‘Incredibly Complicated’: ‘Wexit’ Should Heed Pitfalls Faced by Other Separatist Movements: Experts

Aerial view of the Suncor oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alta., in a file photo. Recent secessionist movements in the world offer few encouraging examples to western Canadians who are miffed at the federal government and think they'd be better off living in a separate country. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY—Recent secessionist movements in the world offer few encouraging examples to western Canadians who are miffed at the federal government and think they'd be better off living in a separate country.

“Wexit”—an apparent play on the nickname for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union—was in few Canadians’ lexicons before October when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were re-elected, but reduced to a minority and shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan.