this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026
215 points (99.5% liked)

Canada

11955 readers
639 users here now

What's going on Canada?



Related Communities


🍁 Meta


🗺️ Provinces / Territories


🏙️ Cities / Local Communities

Sorted alphabetically by city name.


🏒 Sports

Baseball

Basketball

Curling

Hockey

Soccer


💻 Schools / Universities

Sorted by province, then by total full-time enrolment.


💵 Finance, Shopping, Sales


🗣️ Politics


🍁 Social / Culture


Rules

  1. Keep the original title when submitting an article. You can put your own commentary in the body of the post or in the comment section.

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage: lemmy.ca


founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The motivations that have contributed to the separatist movement and Alberta’s sense of grievance in recent years are not especially discrete; it’s more like a nebulous Venn diagram. Simple politics have pushed some people toward separatism. Indeed, the paucity of separatist talk during the time when Stephen Harper was prime minister suggests there’s a significant political component to the idea; when Liberals are in power, people feel more inclined to talk about leaving. Culture also plays a role. When Angus Reid pollsters talked to separatists in February 2026, 86.5 percent said they thought Canada forced Alberta to take in too many immigrants, and 96 percent believed that an independent Alberta would better protect personal freedoms.

But ... separatists tend to find the economic arguments particularly seductive. Angus Reid polling shows 96 percent of respondents who want an independent Alberta believe they would be free from economically damaging federal government policies. Separatist leaders promise the elimination of the personal income tax while creating a new provincial sales tax of 5 percent. They also claim Alberta would save $75 billion from no longer paying federal taxes.

Not all separatists promise immediate prosperity, but the argument remains persuasive. Cameron Davies is the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta. “I don’t paint an immediate rosy, utopian picture of what independence looks like,” he says. “Will it be difficult? Yes. Will it be immediate sunshine and rainbows? Probably not. But will it be worth it? Five, ten, fifteen years down the road for your kids and your grandkids? One hundred percent yes.”

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Godort@lemmy.ca 86 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it really feels like the separation thing is mostly a guise so that the US can step in and "save" the struggling and destitute Alberta.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 week ago

You mean that they can simply annex it without first ng a shot.

This is basically just a civil type of invasion of the province

[–] TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

More likely some ill advised Canadian Oil exec that thinks that they will be better off in the US.

Albertan separatists tend to forget that nobodies want their oil, it’s too costly to transform. The only reason they have a place at the table is that the Federal government massively finance it.

At Trump first term their were talks about passing TransMountain down to the US, they refuse because even TM didn’t respect the American safety standards which is fucking low.

Thinking that thing will change in the US or as Independent nation is fucking laughable, at best Trump or the US will use Alberta to spearhead an invasion of the North for their critical mineral

If Alberta becomes the 51st state, all the Newfies will head home leaving a large labour shortage in the oil fields. Being an American state, Alberta will have to follow American immigration practices. It would be a real shock for people in Alberta. Lots of Americans would flood in and take Albertians' jobs, just by the shear volume of people in the States, they have almost 350million people.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Back in the day Civilization had a scenario where the US was supporting Quebec in a war of independence.

Alberta sounds a lot more likely.

[–] Typhoon@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

I'm sure it has nothing to do with their oil.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 8 points 1 week ago

When one of the people being interviewed leads the Republican Party of Alberta, it's hard to believe they're anything but American shills. But there will be Albertans who think it was purely a coincidence that led to such a catchy name.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Carney needs to start a loud public investigation into foreign money. Expose these jerks.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 29 points 1 week ago (24 children)

In 2021, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation pegged Albertans’ contribution to equalization as $650 per capita.

Lol. Lmao even.

Let's risk a very unclear future, sold to us by utopian libertarians over $650 per person.

I'm Albertan. I'm also quite Liberal, so kind of rare in these parts.

Anyway, I just can't wrap my head around the logic of the separatist have. Cut off ALL federal programs. Make your own programs, which is more than likely going to be blindingly more expensive due inefficiencies in starting from scratch. Cut all income tax (are you stupid?). Institute PST, something that is political sepukku in Alberta. Oh. And don't forget to base your economy on a marginal product, with no access to foreign markets, whose commodity prices are controlled by a cartel.

Get the fuck out, and come back to me with some valid logic

load more comments (24 replies)
[–] ryper@lemmy.ca 25 points 1 week ago (5 children)

The thing that really gets me is, Alberta doesn't like how hard it is to build a pipeline that would run into other provinces, and how in the world is being a separate country supposed to help with that? Do they think building across an international border will be easier than building across an interprovincial one?

[–] ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Can we use "separatists" instead of "albertans"?

The loudmouth morons are a very small percentage of Albertans. A lot smaller than Quebec's loudmouth morons.

[–] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Quebec separatism would still end poorly for everyone, but at least they have access to the ocean.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] voluble@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago

Alberta separatists are illogical and unwise - never underestimate the depths to which they have not thought about a particular issue. Unfortunately, this is equally true of the current provincial government as well.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 week ago

I doubt they do much thinking

[–] wraekscadu@vargar.org 7 points 1 week ago

Nah the separatists think that dealing with the US would be easier. By "dealing", they mean annexation. Sigh...

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 week ago

... Cameron Davies is the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta

Jfc. :/

[–] Pistcow@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So is like Alberta the Mississippi of Canada?

[–] Typhoon@lemmy.ca 31 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's more like the Texas of Canada.

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago

Given the UCP just voted to rig the electoral map...more than ever.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] CapuccinoCoretto@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

“Honestly, I hate this country right now. If I could leave, I would.”

Darling, If I could throw you out, I would.

[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Alberta screwed themselves when they rejected national energy program that would have cost them some provincial control in exchange for building Canadian energy self sufficiency. They would have pipelines crisscrossing Canada and refineries to boot to get 'their' oil to. However they were hoodwinked by US corporate interest into rejecting the NEP and they have been taken advantage of by those same corporate interests ever since. Along with that the Alberta government has spend every waking moment blaming Ottawa. No AB sales tax to even out cyclical O&G revenues? Ottawa's fault, somehow. Not enough environmental deposits to clean up after the O&G company has taken all the profits it wants and offshored them? Ottawa's fault. No refineries? US extraction companies want to refine in US and close Canadian sites, Ottawa's fault. Petro Canada. Short sightedly sold by Conservatives. Was Ottawa's fault but at the behest of Alberta.

[–] CanIFishHere@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago

national energy program

Are you talking about the 1090-1985 energy program? The one that would basically treat Alberta as a sovereign state and send all the money to Ottawa? Is that the one? You think it's somehow Alberta's fault we don't have pipelines?

I want to know which news sources you are consuming because they are complete bs and rewrite history.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I can imagine a mass exodus too. I live here. I'd rather be homeless and jobless made destitute with a mortgage on a made worthless house than American.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] DiabolicalBird@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago (11 children)

So, if Alberta reaches the promised land of glorious independence or whatever, how exactly do they plan on trading outside their borders without being taxed to oblivion by one of two much larger bordering nations any time we try to get resources in or out?

[–] ElegantBeef@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (4 children)

If you believe the APP's website they want to use the UN's 'Law of the Sea', but they also don't want to be a part of the UN cause they do not share values. So seemingly they think they can, they think they can.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)
[–] HeroicBillyBishop@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 week ago

...and for Canada

That's why the shitheads are funding it

[–] shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I wonder if they included the cost of armed forces, border and customs agencies, foreign embassies, aviation and environmental regulatory agencies, national pension systems, and federal service staffing in their calculations? Or are they assuming the two behemoths landlocking them would just... let them be...? Both Canada and the US could decimate Alberta economically and I can see the current US administrarion doing it purposefully with the intention of annexing them.

Sometimes I wonder if separatists really just want Alberta to be a part of the US since we all know that's how this would play out in the end.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

That's the plan, that's why they meet with US officials.

[–] noxypaws@pawb.social 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

trade Alberta for Washington, Oregon, and California

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›