‘Autonomy for Albertans.’

What motivates these Albertans to take such a drastic position?

Unlike sovereigntists in Québec motivated by a desire to protect their culture, we find Alberta separatists are preoccupied with fiscal and economic issues.

According to our research, Alberta’s separatist movement is also grounded more in party politics than it is in nationalism.

Separatists place themselves further to the right than other Albertans. They are more likely to support conservative political parties both federally and provincially. And they strongly dislike the federal government and Justin Trudeau.
How committed are Alberta separatists?

In our analysis, we found two clues that suggest support for separatism is less a heartfelt desire to form a new country and more a tactical expression of grievances.

The first is that most Albertans – including the separatists themselves – think separation is unlikely. Barely one in 10 separatists think Alberta independence is “very likely” or “will happen.”

The second clue is that the majority of the separatists (62 per cent) retain a sense of attachment to Canada. Separatists are simply angrier and more pessimistic about the country’s future.



Related video: 'Free Alberta Strategy' seeks to declare Alberta a sovereign jurisdiction

They haven’t turned their backs entirely on Canada; they feel it’s headed in the wrong direction and in need of radical reform. 

THEY WANT IT TO BE AMERICAN, REPUBLICAN AMERICA

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntoshPremier Jason Kenney serves pancakes at his last Stampede breakfast in Calgary on July 11. Kenney’s resignation set the stage for a United Conservative Party leadership race and several contenders are already discussing Alberta sovereignty.
Pessimism and mistrust

Most separatists’ worldviews are grounded in a sense of status loss and mistrust for institutions that has fuelled populist movements elsewhere in the world.


They are more likely to feel like they are falling behind others in society, and they have very little confidence in governments and elites. These suspicions drew most separatists into supporting the so-called freedom convoy that occupied Ottawa for weeks in February 2022.

Read more: What the truck? The 'freedom convoy' protesters are heading back to Ottawa

Separatists stood out in their belief that the most recent federal election was unfair. This may be because their favoured party lost despite winning more votes, or a belief in conspiracy theories spread by right-wing news outlets.

Whatever the reason, this low level of trust — combined with a deep sense of pessimism about the future — has sparked movements like Brexit and Trumpism in other parts of the world.

Separatism in Alberta

While support for separation is a minority view in Alberta, it’s not a fringe position. An overwhelming majority of separatists support the UCP provincially and make up a substantial part of its base of support.

EXCEPT THEY HAVE BEEN IN POWER IN ALBERTA FOR 44 YEARS AS THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVES, AND AS RIGHT WING BIBLE BELT SOCIAL CREDIT FOR 75 YEARS BEFORE THAT 


Danielle Smith, Wildrose leader in this 2014 photo, is now a leadership contender to replace Jason Kenney.

Such a large voting bloc is enticing to leadership contenders. Veiled promises to restore Alberta’s “sovereignty” or secure greater “autonomy” can help sell party memberships. They may even lead to victory in the UCP race, creating pressure for the winner to deliver on promises that are politically and constitutionally impossible.

But our research tells us that flirting with separatism is likely to fall flat — if not backfire entirely — during a provincial election.

The broader Alberta electorate is federalist. The majority do not support measures that would further divide the province from Canada.

Eighty per cent of Albertans reject separation, and solid majorities also oppose abandoning the Canada Pension Plan, the RCMP and federal income tax collection. Most opposed the “freedom convoy” and what it stood for, and the majority have confidence in most political institutions.

Candidates running for the UCP leadership have a choice. They can pay lip service to populist and sovereigntist positions to gain internal party support. Or they can resist that temptation with an eye to winning the next provincial election, preserving national unity and strengthening democratic institutions in the process.

Implications for Canada

Canadians outside Alberta should keep a careful eye on this dynamic. Even though they lack the profile of Québec sovereigntists, Alberta separatists are positioned to exert significant political influence on intergovernmental relations in the years to come.

How much influence depends on the commitments made by the eventual winner of the UCP leadership race, and the response from the rest of Canada to their push for a fairer deal in Confederation.

If the next premier is unable to deliver on their promises by securing meaningful concessions from the rest of Canada, separatists would be further alienated from the democratic process. Their disappointment might lead to further civil unrest like what we saw from the “freedom convoy,” adding fuel to the politics of resentment.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
Protests in Ottawa are a recurring disaster, affecting neighbourhoods and residents
Alberta budget means Albertans are trapped on a relentless fiscal rollercoaster ride

Jared Wesley receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Kule Institute for Advanced Study, and the Killam Trust.

Lisa Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2019/06/i-am-reposting-this-due-to-fact-old.html

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FIREWALL ALBERTA 

THE PHANTASM OF ALBERTA SEPARATISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD WITH UCP 

ALBERTA PREMIER TOP SEPARATIST

Alberta Separatists Accused of ‘Treason’ After Secret Meetings With Trump Officials

“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that,” said one provincial premier.


British Columbia Premier David Evy gestures toward a Canadian flag while meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a harbor tour on April 25, 2023 in Vancouver.
(Photo by Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jan 29, 2026

COMMON DREAMS

The leader of British Columbia on Thursday excoriated separatists in neighboring Alberta who met secretly on several occasions with officials from the administration of President Donald Trump, whose frequent talk of making Canada the “51st state” has tanked relations with the US’ northern neighbor.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that leaders of the right-wing Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), who want the fossil fuel-rich province to become an independent nation, were welcomed for three meetings with Trump officials in Washington, DC since last April.

APP is reportedly seeking US assistance, including a $500 billion line of credit from the US Treasury Department to help bankroll an independent Alberta, if any potential independence referendum succeeds.

According to the CBC:
Organizers of the Alberta independence movement are collecting signatures in order to trigger a referendum in that province. The pro-independence campaign has been traveling across the province as organizers try to collect nearly 178,000 signatures over the next few months.

“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason,” British Columbia Premier David Eby, who leads the center-left BC New Democratic Party, said in Ottawa.

“It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power and—with respect—a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty,” Eby continued.

“I think that while we can respect the right of any Canadian to express themselves to vote in a referendum, I think we need to draw the line at people seeking the assistance of foreign countries to break up this beautiful land of ours,” he added.

APP co-founder Dennis Modry told the Financial Times Wednesday that the separatist movement is “not treasonous.”

“What could be more noble than the pursuit of self-determination, the pursuit of your goals and aspirations, the pursuit of freedom and prosperity?” he asked.

Trump and some of his senior officials have repeatedly expressed their desire to annex Canada, despite polite but vehement Canadian rejection of such a union. Trump’s coveting of Canada comes amid his threats to acquire Greenland by any means necessary, his planning for a possible Panama Canal takeover, and his attacks on Venezuela, Iran, Nigeria, and other countries.

Last week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent poured more fuel on the fire by seemingly encouraging Albertan separatism.

“They have great resources. Albertans are a very independent people,” Bessent said during a media interview. “Rumor [is] that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not... People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith of the province’s United Conservative Party said Thursday that she “supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” even as critics—including Indigenous leaders—accuse her of making it easier for a pro-independence petition to succeed last year.



Smith said the she expects US officials to “confine their discussion about Alberta’s democratic process to Albertans and to Canadians.”

With Trump administration watching, Canada oil hub faces separatist bid


By AFP
January 29, 2026


A view of the Horizon CNRL oil sands site in Fort McMurray in Canada's Alberta province, where an independence movement has been bubbling - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Ian Willms

Ty Ferguson with Ben Simon in Toronto

On a frigid night in Canada’s oil capital, Jordan Fritz joined a rally of thousands for a separatist movement once considered a sideshow, but which is now drawing interest from US President Donald Trump’s administration.

“We need the Americans’ support,” said Fritz, a burly, bearded man with the flag of Alberta — western Canada’s oil-rich province — draped around his shoulders.

“We need pipelines here in Alberta. We need them to be built. We need them to flow oil, and if the Canadian government isn’t going to help us with that, I’m sure the Americans will,” Fritz told AFP at a Calgary roadhouse.

Unlike the decades-old, highly organized independence movement in French-speaking Quebec, Alberta’s fractious separatist camp has not previously threatened Canadian unity.

Western Canadian resentment of eastern political elites is not new, but political scientist Frederic Boily said the idea of an independent Alberta only began to crystallize around 2018.

Albertans broadly opposed then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, viewing his climate-conscious government as hostile to an oil and gas sector crucial to the local and Canadian economies.

“It was at first mainly an economic idea, about no longer paying for the rest of Canada,” Boily, a professor at the University of Alberta, said of Alberta’s independence movement.

Trudeau is gone, replaced by Prime Minister Mark Carney — an Albertan who has backed initiatives to support the oil industry, drawing scorn from environmental groups.

But despite those shifts, the province’s independence push is more prominent than ever and may secure the right to a referendum this year.

Elections Alberta has approved a citizens’ petition initiative from a group called the Alberta Prosperity Project.

If the group collects 178,000 signatures by May 2, they will be on track to secure an independence vote this fall.



– ‘Natural’ US partner –



Current polling indicates the separatists would lose. A January 23 Ipsos survey found just 28 percent of Albertans would vote to secede.

The possible significance of interventions from Washington remains unclear, but Boily said: “It’s certain that the agitation south of the border has an impact on what is happening in Alberta.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent offered veiled backing for Alberta’s independence last week.

“Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they won’t let them build a pipeline to the Pacific,” Bessent said.

“I think we should let them come down into the US, and Alberta is a natural partner for the US. They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people.”

Reporters asked Carney on Thursday about Bessent’s comments and a Financial Times report that State Department officials had met with Alberta separatists multiple times.

“I expect the US administration to respect Canadian sovereignty,” Carney said.

In response to a question about the Alberta meetings, a senior State Department official told AFP Thursday: “The Department regularly meets with civil society types. As is typical in routine meetings such as these, no commitments were made.”



– All about oil –



Some at the roadhouse rally wore cowboy hats. Others, like Jesse Woodroof, had on baseball caps that said “Alberta Republic.”

Woodroof told AFP his ancestors arrived in what is now Canada “hundreds and hundreds of years” ago.

He voiced concern about “immigrants pouring into this country,” and implied that a sovereign Alberta would take a different approach.

Jennifer Wiebe — her daughter resting against her chest — said: “Alberta could be more prosperous and free on our own.”

While the views expressed may vary, conversations about Alberta independence typically circle back to oil.

Right-wing Premier Danielle Smith, an outspoken oil industry advocate who despised Trudeau’s leadership, has said she supports “Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada.”

Speaking on her weekend radio program, Smith implied the motivation for independence has diminished because Ottawa appears open to a new pipeline.

“I’m forging a new relationship with Canada. We’ve got a new leader, we’ve got a new prime minister… and we seem to have common cause on trying to get a new pipeline built,” she said.

The leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, Yves‑Francois Blanchet, drew smirks with his May critique of Alberta’s prospective independence.

“The first idea is to define oneself as a nation,” he said, adding nations need “a culture of their own.”

“I am not sure that oil and gas qualifies to define a culture.”

SEPARATIST ALBERTA PREMIER

Smith says caucus members can sign any petition they want to, including on separation

By Spencer Van Dyk
Updated: February 01, 2026

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says members of her caucus can sign whatever petitions they want to, including one pushing for a referendum on the province’s independence from Canada.

“I don’t police the responses of my MLAs, they can sign whatever petition that they want,” Smith told CTV Question Period host, Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday, adding she doesn’t know whether any of her caucus members have signed such a petition.

“But I would say that my approach, and the approach of our caucus as a united caucus, has been to support a sovereign Alberta within united Canada,” Smith added. “That means the federal government respects our areas of jurisdiction, just as we respect their areas of jurisdiction. I think we’re moving in the right direction on that, but not completely.”

READ MORE: ‘Very high level’: Alberta separatist group won’t say which Trump officials it met with

The push for a referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada appears to be gaining steam, with petition drives being held across the province in recent weeks. Separatists argue Alberta is not, and has not been treated fairly by Ottawa when it comes to natural resource development and equalization, among other issues.

Jeffrey Rath, legal counsel for the Alberta Prosperity Project and one of the people leading the charge on a push for separation, has said Alberta MLAs in Smith’s caucus have signed the petition endorsing the idea of separating from Canada.

Smith told Kapelos she’s conveyed to Prime Minister Mark Carney that a way to “bring the temperature down” would be to recognize that some Liberal policies are very unpopular in some parts of the country compared to others. She cited the federal firearm buyback program as an example.

Last year, Smith’s government passed legislation to reduce the threshold for a petition to trigger a referendum. The legislation both significantly reduces the number of signatures required, and extends the time period for signatures to be collected.

READ MORE: Alberta separatist says members of Smith’s caucus have signed referendum petition

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith holds a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick (Sean Kilpatrick)

In order to move to a referendum on the question, a petition must have just shy of 178,000 signatures by May.

Asked whether she regrets changing the law to make it easier for petition to call for a referendum, given how the situation is unfolding with the push for separation, Smith said: “No.”

She said there are other referenda in the works, on other issues and called the change “a mechanism for citizens to move on issues that the government does not have on their agenda.”

Rath, meanwhile, confirmed to Kapelos — also in an interview on CTV Question Period airing Sunday — that his group has had meetings with U.S. officials over the past year to discuss the possibility of Alberta’s separation from Canada, though he wouldn’t say which members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration they have spoken with directly.

B.C. Premier David Eby said this week following a meeting of Canada’s premiers that a separatist group meeting with members of a foreign government amounts to “treason.”

Speaking at the same press conference, Smith said she and her caucus are “supportive of a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”

But she added she believes Alberta was “relentlessly attacked” by former prime minister Justin Trudeau, and that governments at both the provincial and federal level need to give Albertans “hope” and show them “not just words, but with actions, that Canada can work.”

Asked again whether she believes it’s okay for members of her caucus to sign a separatist petition, regardless of whether she or her MLAs are empathetic with the sentiment that is underpinning the push for independence, Smith said she doesn’t know any MLAs who have signed a petition.

“I don’t know anyone who has signed it, so I don’t know how to answer that,” Smith said.

READ MORE: Danielle Smith steers clear of separatism as she addresses federal Conservatives in Calgary

“As soon as you tell me which caucus members have signed (the petition), we can have a conversation,” she later said. “I just don’t know that any have signed, so we’re talking about a hypothetical situation I don’t even know exists.”

Pressed again on whether her caucus should make it clear that the party wants the province to remain part of Canada, Smith said: “We need to see some action on the part of the part of the federal government.

“I’m sympathetic to the million Albertans who have lost hope that this isn’t a real change of heart on the federal government’s part, that it was a last-minute deathbed conversion to try to avoid losing an election,” Smith said, in reference to Trudeau’s resignation and his replacement with Carney.

She added it’s important to see the federal government following through on its commitments to Alberta, and pointed to the recently signed memorandum of understanding between the two governments outlining the conditions that need to be met for a new oil pipeline to the Pacific to proceed.

With files from CTV News’ Stephanie Ha

Spencer Van Dyk
Writer & Producer, Ottawa News Bureau, CTV News

BC Premier Eby says reported Alberta separatists meeting with U.S. officials amounts to ‘treason’

ByMike Le Couteur
andAbigail Bimman


Published: January 29, 2026 at 9:51AM EST


B.C.’s premier didn’t mince words when asked what he thought about a meeting between Alberta separatists and White House officials.

B.C. Premier David Eby called meetings between members of an Alberta separatist group and officials in the Trump administration “treason” Thursday morning.

Eby says he planned on bringing up the issue at the First Ministers Meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other premiers in Ottawa today.

Eby refused to describe the people who had the meeting as Albertans, saying that people from that province “overwhelmingly want to stay in Canada.”

B.C. Premier David Eby speaks with reporters before the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The B.C. premier said he respects the desire to hold a referendum in Alberta and for people to exercise their right to free speech, but he believes the meeting crosses the line.

“There’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is ‘treason,’” said Eby. “It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to seek to go and ask for assistance to break up this country from a foreign power and, with respect, a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada’s sovereignty.”

Legal counsel for the group Stay Free Alberta, Jeffery Rath, says they met with U.S. officials three times last year, in July, September and December. Rath calls Eby’s comments “ludicrous.”


“We were there on a fact-finding basis, there’s nothing treasonous about it,” Rath told CTV News.

The sovereigntist group confirms it was conducting a feasibility study with Trump officials and other financial institutions about $500 billion in credit facility in the event of a successful referendum on Alberta independence.

“That’s what we’re working on, I mean, to determine whether that that facility would be available on a going-forward-basis,” Rath said. “Whether it’s with U.S. Treasury or Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan through a bond issue, or whatever,” Rath said.

A senior U.S. State Department official wouldn’t confirm any type of request for $500 billion, but told CTV News on background, “The Department regularly meets with civil society types. As is typical in routine meetings such as these, no commitments were made.”

A similar comment from the White House, where another official -- also speaking on background -- said the administration meets with civil society groups and that no commitments were conveyed.

Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith arrives for a Council of the Federation meeting with Canadian premiers in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Eby also called on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and other premiers to call out the meeting as “unacceptable conduct.”

While reiterating that she supported a “strong and sovereign Alberta within Canada,” Smith did not describe the meetings as treasonous.

“I would expect that the U.S. administration would respect Canadian sovereignty, and that they would confine their discussion about Alberta’s democratic process to Albertans and to Canadians,” Smith told reporters at a news conference with all premiers and the prime minister.

She also noted she’ll raise the issue with her Alberta delegate in Washington, so he can raise it with members of the Trump administration.

That sentiment around sovereignty was echoed by Carney when he was asked to comment on the actions of the separatist group.

“I would expect the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty. I’m always clear my conversation with President Trump to that effect, and then move on to what we can do together,” said Carney.

Recently, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called Alberta a “natural partner for the U.S.,” adding the western province should be allowed to expand oil shipments through the U.S.

The prime minister would not specifically answer a question as to whether he thought these recent events amounted to foreign interference by the U.S.

Ontario’s Doug Ford described the meeting as “going behind Canada’s back” at a time when he says the country should be sticking together.

“We all know where President Trump stands. He wants Canada, and that’s not going to happen,” Ford told reporters. “I don’t know about treason, it’s unacceptable, it’s unethical.”

“This is an opportunity for Premier Smith to stand up and say enough is enough,” said the premier.

On her radio show earlier this week, Smith pushed back on any notion of Alberta separatists being interested in joining the U.S.

“I would say, when I talk to people (Canadians) who are frustrated with the way we’ve (Albertans) been treated (by Ottawa) for the past 10 years, they don’t say, ‘therefore I want to be an American state.’ That is not what I am hearing.

“They (separatist Albertans) want a new relationship with Canada. And that’s what I’m doing,” she said.

The Alberta independence movement has been collecting signatures, with the goal of initiating a provincial referendum on whether Alberta should separate from Canada.

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt speaks with reporters before the First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

While supporting the right of people to express themselves in a free and democratic country, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt believes Albertans will choose to stay in Canada.

“I think you’re talking about a minority of people who are agitating, and I am very optimistic that the majority of Albertans will demonstrate their love for this country and their desire to be a part of it and whatever comes next.”

In a more light-hearted moment, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew noted that all of the referendum talk makes him want to hold one in his province. “Except in Manitoba, the question is going to be; do you want to stay a part of Canada? And the two choices are going to be ‘yeah’ and ‘Heck yeah!’”

With files from CTV News Calgary’s Stephen Hunt and CTV Calgary’s Tyler Barrow

Mike Le Couteur

Senior Political Correspondent, CTV National News

Abigail Bimman
Correspondent, CTV National News

Inside the Right-Wing Movement Pushing Alberta to Secede From Canada


Trump officials have repeatedly met with secessionist leaders from the province, which has large oil and gas deposits.

By Nora Loreto , 

Truthout

PublishedFebruary 9, 2026

A member of the public wears a "Make Alberta Great Again" hat during the Help Us Make Sovereignty for Alberta Happen event organized by the Alberta Prosperity Project in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, on March 16, 2025.

Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images


Honest, paywall-free news is rare. Please support our boldly independent journalism with a donation of any size.

Aseparation movement in the Canadian province of Alberta claims to be gaining steam, and its leaders say they now have a meeting booked with U.S. Treasury Department officials. They will be asking for a line of credit worth $500 billion in U.S. currency to help transition Alberta from a Canadian province into a U.S. state.

Led by businessman Mitch Sylvestre, the Alberta Prosperity Project has launched a petition through a campaign called Stay Free Alberta to build support for a referendum to separate from Canada. The group has no official support from any of the elected parties in Alberta.

Behind its rallying cry of faith, family, and freedom, the Alberta Prosperity Project wants a new constitution for Albertans — one “that recognizes the Supremacy of God as foundational to Civil Society and the Rule of Law.”

Unlike in the province of Quebec, where separatist leaders hold elected office, Alberta’s separatist movement has no formal foothold in its province’s politics. Quebec, an overwhelmingly French-speaking province, is the only jurisdiction in Canada with a sizable sovereignty movement. That province had referenda in 1980 and 1995 that asked whether or not Quebecers wanted to separate from Canada, the latter narrowly failing. The separatist political party, Parti Québécois, is expected to form the next provincial government, and has promised a referendum in its first mandate.

Officially, the governing United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is not advocating for sovereignty. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she wants Alberta to remain in Canada. However, the idea of sovereignty has been used by the UCP to try to push forward policies that the government of Alberta supports, especially related to oil and gas. On February 4, Smith issued a letter demanding that Alberta be given more say over judicial appointments. She also questioned why three judges of the nine on the nation’s Supreme Court came from Quebec (Quebec is governed under the Civil Code and not Common Law. As such, it has more representation at the Supreme Court for when Civil Code matters arise).


Mark Carney Warns “American Hegemony” Is Destroying World Order in Candid Speech
States like Canada have long known the current system of international rules-based order is a “fiction,” Carney said.  By Sharon Zhang , Truthout January 20, 2026

Smith is using the sovereigntist movement to try to extract gains from Ottawa but is not formally supporting the movement. When pressed by journalists about members of her caucus having signed the pro-separation petition, Smith told the Canadian press that she doesn’t “police” members of her caucus and they’re free to sign whatever petitions they would like.

At the end of 2022, the UCP passed an act called the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act. It allows the Alberta government to challenge federal laws that it believes are an overreach into provincial jurisdiction (though the Canadian Constitution already allows for this). The UCP has also lowered the threshold of signatures required to trigger a referendum and extended the period of time to collect signatures. The separatists would need to have almost 178,000 signatures by May for a referendum to go ahead. There are 5 million people who live in the province.

The separatists would need to have almost 178,000 signatures by May for a referendum to go ahead.

Jeremy Appel, author of a forthcoming book about Smith, says there has been a sovereignty movement in Alberta going back to when the province first joined Canada in 1905. From the beginning, the movement was mostly concerned with fighting to maintain provincial control over Alberta’s resources. Then, the federal government created the National Energy Program in the 1980s, which gave Ottawa more control over oil and gas in Alberta, to the chagrin of many Albertans.

Appel believes that the sovereignty movement has its roots in this history but projects its discontent on the ruling status quo. “Canada’s state institutions have been completely hollowed out by neoliberalism and Smith is responding to this wave of anger and discontent stemming from that by … displacing the causes onto ‘woke’ liberals in Ottawa and Montreal,” he explained.

Separatist sentiment rises when Liberal Party politicians are elected in Ottawa, and they tend to be calmed when Conservative Party politicians are in office, he added.

While polls show that popular support for sovereignty in Alberta is on the rise, there is also considerable opposition. Former Progressive Conservative provincial representative for Alberta, Thomas Lukaszuk, recently filed a petition to remain part of Canada. His petition collected 438,568 signatures and was submitted to the legislative assembly on December 1, 2025, one month before the deadline. If it meets the deadline with the required number of signatures, the question about separatism will be put to Albertans in a referendum.

Alberta Prosperity Project leaders have met with U.S. State Department officials at least three times.

The Financial Times reports that Alberta Prosperity Project leaders have met with U.S. State Department officials at least three times.

Prime Minister Mark Carney reacted to the news that Trump officials had met with the sovereignty activists, saying, “I expect the U.S. administration to respect Canadian sovereignty.”

Appel points to the fact that it isn’t just separation activists who are meeting with U.S. officials. Premier Danielle Smith travelled to Mar-a-Lago in January 2025, 10 days before Donald Trump’s inauguration. Smith’s current Chief of Staff Rob Anderson is a former member of the province’s legislative assembly and an Albertan separatist who has an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in Utah. On social media, Anderson said the current movement to secede was triggered by Albertans’ hatred for former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

British Columbia Premier David Eby reacted to this news by saying this to CBC: “If you are crossing a border to seek the support of a foreign government to break up our country because you don’t have the support and the resources and the ability within our own country to advance that conversation, and you’re asking the Americans or any other government, I mean that is the definition of treason.”

Trump has consistently referred to Canada as the 51st state, and this group of separatist activists might give the president some of what he wants. With the U.S. administration already meddling in Venezuela over access to oil reserves, Alberta could serve a similar purpose for Trump, giving the United States access to another large deposit of oil and gas. Appel believes that this movement could easily serve as a toehold for the Trump administration to get into Canada.

Trump has consistently referred to Canada as the 51st state, and this group of separatist activists might give the president some of what he wants.

Canada and the United States have a deeply intertwined energy market. In 2023, 21 percent of all Canadian hydrocarbon exports went to the United States, worth some $163 billion in Canadian currency. Of the crude oil that the United States imported, nearly 60 percent came from Canada and almost 100 percent of the natural gas came from Canada.

Alberta produces around 84 percent of Canada’s crude oil. More than any other province, Alberta relies on the United States to purchase its oil.
First Nations leaders have been outspoken against the Alberta sovereignty movement. At a press conference, Trevor Mercredi, grand chief of Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta, said: “Our treaties are with the imperial crown, not with the province of Alberta. Alberta has never been party to the treaties and has no jurisdiction over our lands.”

“I’m calling on all international nations and communities to support the First Nations movement in Alberta, to tell the Alberta government that what they are doing is unconstitutional, and that the foreign interference has to stop,” said Chief Allan Adam from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.

Nora Loreto is a writer and activist based in Quebec City. She is also the president of the Canadian Freelance Union.

HOORAY ANOTHER SPLIT ON THE RIGHT

'We can learn from Quebec': Alberta separatists look to the Bloc as Conservative support wanes

Jesse Snyder

© Provided by National Post Western alienation is about as old as the province of Alberta itself.

CAYLEY, ALTA. — Western separatists, dismayed by the current direction of Erin O’Toole’s Conservative Party this election, are drawing inspiration from an unlikely source: the Bloc Québécois.

“We can learn from Quebec,” said Jay Hill, interim leader of the Maverick Party, formerly known as Wexit Canada.

Resentments among some in the West toward Ottawa continue to run high in Western provinces, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where frustrations are mounting over a perceived lack of appreciation for its oil and gas industry and a federal transfer system that has starved the West of much-needed revenues.

In response, prairie separatists are seeking to establish a party that, similar to the Bloc, would act exclusively in the interests of the West as a way to elevate its profile within the federation and push for policies more supportive of a fossil fuel-based economy. Their bid comes as Liberal leader Justin Trudeau seeks to re-establish a majority government on election day Sept. 20, and as support among right-leaning voters for the Conservative Party of Canada has waned.

To ensure a purely Western orientation, the Maverick Party’s 27 candidates are running solely in prairie provinces and northern territories. Their pitch is simple: for decades, voters in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and mainland B.C. have almost uniformly supported a common vision, only to stand by as Ottawa crafts policies that appease the desires of Quebec and Ontario. The only antidote, they say, is true regional representation.

“Wrapping ourselves in the Maple Leaf Flag only ensures, as patriots, that we will continue to be abused by central and eastern Canada,” said Hill, a former member of Parliament for the Conservatives for 17 years.

Hill, a self-proclaimed “slow learner,” said he has since changed his tune on Canada’s parliamentary system, and is now seeking to consolidate a disgruntled Western voter base that has come to question its place in confederation. That involves proposing a softer version of separation, something like “separation-lite” that favours gradually shaving down Ottawa’s centralized power base and establishing a more distinct Western region.

It could prove a steep climb. Even in Alberta, where separatist sentiment is most prominent, alternative candidates are polling well below mainstream parties. Even so, their numbers are already high enough to influence races at the riding level.

In a recent Leger poll, a measly nine per cent of Alberta respondents said they intended to vote for alternative parties, roughly split between the separatist Maverick Party and Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada (PPC), which offers a more bare-knuckled populism than strict Western-first policy. Conservative support in the province, meanwhile, sits at 47 per cent, followed by the Liberals (24 per cent) and NDP (17 per cent).

© Al Charest/Postmedia/File Maverick Party interim leader Jay Hill: “Wrapping ourselves in the Maple Leaf Flag only ensures, as patriots, that we will continue to be abused by central and eastern Canada.”

Still, Western-oriented parties see opportunities to make major gains this election, as conservative voters’ grudging support for O’Toole remains low. According to the same Leger poll, just 24 per cent of Albertans thought O’Toole would make the best prime minister of all leaders, compared with 16 per cent for Justin Trudeau. That actually marked a substantial improvement from a separate Leger poll two weeks earlier, where just 15 per cent of voters chose O’Toole as best potential prime minister, several points behind both Jagmeet Singh and Trudeau.

“Even though a lot of people are voting for Mr. O’Toole, there’s not necessarily a bunch of enthusiasm for him,” said Andrew Enns, executive vice-president at Leger.

Western separatists, for their part, say O’Toole in particular has gone too far to appeal to the East, causing the Conservatives to adopt policies that they view as directly opposed to their interests or at best represent a watered-down conservatism that is hard to distinguish from the Liberals.

“That’s the difference between the Maverick Party and the Conservative Party of Canada: we have one stakeholder, and that’s Western Canada,” Josh Wylie, the Maverick Party’s candidate in the Foothills riding of southern Alberta, said during a recent rally in Cayley, Alta. “There is no conflict, there is no confusion. We can be very clear about who we represent and how we represent them.”

Around 60 attendees are packed into the small community hall in Cayley, a hamlet south of Calgary situated in the middle of a sea of canola and barley.

The event, which perplexingly begins with the singing of Canada’s national anthem, exhibits a deep distaste for Ottawa’s treatment of other provinces, most notably Quebec. A mix of ranchers, farmers, and other blue-collar workers in attendance audibly groan as the Maverick candidate references Trudeau’s recent decision to transfer $6 billion to Quebec without conditions, ostensibly to cover childcare costs.
John Ivison: Maverick Party stands alone in push for Western independence — for now
Why you're wrong if you think Wexit is just 'an Alberta thing'
The rise of western alienation ... again

Wylie, a square-jawed oilpatch consultant and former Conservative voter, tells his supporters that these sorts of policies have continued even after nearly every seat in Alberta and Saskatchewan went in support of Andrew Scheer following the 2019 election.

“We swept Alberta and Saskatchewan, we did what we were supposed to do at the time,” he says. “And in return for that loyalty that we showed to that party, we got Erin O’Toole and a carbon tax in their policy platform.”

Their frustrations extend beyond the energy sector. One cattle farmer in attendance says severe drought this season has obliterated his hay harvest, reducing his total output from 1,208 bales last year to just 67. While Western farmers in Canada have not been able to access government supports to make up the losses, he says, U.S. officials have offered payouts to farmers in Montana and elsewhere, who have in turn bought up the already-dwindling hay supplies in Canada and in turn caused a further spike in prices.

Among those in attendance, there is a common and repeated sense that a similar neglect would not take place under a more Western-oriented government.

At the root of their broader distaste around how wealth is distributed within the Canadian federation — most notably through transfer programs like equalization — that have remained unchanged even in times of Conservative rule.

“It didn’t really matter who we voted in for the [Conservative] party, it just seemed like they got mixed up with Eastern elites,” said Murray Williamson, an 83-year-old real estate agent selling farm land in the region. “The biggest thing right now is equalization.”

Angered voters often take particular umbrage with the federal equalization program, established after the Second World War as a way to ensure a more equitable fiscal balance among provinces. The Fiscal Stabilization Program, a much smaller transfer program designed to counteract provincial revenue losses, has also become a target of Western leaders, most notably Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who has made the issue a central piece of his appeal to voters.

Alberta pays an average of about $20 billion into equalization each year, a number regularly cited by frustrated Western voters. According to Fairness Alberta, an activist group, the province has contributed $324 billion more to Ottawa than it received in return during the two decades between 2000 and 2020.

Kenney commissioned a “Fair Deal Panel” that, in its final report last July, recommended Alberta “press strenuously” to reverse recent changes to fiscal stabilization, and push ahead with a referendum on equalization.

Many observers have said the referendum amounts to nothing more than political theatre, while economists, for their part, largely argue that frustrations over equalization are misplaced.

Alberta has a higher proportion of wealthy people than other provinces, so it contributes more under the program’s per-capita formula. Its relative young population also means that it receives a smaller chunk of major transfers like elderly benefits.

Despite all the angst over equalization and carbon taxes, separatist feelings in the West are lower today than they were following the 2019 election, according to Duane Bratt, professor at Mount Royal University.

Western resentments were running high when First Nations groups blockaded a number of major railway crossings in early 2020 in protest of the building of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline through traditional Wet’suwet’en lands. At the same time, Vancouver-based mining giant Teck Resources had shelved its $20-billion Frontier oilsands mine, raising fresh doubts over the Liberals’ updated regulatory regime for oil and gas projects.

But the COVID-19 pandemic, Bratt said, put a damper on those resentments and rearranged voter priorities.

“It’s not as powerful a force as it was then, and it sure hasn’t gained momentum,” he said.

Still, Western alienation is about as old as the province of Alberta itself, and is not about to disappear.

Soon after joining the Canadian federation, Alberta and Saskatchewan were protesting Ottawa’s threats to remove freight subsidies on the Canadian Pacific Railway that would have hiked prices for farmers transporting their crops. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba all fought for years for control over their natural resources, which was eventually granted through a series of legislative changes in 1930.

Today, similar sentiments are manifested in an exasperation over Alberta’s battered oil industry. That is often reflected in its inability over the last 20 years to build major export pipelines, which have depressed prices for Canadian crude and sapped the province of tens of billions in foregone revenue. New federal environmental policies only layer on new restrictions, according to some.

The Maverick Party and People’s Party of Canada have been railing against Ottawa’s carbon tax, now set to rise to $170 per tonne by 2030, saying it raises household costs in Canada while failing to curb pollution from some of the world’s largest emitters, like China. Supporters of the tax, meanwhile, say it’s the most efficient way to lower emissions in a world where sea levels are rapidly rising and atmospheric temperatures are gradually ticking upward

.

© Supplied Maverick Party’s candidate Josh Wylie: “That’s the difference between the Maverick Party and the Conservative Party of Canada: we have one stakeholder, and that’s Western Canada. There is no conflict.”

The Liberal government’s Bill C-69, which updated the regulatory review process for major projects, and C-48, which banned oil tankers from docking at ports along the northern half of the B.C. coast, are also viewed as explicit attacks on the West.

O’Toole has also promised to repeal both bills and has voiced support for Canada’s oil and gas industry. He has been decidedly more cautious about his position toward the separatist elements of the Conservative’s Western base.

Just one day after the Maverick Party’s rally in Cayley, O’Toole was in Quebec City presenting voters with a 10-point promise to Quebec nationals, who he said would be fully supported within a Conservative government.

“All Quebec nationalists are welcome in the Conservative party,” he said . “It is your home.”

His promises largely mirrored some of the requests that have been tabled in the west, including a pledge to give Quebec more control over immigration, a single tax return, and a commitment to stay out of provincial policies like its secularism bill, which outlaws government workers from wearing religious symbols.

Western separatists, if given the chance, say they would potentially create a Western-specific police force, similar to the Sûreté du Québec, or push for looser gun restrictions through a provincial Chief Firearms Officer.

It remains unclear whether Albertans, angry as they may be, will be wiling to support a pair of parties currently polling at around five per cent, and who held no seats in the House of Commons during the last Parliamentary session.

Others say they fear vote-splitting — a worry that the Maverick Party has sought to address directly by running candidates only in ridings where the Tories are dominant. In the Foothills riding, for example, Conservative John Barlow won 82 per cent of the vote, while the second-place Liberal candidate won just 5.8 per cent. The People’s Party of Canada, meanwhile, is currently running 249 candidates across the country.

The Mavericks have also sought to distinguish themselves from the PPC by steering away from more sensitive social issues like immigration and abortion, and have proposed a softer approach to separatism than its most hardcore supporters might desire.

All 27 Maverick candidates have signed agreements stating that they would not table private member’s bills on the topic of abortion. They would be free to vote as they like if such a bill was presented by another party.

“We want to be as inclusive as possible,” Hill said.

Rather than outright separation, the party proposes a so-called “two track” system, under which it would first put forward a series of smaller policy positions that would weaken Ottawa’s influence over the region and, according to the party, allow more autonomy for the West.

“Of course, there’s no procedure or mechanism to allow us to leave right now even if the majority supported that. So, somehow we have to bring along the majority of Westerners to the idea that we’ve tried everything possible to convince the rest of Canada to change.”

The Mavericks and PPC could be viewed as two factions of the now-defunct Reform Party, which was folded into the “big umbrella” Conservative Party in 2000. The PPC is more focused on fiscal restraint and social conservatism while the Mavericks are more strictly interested in constitutional issues and equalization.

Together they represent a conservative movement that has thus far struggled to establish itself in Canada’s parliamentary system. And seeing its own shortcomings, Hill said, they are now trying to model themselves after their sworn enemy: the Bloc Québécois and the province of Quebec.

“Who can realistically argue that the Bloc hasn’t been successful for the last 30 years?”

• Email: jsnyder@postmedia.com | Twitter: jesse_snyder

From now until the bitter end of Election 44, the National Post is publishing a special daily edition of First Reading, our politics newsletter, to keep you posted on the ins and outs (and way outs) of the campaign. All curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper and published Monday to Friday at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9 a.m. Sign up here.

Alberta NDP says premier's rejection of federal authority lays separation groundwork

Yesterday 5:00 p.m.

EDMONTON — Alberta’s NDP Opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith's comments rejecting the legitimacy of the federal government betray her unspoken plan to lay the groundwork for eventual separation.


Alberta NDP says premier's rejection of federal authority lays separation groundwork© Provided by The Canadian Press

Rachel Notley cited Smith’s comments to the house just before members passed her sovereignty bill earlier Thursday, in which Smith rejected the federal government’s overarching authority.

“It's not like Ottawa is a national government,'' Smith told the house at 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

UH YES IT IS

"The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign, independent jurisdictions.  WRONG THIS IS THE AMERICAN STATES CONFEDERACY IDEOLOGY

ALBERTA AND SASKATCHEWAN WERE GRANTED PROVINCIAL POWERS FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

They are one of those signatories to the Constitution and the rest of us, as signatories to the Constitution, have a right to exercise our sovereign powers in our own areas of jurisdiction.”

Notley, speaking to reporters, said, “At 12:30 last night when she thought nobody was listening, the veil was lifted and Danielle Smith’s interest in genuinely pursuing initial steps toward separation were revealed.

“(They) demonstrate that her view is actually that which is aligned with these fringe separatist wannabes like folks who drafted the Free Alberta Strategy.

“Those comments are utterly chaos-inducing.”

Free Alberta Strategy was a 2021 policy paper drafted in part by Smith’s current top adviser Rob Anderson.

The authors of the paper argue that federal laws, policies and overreach are mortally wounding Alberta's development.

They urge a two-track strategy to assert greater autonomy for Alberta within Confederation, while simultaneously laying the policy and administrative groundwork to transition Alberta to separation and sovereignty should negotiations fail. 

AND OF COURSE WITH MANY AMERICANS IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA WE KNOW WHERE A SEPERATE ALBERTA WILL GO

The strategy was the genesis for Smith’s controversial sovereignty bill that stipulates the Alberta legislature, rather than the courts, can pass judgment on what is constitutional when it comes to provincial jurisdiction.

The bill also grants cabinet the power to direct municipalities, city police forces, health regions and schools to resist implementing federal laws.

During question period, Smith rejected accusations the bill is a separatist Trojan Horse, noting its intent is contained in the title.

“The name of the bill is Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act,” said Smith.

“The (act) has nothing to do with leaving the country. It has everything to do with resetting the relationship (with the federal government).”

Related video: Alberta passes Sovereignty Act, strips out sweeping powers for cabinet (cbc.ca)

Duration 3:54 View on Watch

Political scientist Jared Wesley said it appears constitutional chaos and baiting the federal government are the actual aims.

“When you start to deny the legitimacy of the federal government, that is part of the worrying trend that ties all of this to the convoy movement and the separatists,” said Wesley, with the University of Alberta.

“Albertans need to know those comments are inappropriate and misleading at best and sparking a national unity crisis at worst. Sooner or later, someone’s going to believe her.”

Wesley added that there is a sentiment among a small group of people in Alberta, including the premier, who "are just tired of losing and don’t want to play the game anymore," he said.

“The sad thing is that that game is democracy and the rule book is the Constitution, and they’re just ignoring all of it now."

Political scientist Duane Bratt said Smith was not describing Canadian federalism.

“She is confusing the European Union with Canada,” said Bratt, with Mount Royal University in Calgary. “Canada is not made up of sovereign provinces. We share sovereignty between orders of government.”

Political scientist Lori William, also with Mount Royal University, said the comment “betrays a profound lack of understanding of Canada, of federalism, of what powers belong to the federal and provincial governments.”

During question period, Smith waved away Opposition demands that she refer the bill to Alberta’s Court of Appeal to determine if it is onside with the Constitution.

Smith told the house that Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, a lawyer, wrote the bill and that the government received independent advice from constitutional lawyers to ensure it was not offside.

“The constitutionality of this bill is not in question,” Smith said.

The bill was introduced by Smith a week ago as centrepiece legislation to pursue a more confrontational approach with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government on a range of issues deemed to be overreach in provincial areas of responsibility.

It was a short, brutish ride for the bill.

Smith’s government, due to a public outcry, had to bring in an amendment just days after introducing the bill to reverse a provision that gave it ongoing emergency-type powers to unilaterally rewrite laws while bypassing the legislature.

Alberta’s First Nations chiefs have condemned the bill as trampling their treaty rights and Smith’s Indigenous relations minister has said more consultation should have been done.

Smith told the house she met with Indigenous leaders just hours earlier to discuss concerns and shared goals. She rejected the assertion the bill doesn’t respect treaty rights.

“There is no impact on treaty and First Nations’ rights. That’s the truth,” she said.

Law professor Martin Olszynski said the bill remains problematic because it must be clear the courts have the final say on interpreting the Constitution in order to stabilize the checks and balances of a democratic system.

He said Smith’s bill threatens that, perhaps putting judges in the awkward position of having to decide whether they are the ones to make those decisions.

“Can that judge exercise their judicial function without being affected by that very politicized context?” said Olszynski, with the University of Calgary.

“It essentially politicizes the judicial process.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2022.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Rebel Yell

THE PHANTASM OF ALBERTA SEPARATISM RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD WITH UCP 


RECENTLY GLOBAL TV INTERVIEWED BARRY COOPER A PROFESSOR EMERITUS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY. 

Don’t write off Western anger as ‘alienation’ — it runs a whole lot deeper: Calgary professor
It's not alienation, its abuse towards Western Canada: Cooper | Watch News Videos Online
Barry Cooper from the University of Calgary joins Mercedes Stephenson to discuss why, if the concerns of Alberta separatists aren't addressed, there will be a ...

Barry Cooper: Separation has become a real possibility, thanks to Ottawa’s abuses
The Canada option: Is it still viable for AlbertaSeparation has become a real possibility thanks to the abuses and injustices imposed by Ottawa, writes University of Calgary political science professor Barry Cooper. Updated: December 17, 2018

Dr. Cooper as he is known sometimes, is the highest paid academic in Alberta, his salary dwarves his colleagues at the U of C, because he is the leading light of the Right Wing in Canada, he gets grants and foundation funding. 

He was interviewed giving succour to the so called Separatist streak in right wing Alberta politics. Now along with being a founding member of the Calgary School of Right Wing Politics he is also a Pro Oil Climate Change Denier with his foundation the Friends of Science. 

Cooper is also an advocate for private schools, charter and vouchers schools developed under the Klein government. This was aimed locally at the Calgary education market more than it was for the rest of the province, where the dominant board the CBE was not quick to adapt to the reform change movement in Education, unlike the Edmonton Public School Board, so the right wing push for Charter schools was big in Calgary.

The so called separatism is also known as Firewall Alberta which Cooper, Flanagan and the Calgary School sold Harper on prior to his becoming PM.

To understand the so called Separatist politics of the right in Canada I thought I would share this with you, some blasts from the past about authentic Alberta History not right wing wishful thinking.

Alberta Separatism Not Quite Stamped Out

It originates in Alberta not in the dirty thirties but the early 1980's in the last days of the Lougheed government, with the Western Canada Concept (WCC) of rightwhingnut lawyer and defender of fascists Doug Christie. The WCC won a seat in a red neck rural riding, and had an MLA in the Alberta Legislature giving them some political credibility, some, enough for Lougheed to use them as a whipping boy against Ottawa. Which Ralph Klein continues to do today. Any time things got a little outta hand between the Liberals in Ottawa and the Alberta Government the bugaboo of Alberta Separatism would be raised. Clever ploy that.The reality is that during the 1980's two major right wing populist parties began in Alberta, both anti-semitic, white power, anti-biligualism, pro religious fundamentalist, pro Celtic Saxon peoples (code for White Power) anti immigrant anti multiculturalism, today add anti-gay. These were the WCC and Elmer Knutsens Confederation of Regions Party. The CRP did not win seats in Alberta but in New Brunswick, as a right wing backlash to that provinces French majority.Ironic eh.

See: 

Social Credit And Western Canadian Radicalism

The history of Alberta Alienation and the autonomous farmer worker resistance to Ottawa, the seat of political and economic power of the mercantilist state, dates back to the founding of the province one hundred years ago.

Rebel Yell

Populism and Producerism

Historical Memory on the Eve of the Election

Calgary Herald Remembers RB Bennett

Canada's First Internment Camps