Alberta Separatist Group Holds News Conference in Calgary to Launch Campaign

Alberta lawyer Keith Wilson in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Organizers of a campaign advocating Alberta’s secession from Canada held a news conference at a Calgary hotel ballroom to launch their initiative on June 19.

The campaign, called “Let Alberta Decide,” would set out how Alberta’s resources would form the foundation of an independent nation, according to a June 17 news release.

The campaign is being led by lawyer Keith Wilson and fourth-generation farmer Tanya Clemens ahead of a referendum that includes a question related to separation to be held on Oct. 19.

“The campaign will present a positive, forward-looking case for Alberta independence rooted in opportunity, self-determination, prosperity, and a renewed sense of confidence in Alberta’s future,” the organizers said in the release.

The non-binding referendum—which forms part of a broader package of referendum questions on provincial-federal relations—will ask voters to choose whether they want Alberta to remain a province of Canada, or begin the legal process required to hold a future binding referendum on separation.

The website for the campaign frames the second option as, among other things, giving “Alberta leverage for a better deal.”

“Canada is unique in Western democracies in that our Supreme Court of Canada in a 1998 reference decision laid out a legal pathway for a province to move toward independence after holding a clear vote on a clear question with a clear majority,” Wilson said during the news conference.

Wilson said that Canada’s Equalization Program results in “tens of billions of dollars” sent to Ottawa from Alberta with no benefit to residents of the province.

The Equalization Program is a federal transfer program designed to help provinces with weaker tax bases provide public services at levels reasonably comparable to those provided by other provinces without having to impose significantly higher taxes.

“But it’s more structural than that. The way the electoral structure is, and the constitutional structure of Canada, Alberta never gets a voice,” Wilson said. “We won’t get a voice. We can’t have a voice because decisions are always made in Ottawa ,as determined by the wishes of the voters in Quebec and Ontario.”

Citing an example, Wilson said the net zero and climate policies of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had set limitations on Alberta policies and spending.

“So instead of going to Ottawa and asking for permission for things, we have the opportunity before us, depending on how Albertans vote, to elect the politicians here in Alberta that will make the full range of decisions that affect every aspect of our lives and our economy,” he said.

Wilson said the campaign would involve the drafting of a white paper that would describe the transitional steps that would be involved in Alberta becoming an independent country. The campaign would involve the use of both social and online media and traditional news media, he added.

Also speaking at the news conference, Clemens said she and the other organizers were going ahead with the campaign because Alberta had unsuccessfully tried to change its place within the Constitution of Canada.

“From the Reform Party to the ‘firewall’ letter, from the Fair Deal Panel to the 2021 equalization referendum, Albertans have repeatedly tried to improve their position within Confederation,” she said.

The “firewall” letter referred to an open letter from six prominent Alberta conservatives, including former Prime Minister Stephen Harper before he became prime minister, to then-Premier Ralph Klein in 2001, calling for Alberta to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan and create its own provincial plan, and to let its contract with the RCMP run out in 2012 and establish its own provincial police force.

Province’s Position

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said that she would vote for Alberta to remain in Canada and supports what she calls a “sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” but that she respects the right of those seeking independence to pursue a referendum.

However, the premier criticized the Alberta Court of King’s Bench ruling issued in May that said Election Alberta’s approval of a petition on separation was unlawful because of the Crown’s duty to consult with First Nations. Alberta separatists had collected over 300,000 signatures, which would have been enough for the petition to qualify as a referendum question. Smith called the decision “undemocratic” and said following the ruling that the question on independence would be included in the province’s fall referendum.

Pro-Unity Groups

Several pro-unity groups have also been active in recent months in Alberta, urging voters to select for the province to remain within Canada.

Supporters of the group Vote to Stay, co-founded by former Conservative cabinet minister Monte Solberg and former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, say they understand “why many Albertans are frustrated,” but add that it’s to the province’s benefit to stay within Canada.

“For decades, people here have felt ignored, dismissed, and treated unfairly by governments and institutions that too often fail to recognize Alberta’s enormous contribution to this country. Those frustrations are real,” the group says.

“But we believe Alberta’s future is stronger within a united Canada than outside of it.”

Forever Canadian, founded by Thomas Lukaszuk, a former Progressive Conservative deputy premier, says the province shouldn’t follow the Brexit path of the United Kingdom, adding that it would result in “economic devastation” for the province.

Lead. Not Leave., another group consisting of former Alberta cabinet ministers, academics, and political campaigners, says the “separation crisis is forcing hard conversations among those of us who remain committed to keeping the province in a strong and proud Canadian Confederation.”

“Where separatists are offering attractive ideas, we'll test them out. When their claims are rooted in wishful thinking or a retreat from grounded reality, we will call them out,” the group says.