It's all about power
The western separatist movement is nothing more than a bunch of crybabies
Conservatives are so butt hurt they haven’t won an election in eleven years that they’ve turned to desperate measures to try and rectify their problem. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, their answer is to leave Canada and form their own country, or, ironically, join the United States. Separatist sentiments are much stronger in Alberta, but it’s largely the same grievances in both provinces. Ottawa is mean, Justin Trudeau is responsible for everything bad, Quebec gets preferential treatment, and there’s not enough pipelines. Now B.C. has its own version modelled after Alberta.
The Alberta Prosperity Project is at the head of the movement, run by some rather shady characters that could not give a hoot about Canada. Now the B.C. Prosperity Project has reared its ugly head attempting to gin up support for western independence too. It’s run by shady characters as well and takes from the Alberta playbook. Alberta goes one step farther though. Danielle Smith, while claiming to want a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, whatever that means, is concentrating political control in her office. She wants to run everything. She knows more about health care and education than anyone, she’s trying to ensure universities teach and research the right stuff, because in the conservative mind, universities do nothing but indoctrinate students into wokeness, and now she wants to control the judiciary, which traditionally is independent of the legislature. She uses the Notwithstanding Clause in the Charter of Rights to circumvent the courts and strip rights away from teachers, unions, and transgender people but that’s not enough. She wants to choose the judges and tell them how to do their job. The whole thing is designed to keep conservatives in power, as if in Alberta they have a tenuous grip on the government.
Maintaining power while punching down on those they don’t like is the conservative playbook designed to counter the Liberal success of the past eleven years. It’s the equivalent of always losing the game, not playing fair, and taking the ball and going home. It’s childish, ridiculous, and dangerous. The separatist movement has exposed Canada to foreign interference and quite possibly, a hostile takeover by the United States. Smith uses Trump as her model because the Republicans have controlled Congress for at least three election cycles. Two of them being Trump’s dysfunctional government.
In Alberta, this has created an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear, leading to what some say will be a very undesirable outcome. Because of this, federal conservatives are in an uncomfortable position owing to the fact their leader is reviled by a majority of Canadians, except conservatives. And the little weasel wants to run the country. He’s tired of always being the bridesmaid and never being the bride. His problem is that he is just a dislikable person. He’s annoying, he has no clear plan for anything, and all he can do is criticize the Liberals and offer three word slogans. But in his little heart, he thinks that’s the winning strategy. He needs to appeal to all Canadians and the separatists have him over a barrel. Does he change for the sake of the country and lose the separatist faction or does he support separation? The latter will guarantee he will never become prime minister.
After eleven years of conservatives not being in power federally, Alberta conservatives have revived decades old separatist anxiety that has been quietly simmering under the surface. With what amounts to a middle finger flip off to Ottawa, separatists are pulling a “we’ll show them” and actively campaigning to leave Canada. They’re flooding the mainstream media and social media with misinformation, lies, grievances, blame, and to what end? Is it to show the Liberals and progressives they mean business? Is it a ploy to garner change? Or is it simply them not wanting to play a losing game anymore? The answer is unclear, but one thing is certain. They are hellbent on destruction and will not let anything or anyone stand in their way.
Thankfully, the number of people that would actively separate is less than 20%, but that number is bolstered by a cohort that are teasing the idea of separation in order to send a message to Ottawa. And therein lies the danger. Alberta risks a Brexit style outcome to a separatist referendum that would destroy Alberta’s economy and empty out the province when close to a million people decide they want no part of an independent Alberta and uproot themselves to safer climes. All because conservatives haven’t won a federal election in eleven years.
The separatists seem incapable of analyzing their predicament and changing their modus operandi. They would instead destroy the province to make a point, albeit a useless one. Nonetheless, a referendum is coming due to support from the Alberta government, and to rational Albertans, it’s a terrifying prospect. Despite the fact Alberta is treaty land and separation needs the consent of every province and territory, along with constitutional amendments, if the referendum is successful it would not be out of the question for the Alberta government to ignore everything and unilaterally declare the province free from the clutches of Canada. The result of this would be disastrous and we are seeing snippets of it already as investments are beginning to slow or disappear entirely. But the separatist agenda soldiers on, consequences be damned. The separatists are in fact, calling game over, taking their ball and going home.