Alberta separatism push roils Canada

Summary

Just as Canada tries to exit one crisis, another one looms.The country is finding its footing after a protracted political transition to a new leader, amid President Trump’s tariffs and sovereignty threats.But now the western province of Alberta is laying the groundwork to hold a referendum asking voters whether they support seceding from Canada.While the likelihood of such a divorce ever happening is slim — Canada’s Constitution would have to be amended, among other obstacles — the momentum to put the question on the ballot points to deep grievances bubbling to the surface. (Some Albertans actually prefer becoming a U.S. state.)Many Albertans have long felt disgruntled with their place in Canada’s federal system, which they see as unfairly limiting the province’s vast oil-and-gas resources while dutifully collecting taxes.The province, often referred to as “Canada’s Texas” because of its oil and politics, is home to a small but dedicated minority of separatists. Their voice has been amplified in part because of Mr. Trump’s calls to annex Canada and by the re-election of a Liberal federal government, which many in traditionally conservative Alberta view as hostile to their concerns.(A longstanding secessionist movement in the French-speaking province of Quebec has lost steam in recent months. Its most recent referendum, in 1995, narrowly failed to win a majority in favor of breaking away from Canada.)Just weeks after the Liberal Party’s re-election for a fourth term under a new, centrist prime minister, Mark Carney, Alberta is hurtling toward a referendum over whether to break away from Canada.The key argument behind the movement is that Alberta is different enough from the rest of Canada, including in its conservative tilt and resource wealth, to go it alone.In the aftermath of the federal election, conversations from the airwaves to the dinner tables have been dominated by talk of secession.“If there was a referendum on it, I would not hesitate to say separation,”...