Alberta's New Separatists

Canada's most renegade province has been threatening to go it alone for more than a century. Now they mean it more than ever.

- Photography by Amber Bracken

ALBERTA SEPARATISM HAS BEEN a fixture of Canadian politics for as long as Alberta has existed.

In the 1930s, supporters of premier William Aberhart agitated for secession after the feds kiboshed his attempts to implement a fringe economic theory called social credit, which involved total government regulation of the economy. Pierre Trudeau sparked the modern era of western alienation in 1980 with his government's National Energy Program, a system of price controls and revenue-sharing that Albertans saw as a federal imposition on their jurisdiction. And in 2019, the Wexit movement flared after Justin Trudeau's reelection.

Today, talk of sovereignty is rising again. It would be easy for Canadians to dismiss it as a resurgence of age-old grievances—after all, despite a century of western alienation, Alberta is still here. The difference is that this time there may actually be a referendum on separation, and soon. Albertans can propose “citizen initiatives” to put forth referendum topics. Previously, proponents needed to collect 600,000 supporting signatures in 90 days to do so. This May, Premier Danielle Smith lowered that to 177,000 signatures in 120 days. A group called the Alberta Prosperity Project is already planning to collect enough signatures to force a secession referendum by 2026.

The rest of Canada can’t understand why so many Albertans are dissatisfied. In the past 25 years, it has been the fastest-growing province. It has the highest incomes, lowest taxes and some of the most affordable housing. Yet separatist sentiment remains as strong as ever. An Angus Reid poll conducted in May found 36 per cent of respondents supported separation—a dramatic jump from a survey by the same pollster before the election, which showed one quarter in support.