Until we do it, the talk will never stop.
There's only one way to end the shenanigans that continue to plague this province and the endless musing about potentially separating from Canada.
Just put it on the ballot.
Stop with the insinuations and the rhetoric and just let people have their say.
The victim mentality of some Albertans will continue to churn out anger from its grievance factory and dissatisfaction will fester until the people finally get their chance to be heard.
It's absolute nonsense that it's got to this point and a ridiculous suggestion in my opinion, but 30 per cent of four million is not a small number. That 30 per cent is what Angus Reid found in a poll before the 2025 Federal Election.
"Indeed, if the Liberals were to form the next government, approximately three-in-10 in Alberta (30%) and Saskatchewan (33%) say they would vote to leave federation, whether to form their own country or to join the United States. While this is significant, the vast majority still say they would vote no in each province."
Ironically, in 2019, Angus Reid reports that Western separation sentiment was stronger.
"In the wake of the cancellation of the Energy East pipeline, and a series of barriers put in front of the TransMountain expansion, which threatened to upend the project–until the federal government stepped in – Albertans were frustrated with their province’s place in confederation and dissatisfied with the federal government. In 2019, half (50%) of Albertans believed Alberta separatism “could” or “may very well” happen."
ARI also found six years ago that majorities of those in Alberta (60 per cent) and Saskatchewan (53 per cent) were open to the concept of a western Canadian separatist movement.
Post 2025 election, Nanos still found that majority of Albertans want to remain a part of Canada. They found that 64 per cent of Albertans believe "being part of Canada would be best for creating a strong economy."
"On the other hand, those who lean more toward separation (29%) for a strong Alberta economy prefer Alberta being an independent country (20%) over Alberta being part of the US (10%). Younger Albertans were less likely to believe that Alberta being part of Canada would be better for its economy (56%) than older Albertans (75%)."
I ultimately think this is a welcome distraction for the Alberta Government and the UCP. They are in the midst of a measles crisis that is slowly spiralling out of control, on top of a health care procurement scandal that won't go away as quickly as they would like.
They would rather people muse about separation when they know that it's logistically impossible.
So they throw a bone to the separatists, making it so they only need to get about 170,000 signatures in order to have the question on the next ballot as a "citizen-led referendum".
And then the question gets asked in a convoluted way, like "Do you support the Alberta Government seeking an independent tactical enterprise in order to promote and protect a prosperous and free Alberta?"
That question of course muddies the waters and is designed to confuse voters, because of course, you want the government to promote and protect a prosperous and free Alberta. Who wouldn't want that.
The government gets the answer they need.
And I guarantee, all that will be used as a negotiating tactic.
Because if you think for one second about the logistics of Alberta becoming an "independent country" your held should explode.
First, if the referendum does get the support, which is pie in the sky at this point, leaving the confederation has to be supported by seven out of 11 provinces.
If and it's a huge if that would happen, then what?
Well, Alberta is on treaty land and almost all of the First Nations in Alberta say Alberta can't separate without them being properly consulted. I'm not sure how or why they would ever agree to any sort of separation, but for the sake of this column, let's say they did.
You would probably face a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court of Alberta, which would take years to sort out, not withstanding all the previous years of negotiating these first few aspects.
But say you do, Canada agrees, First Nations agree, Alberta is independent.
Now, how do we get our energy to market? Across the border into B.C., welp, have to cross what is now a federal and provincial border, which would surely be heavily taxed. That's provided that the companies that are multi-national operating in the energy sector agree to do business in Independent Alberta. They would have to convince investors to invest in a relatively unproven commodity (Independent Alberta is unproven economically on the world stage, but not as a province of Canada).
In 2024, the Federal Government provided $24.9 billion in direct subsidies and financing to the Oil and Gas industry. You can wave goodbye to all that.
But, say that all works out!
Currency. Alberta would need its own currency, which would surely cost billions.
Alberta would need to defend its borders with military of some kind, which would surely cost billions of dollars.
What about airports? The federal government governs airspace above Canada, so it would cost billions to get access to that airspace.
Banff and Jasper are real nice. Welp, we don't have access to them anymore because they are property of the federal government. Bye-bye, millions upon millions of tax revenue from tourism.
Threatening to leave, with no sense of a plan, isn't a threat. It just becomes insistent whining. It becomes white noise, a nattering in the ear of those who can look beyond the anger and frustration and see that there's a path forward for a strong and free Alberta within the confederation.
There is no plan for separation. There is no path.
So let's just vote and be done with it.
Byron Hackett is the Managing Editor of the Red Deer Advocate and Managing Editor with Black Press Media.
