Smith wird diese Woche wahrscheinlich grünes Licht für das Trennungsreferendum geben: Nenshi
Smith likely to greenlight separation referendum despite Judge’s ruling, Nenshi says
Smith wird diese Woche wahrscheinlich grünes Licht für das Trennungsreferendum geben: Nenshi
Smith likely to greenlight separation referendum despite Judge’s ruling, Nenshi says
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And I’m sure the Treaty Nations will be going to court to shut it down. It’s not as if the Alberta government doing it directly, as opposed to farming it out to the 51st staters, is going to make the issues about consultation any less pertinent.
The 51st staters are going to have to face the reality that the only way they will ever be American is to emigrate to the United States. The landmass that we call Alberta is already almost entirely encumbered through Treaties that predate the formation of the province of Alberta. If they no longer wish to be part of Confederation, then there’s the border, waste no time in leaving.
This is exactly why Alberta separatism should not be treated as some noble democratic exercise in self-determination. It’s just plain old democratic sabotage!
There’s a difference between a province having grievances and a faction trying to turn those grievances into a constitutional weapon. Alberta is not a colony. Alberta is not occupied. Alberta is not excluded from Canadian democracy. Alberta has a provincial government, MPs, senators, courts, constitutional rights, control over natural resources, fiscal powers, and a massive voice in national politics. The separatist argument isn’t “we have no power“ but “Canada is illegitimate because we don’t get our way.”
That’s not oppression, it’s entitlement.
Democracy does not mean your province gets to dominate the country. Democracy means compromise and sometimes losing elections and court cases. It means sometimes having federal law constrain provincial ambition, and having to negotiate with people who do not share your politics. Separatists want to redefine every democratic limit as tyranny.
And now Smith appears willing to legitimize that logic because it benefits her politically. That is the most dangerous part. She’s not just “letting Albertans have a say“ but taking a minority separatist project and laundering it through the authority of government. She is turning a factional grievance into a province-wide constitutional crisis.
That matters because Alberta is not a single political person. There are millions of Albertans who do not want this. There are Indigenous nations whose treaty rights cannot be brushed aside by a provincial referendum. There are immigrants, workers, federalists, urban communities, rural communities, conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between whose futures would be dragged into this mess.
A referendum is not magic. You cannot vote away treaties, the Constitution, and minority rights. You cannot reduce the future of a country to a populist pressure tactic designed to keep the UCP’s angriest base inside the tent.
The separatist movement also makes no practical sense. What currency? What border? What trade regime? What happens to pensions? Indigenous lands? Federal assets? Citizenship? Passports? Debt? Pipelines crossing other provinces? All they offer are fantasy economics and assumptions that Canada would owe Alberta everything while Alberta owes Canada nothing.
That’s not a plan, it’s a hostage note.
Albertans absolutely have the right to demand better federalism, better representation, better economic policy, and a fair hearing for regional grievances. But separation is something else. It takes legitimate frustration and turns it against the shared country Albertans helped build.
Canada is not a prison, and Alberta is not a prisoner. Alberta is a co-owner of our houses of democracy. Separatists are trying to convince people they are homeless inside their own country so they can justify smashing the walls.
Why bother? Lukaszuk has already done their work for them. While his intent is supposedly to demonstrate support for staying in Canada, his ‚Forever Canadian‘ petition still amounts to a referendum on secession.