Alberta separatism comprises a series of 20th- and 21st-century movements (both historic and current) advocating the

secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...

of the province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

from Canada, by joining the United States of America. The main issues driving separatist sentiment have been the perceived power disparity relative to Ottawa and other provinces, historical grievances with the federal government dating back to the unrealized

Province of Buffalo The Province of Buffalo was a proposal for the creation of a new Canadian province in the early 20th century. Its main proponent was Sir Frederick Haultain, the premier of the North-West Territories. However, Haultain's frosty relations with Can ...

, a sense of distinctiveness with regards to Alberta's unique cultural and

political identity Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

, and Canadian fiscal policy, particularly as it pertains to the energy industry.

History

Foundations

Alberta was established as a province on September 1, 1905. Alberta separatism comes from the belief that many Albertans hold that they are culturally and economically distinct from the rest of Canada, particularly Central Canada and Eastern Canada, because of economic imbalances whereby Alberta is a net over-contributor to the system of

equalization payments in Canada In Canada, the federal government makes equalization payments to provincial governments to help address fiscal disparities among Canadian provinces based on estimates of provinces' ''fiscal capacity''—their ability to generate tax revenues. A p ...

. Furthermore, the majority of Alberta's trade flows north–south with the United States and not east–west with the rest of Canada. The Alberta economy was traditionally based on agriculture, but in the last half of the 20th century it changed to become based on industrial

resource extraction Extractivism is the process of extracting natural resources from the Earth to sell on the world market. It exists in an economy that depends primarily on the extraction or removal of natural resources that are considered valuable for exportation w ...

, mainly oil and gas production. Because many of Alberta's early pioneers that came to settle the land were from the United States, Alberta experiences levels of populism unheard of in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

1930s separatism and the Alberta Social Credit Party

Separatism emerged in the 1930s within the Social Credit Party, which formed the Government of Alberta after the 1935 election.

William Aberhart William Aberhart (December 30, 1878 – May 23, 1943), also known as "Bible Bill" for his outspoken Baptist views, was a Canadian politician and the seventh premier of Alberta from 1935 to his death in 1943. He was the founder and first leader ...

and

Ernest Manning Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...

created the Social Credit party with the aim of bringing financial relief to Albertans who were suffering because of the Great Depression. The party's success was fuelled by a wave of resentment at the federal Liberal Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

, who had said that he "would not give a five-cent piece" to non-Liberal provincial governments for unemployment relief. The federal government deemed implementing a form of

social credit Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made them. To combat what he ...

unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...

and invoked its rarely used power of disallowance under S.56 of the

British North America Act, 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...

, thereby voiding provincial legislation. Premier Aberhart secured provincially-owned banks and distribution of prosperity certificates. Aberhart's followers called for separation from Canada, but Aberhart himself counselled moderation and rejected secession. The separatist movement was ridiculed by the media as a fringe movement of the uneducated. Manning, however, had been a devoutly loyal supporter of Aberhart from the very beginning. He honoured Aberhart's 1935 promise to issue a prosperity certificate to Albertans twice. In 1957, his government announced a $20 oil royalty dividend and issued a $17 dividend the next year.

1940s to 1960s: after World War II, monopolies, Alberta gas

The discovery of vast reserves of oil ushered in a twenty-year period of intense exploration, new discoveries, and rapid expansion of Alberta's oil industry. In 1948, Imperial Oil discovered the Redwater oil reserve, 64 km (40 mi.) northeast of Edmonton. By 1953 the oil field supported 926 wells and was producing almost 30 percent of the entire province's output. In 1949 alone Twelve new oil fields were discovered from the Leduc-

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

- Redwater region to the

southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.Imperial Oil, but other major oil companies, such as British-American oil,

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

, Anglo-Canadian, and Home Oil, also experienced incredible success. But Alberta was still was "heavily rural and bitter with western grievance. Freight rates and protectionism made economic diversification in the prairies all but impossible. It was said to be cheaper to send cows and grain to be slaughtered in Ontario than it was to ship meat."

1970s: beginnings of modern separatist ideals

The modern ideal for a separate Alberta nation began in the 1970s, as a response to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's pursuit of bilingualism and

Multiculturalism in Canada Multiculturalism in Canada was officially adopted by the government during the 1970s and 1980s. The Canadian federal government has been described as the instigator of multiculturalism as an ideology because of its public emphasis on the social im ...

, and the

National Energy Program The National Energy Program (french: Programme énergétique national, NEP) was an energy policy of the Canadian federal government from 1980 to 1985. Created under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau by Energy Minister Marc ...

. These programs were seen by many Albertans as an attack on oil resources; the promotion of Liberal "anti-Albertan" values were viewed as a negative influence by many Albertans. Pierre Elliot Trudeau-2

In 1974, as Quebeckers were discussing separating from Canada, many Albertans also began to consider separation. This resulted in some Calgary-based citizens forming the Independent Alberta Association. Central to the argument was the fact that Alberta would pay billions of dollars towards Canada, but without

political representation Political representation is the activity of making citizens "present" in public policy-making processes when political actors act in the best interest of citizens. This definition of political representation is consistent with a wide variety of vie ...

equal to that of Central and Eastern Canada. Many expressed the opinion that Trudeau would continue his hard federalist stance producing unfavorable results for Western Canada including Alberta and its natural resources. Some, like Glenn Morrison, president of Renn Industries, did not agree with Alberta separatism but believed strongly that Alberta needed increased representation in Ottawa and greater provincial autonomy. In the end, the Independent Alberta Association did not move beyond association status, and did not form a political party. Other influences in the 1970s included two major oil crises: coinciding with the Yom-Kippur War of 1973 and the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

of 1979. The first was caused by the decision of the US to support Israel, which in turn caused

retaliation Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Syria, bringing on an

oil embargo An oil embargo is an economic situation wherein entities engage in an embargo to limit the transport of petroleum to or from an area, in order to exact some desired outcome. One commentator states, " oil embargo is not a common commercial practice; ...

that resulted in Alberta receiving substantially less price for oil than the

global market In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering ...

prices dictated. Across North America, long lines could be seen at gas stations, and people started to realize the need to conserve energy resources. The second oil crisis of 1979 was again due to decreased oil output, this time in the wake of the

. In 1978, a revolutionary anti-American government headed by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew the America-friendly government of the

Shah of Iran This is a list of monarchs of Persia (or monarchs of the Iranic peoples, in present-day Iran), which are known by the royal title Shah or Shahanshah. This list starts from the establishment of the Medes around 671 BCE until the deposition of th ...

. Gasoline prices, which had earlier stabilized somewhat since 1973, spiked again. Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC) and a few similarly minded oil-rich nations had ceased all oil exports to the United States and countries that supported Israel. The price of oil sold to North America quadrupled within months, and service stations again ran out of fuel, long lines were evident at

gas stations A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gaso ...

across North America. The Alberta government and the Canadian federal government responded politically to address oil reserves and conservation of petroleum resources. In 1971, the Alberta Social Credit Party provincial government, headed by

Harry Strom Harry Edwin Strom (July 7, 1914 – October 2, 1984) was the ninth premier of Alberta, from 1968 to 1971. His two-and-a-half years as Premier were the last of the thirty-six-year Social Credit dynasty, as his defeat by Peter Lougheed saw its r ...

, created an environmental ministry, the first of its kind, with a mandate to manage and conserve Alberta's natural resources. Federally, in 1974, the Office of Energy Conservation was created. Conflict arose between Alberta and Canada after the 1973 crisis, over the management and distribution of Alberta's oil resources, and financial wealth, setting the stage for Alberta separatism. After

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...

's Progressive Conservatives won a minority government in 1979 defeating Pierre Trudeau's Liberal party Albertans were hopeful a change in federal energy policy would occur. These ideas were harnessed during Clark's unsuccessful 1980 election campaign. Clark, an Albertan, lost the election and resigned the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1983 after receiving only a 67%

confidence vote A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

at a party convention.

1980s and 1990s: Liberals, NDP, Conservatives, resurgence

Copied content from

; see that page's history for attribution. In 1980, a Liberal majority government under Pierre Trudeau was formed. This caused the already-brewing separatist movement in western Canada to attract thousands of people to rallies. Separatist Gordon Kesler was elected to the Alberta legislature in a 1982 by-election. Petro-Canada logo

Due to the high oil prices of the 1970s Alberta experienced a boom in its oil sector and the entire economy as a whole. In October 1980, the

(NEP) was created by the federal government under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Trudeau, and support for Alberta separatism and anger toward the federal government reached new level of popular support. Trudeau introduced a 25% tax to Alberta's oil. After the introduction of the NEP, Alberta's oil industry collapsed, with a drastic reduction in the number of

oil wells An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may ...

drilled. Abandonment of major projects such as

oilsands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

caused high unemployment in Alberta. The Petroleum Incentives Program, part of the NEP, was criticized for luring exploration capital away from Alberta. With natural resources falling constitutionally within the domain of provincial jurisdictions, many Albertans viewed the NEP as a detrimental intrusion by the federal government into the province's affairs. Edmonton economist Scarfe argued that for people in Western Canada, especially Alberta, the NEP was perceived to be at their expense in benefiting the eastern provinces. Particularly vilified was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, whose Liberals had no seat west of Manitoba.

Ed Clark Edward E. Clark (born May 4, 1930) is an American lawyer and politician who ran for governor of California in 1978, and for president of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1980 presidential election. Clark is an h ...

, a senior bureaucrat in the Trudeau Liberal government, helped to develop the National Energy Program and earned himself the moniker "Red Ed" in the Alberta oil industry. Shortly after Brian Mulroney had taken office, Clark was promptly fired. The

1980s oil glut The 1980s oil glut was a serious surplus of crude oil caused by falling demand following the 1970s energy crisis. The world price of oil had peaked in 1980 at over US$35 per barrel (equivalent to $ per barrel in dollars, when adjusted for inf ...

led worldwide oil prices to tank, making Albertan oil uneconomical even in Eastern Canada, causing it to instead purchase foreign oil. This discredited the NEP – as "self-sufficiency" was one of its touted goals. Even though the NEP was often seen as an economic catastrophe, the NEP was never overturned by Trudeau's government, staying in place until 1985. Alberta still initially enjoyed an economic surplus due to high oil prices, but the surplus was heavily reduced by the NEP, which, in turn, stymied many of Lougheed's policies for economic diversification to reduce Alberta's dependence on the cyclical energy industry, such as the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and also left the province with an infrastructure deficit. In particular, the Alberta Heritage Fund was meant to save as much of the earnings during high oil prices to act as a "rainy day" cushion if oil prices collapsed because of the cyclical nature of the oil and gas industry. The NEP was one reason that the fund failed to grow to its full potential. According to Mary Elizabeth Vicente, an Edmonton librarian who wrote an article on the National Energy Program in 2005, the popular western slogan during the NEP, appearing on many bumper stickers, was "Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark." Other bumpers stated "I'd rather push this thing a mile than buy gas from PetroCan." So great was the hatred towards Trudeau that anything associated with him was destroyed in the province. The

Alberta Liberal Party The Alberta Liberal Party (french: Parti libéral de l'Alberta) is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest active political party in Alberta and was the dominant political party until the 1921 election ...

lost thousands of members, and won no seats in the provincial legislature in the

1982 Alberta general election The 1982 Alberta general election was held on November 2, 1982, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premier Peter Lou ...

. This led to a center-right-controlled legislature for decades. The Alberta Liberals never held any sizable legislative power again. Many prominent citizens were inspired to push forward Alberta separatist principles. This sentiment gave rise to the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories (which included ...

(WCC) and West-Fed which held well-attended meetings across Alberta. Many of the people attracted to these parties were not necessarily advocating for independence but were advocating for the fair treatment of Alberta and its resources. In 1980, Doug Christie, a British Columbia lawyer, formed the WCC in an effort to promote Western separatism. In 1980 2700 people gathered for a rally at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, to listen to a speech from Christie. in which he said " he Liberalsare begging Quebec: 'Please vote for us!' No more begging,". In 1982, Gordon Kesler was elected to the

Alberta legislature The Legislature of Alberta is the unicameral legislature of the province of Alberta, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta,. and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The legislature has existed s ...

in a by-election in

Olds-Didsbury Olds-Didsbury was a provincial electoral district in central Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1963 to 1997. It is noteworthy as the l ...

as a candidate of the WCC and attracted national attention. In addition, West-Fed was founded, led by

businessman

Elmer Knutson Elmer Stanley Knutson (October 30, 1914 – August 9, 2001) was a Canadian businessman, activist and fringe politician. Knutson was a strong supporter of creating an independent western Canada, in which the west would become sovereign from Cana ...

, who was credited with inspiring the transformation of

Western alienation In Canadian politics, Western alienation is the notion that the Western provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – have been alienated, and in some cases excluded, from mainstream Canadian political affairs in fav ...

ideas into a political movement. Knutson denied being a separatist, but West-Fed was widely regarded as a separatist organization. In 1983, Knutson attempted but failed, to win the leadership of the

Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...

. A year later in 1984, Knutson founded the

Confederation of Regions Party The Confederation of Regions Party (CoR) was a right-wing politics, right-wing federal list of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada founded in 1984 by Elmer Knutson. It was founded as a successor to the Western Canada Federation ...

to advocate for a new

Canadian constitution The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents ar ...

that would provide Alberta with more regional autonomy. The Confederation of Regions Party of Canada (CoR) was based on the premise that Canada consists of four regions, each of which should have equal representation in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. By mid-1983 it was registered as an official provincial party in Alberta and by 1984 it was registered federally and ran 54 candidates but none were elected. Major platform initiatives included opposition to compulsory bilingualism and metrication, abolishing the Senate, and equal representation to the four regions. A year later Knutson resigned, but in all had significantly inspired many Albertans to join Doug Christie's Western Canada Concept, which was running candidates in elections. Before 1980, separatism was a very fringe idea; for example, a 1977 survey by the '' Calgary Herald'' found that 2.7 per cent supported independence. Support for separatism spiked sharply after Pierre Trudeau became prime minister; in a 1981 poll by the

Canada West Foundation The Canada West Foundation is a non-partisan think tank based in Calgary, Alberta. It primarily conducts research on issues of concern in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, but also on issues of national significance. The found ...

, 49% agreed that "Western Canadians get so few benefits from being part of Canada that they might as well go it on their own." In response, Premier

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. Bo ...

called a

snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...

in which the party nominated 78 candidates in the province's 79 ridings (electoral districts). Highlighted was major infighting and structural leadership problems within the WCC. Although WCC won almost 12% of the popular vote (over 111,000 votes), Kesler was defeated after changing ridings, and no other candidate was elected. The WCC still managed a strong third-place showing in another by-election, in Spirit River-Fairview, held in 1985, following the death of

Grant Notley Walter Grant Notley (January 19, 1939 – October 19, 1984) was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1971 to 1984 and also served as leader of the Alberta NDP from 1968 to 1984. Early life Notl ...

The party's popularity declined after the Progressive Conservative Party, led by Brian Mulroney won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

in the 1984 federal election. Under Mulroney, the NEP was rapidly dismantled, and Albertans had new hope for achieving a better-negotiated resource wealth distribution. This caused the Alberta separatist movement to dissipate significantly. Yet, the Mulroney government was a disappointment since the majority of MPs were elected from central Canada, and Alberta's concerns largely ignored. By the time he left office in 1993, Mulroney was perhaps the most hated prime minister due to various allegations of corruption pertaining to the sale of Canadian assets. Mulroney awarded the contract for maintenance of CF-18 fighter jets to the Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace company, a decision that engendered so much anger in Western Canada, since Western Canada produced a better bid, that it directly led to the formation of the Reform Party of Alberta. After this, the WCC experienced a resurgence, and in 1987 ran candidate Jack Ramsay, who in 1982 had become the leader of the party. Ramsay notably and significantly argued for the

Triple-E Senate The Triple-E Senate (a mnemonic contrived acronym for '' equal'', ''elected'', and ''effective'') is a proposed reform of the Canadian Senate, calling for senators to be elected to exercise effective powers in numbers equally representative of ea ...

as an alternative to Alberta separation, until 1986 when he reverted his opinion back to the previous separatist position of the WCC. In 1987 Ramsay joined the Reform Party of Alberta and ran in a by-election where he finished second. This would be the last time the party would run a candidate. Alberta prominent citizen Preston Manning would take the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protest ...

, a right-wing populist federal party, along the lines of non-separatist sentiments and significant popularity. Manning would attract many Albertans that were separatists. The Reform Party existed from 1987 to 2000 when it merged into the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...

. In 2003, it merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada. These mergers left a void to those interested in furthering separatist principles.

2000s Reform to Conservative

Without the existence of the Reform Party to articulate Alberta's concerns, the separatist movement in the early twenty-first century began to organize meaningfully for the first time since the 1980s. Again though, separatism would place faith in a favourable federal government, only to again be disappointed. In the 2004 federal election, the governing Liberal Party of Canada was returned with a minority government despite allegations of corruption. 61.7% of Alberta voters voted for the opposition Conservative Party – 22% supported the Liberals, although how many of these Conservative voters were separatist can only be guessed. There was significant opposition within Alberta to the Kyoto Protocol as the Kyoto treaty was believed to have negative effects on the provincial economy, which is based to a large degree on the oil and gas industry. (Alberta had the world's second largest proven reserves of oil, behind only Saudi Arabia.) In the 2004 general election, the

Separation Party of Alberta The Alberta First Party french: Alberta d'abord) was an Albertan separatist political party in Alberta, Canada. It went through several iterations before becoming its current incarnation as the Freedom Conservative Party. History (1999–2018) ...

nominated 12 candidates who won 4,680 votes, 0.5% of the provincial total. No candidates were elected. This was less support than the

Alberta Independence Party The Independence Party (TIP), known as the Alberta Independence Party from 2001 to 2019, is an Albertan provincial political party. It was originally dedicated to increasing the autonomy of Alberta within Canadian Confederation, partly as a r ...

attracted in the 2001 election, when 15 candidates attracted 7,500 votes. Albertan Stephen Harper succeeded against the odds of the Canadian

First-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

system and in 2006 became Prime Minister of Canada in a minority government in the 2006 federal election. Harper had been a significant figure in the Reform Party, became leader of the Canadian Alliance in 2002, then merged with the PC Party in 2003, forming the Conservative Party of Canada. Due to Harper's Reform roots, Albertans held faith that he would be the trusted figure to protect Alberta's interests. As a result, Alberta's separatist movement sat on the side-lines, with uncertain prospects. Some pundits predicted that this result would cause support for separatism to ebb away. The notion of Alberta secession from Canada gained sympathy from some figures within Alberta's conservative parties. Mark Norris, who was one of the contenders to succeed

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

as the

Alberta premier The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022. The ...

, told the ''

Calgary Sun The ''Calgary Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running tabloid-size newspaper ''The Albertan'' soon after it was ...

'' in March 2006 that under his leadership, if a future federal government persisted in bringing in policies harmful to Alberta such as a

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...

, "(Alberta is) going to take steps to secede." Also, some politicians believe, and at least one poll indicated that a much larger portion of the Alberta population may be at least sympathetic to the notion of secession than was indicated by election results. In January 2004, Premier Ralph Klein told the Canadian edition of ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' that one in four Albertans were in support of separation. An August 2005 poll commissioned by the ''

Western Standard The ''Western Standard'' is a Canadian political and social commentary media website operated by Western Standard New Media Corp. and its president Derek Fildebrandt. The Standard is based in Calgary, Alberta, where its main offices are located. ...

'' pegged support for the idea that "Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country." at 42% in Alberta and 35.6% across the four Western provinces

Late 2010s to early 2020s resurgence

Trudeau visit White House for USMCA (cropped)

Support for Albertan separatism has increased significantly with the

Canadian federal election This article provides a summary of results for Canadian general elections (where all seats are contested) to the House of Commons, the elected lower half of Canada's federal bicameral legislative body, the Parliament of Canada. The number of s ...

victory of

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

's Liberal Party on October 19, 2015. Trudeau, the son of Pierre Trudeau, became prime minister with a majority government, and re-inspired the Alberta separatist movement. While speaking at a town hall in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, Ontario, on January 13, 2017, Trudeau said, "We can't shut down the

tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. That is going to take time," The next day at a Calgary vs Edmonton hockey game in

, Mr. Trudeau was loudly booed by the crowd. His unpopularity in Alberta is a significant rallying point for Alberta separatists. The topic of Alberta separating from Canada is the subject of a number mainstream media reports. The geopolitical analyst

Peter Zeihan Peter Henry Zeihan (, born January 18, 1973) is an American geopolitical analyst and author. Early life, education, and career Born in 1973, Peter grew up the adopted son of educators Jerald and Agnes Zeihan in Marshalltown, Iowa, graduating fro ...

in his 2014 book ''The Accidental Superpower'' presented the reasons why he believed both Alberta and the U.S. would benefit from Alberta joining the United States as the 51st state. Quote from page 263 of book:

The core issue is pretty simple. While the Québécois—and to a slightly lesser degree the rest of Canada—now need Alberta to maintain their standard of living, the Albertans now need ''not'' to be a part of Canada in order to maintain theirs.

Zeihan also stated that "Right now, every man, woman and child in Alberta pays $6,000 more into the national budget than they get back. Alberta is the only province that is a net contributor to that budget — by 2020, the number will exceed $20,000 per person, $40,000 per taxpayer. That will be the greatest wealth transfer in per capita terms in the Western world." Per Statistics Canada, in 2015 Alberta paid $27 billion more into the federal treasury than it received back in services. And that "Anywhere else in the world, this would be a secessionist crisis... There is no other place in the world where you have one province that is lightly populated but very rich, that doesn't have a certain degree of rebellion. The redistribution system that Canada has with the transfer payments, anywhere else would have social instability. But to be blunt, Canadians are just too damn polite." A September 2018 poll by

Ipsos Ipsos Group S.A. () (an acronym of ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publicly traded on the P ...

indicated that 62% of Albertans believe that Alberta "does not get its fair share from Confederation" (up from 45% in 1997), 46% feel "more attached to their province than to their country" (up from 39% in 1997), 34% "feel less committed to Canada than I did a few years ago" (up from 22% in 1997), 18% believe "the views of western Canadians are adequately represented in Ottawa" (down from 22% in 2001), and 25% believe "My province would be better off if it separated from Canada" (up from 19% in 2001). A February 2019 poll from

Angus Reid Angus Reid (born September 23, 1976, in Richmond, British Columbia) is a former offensive lineman who played in the Canadian Football League. Reid went to Simon Fraser University and played for the Simon Fraser Clan. He began his career with the ...

found 50% of Albertans would support secession from Canada but also found the likelihood that Alberta would separate to be "remote." After Justin Trudeau's re-election on October 21, 2019, in the

, #Wexit (a

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...

on "

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

", the United Kingdom's departure from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

) trended on social media. However, experts and an analysis from

Hill+Knowlton Strategies Hill+Knowlton Strategies is an American global public relations consulting company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with over 80 offices in more than 40 countries. The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927 by John W. Hill ...

, demonstrated that part of the push was due to

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the L ...

and

bots The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...

. On November 4, 2019, the separation group "Wexit Alberta" applied for federal political party status. On November 6, 2019, a poll conducted by

show a historic high of interest of secession from Canada in both

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

provinces by 33% and 27%, respectively. On January 12, 2020, Wexit Canada was granted eligibility for the next federal election. A May 2020 poll by Northwest Research for the ''

'' found that 41% of respondents would support independence in a referendum, 50% would be opposed, and 9% weren't sure. Removing undecideds, 45% would support and 55% would be opposed. Respondents were also asked if they would support a referendum if "the federal government is unwilling to negotiate with Alberta on a new constitutional arrangement", 48% said yes, while 52% said no. Support for independence was higher outside of Alberta's two biggest cities, with Edmonton being the most opposed.

Legality of separation in Canada

In Canada the

Clarity Act The ''Clarity Act'' (french: Loi sur la clarté référendaire) (known as Bill C-20 before it became law) (the act) is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would ent ...

, which has been approved by the Supreme Court of Canada, governs the process a province should follow to achieve separation. The first step is a province-wide referendum with a clear question. The size of majority support required by referendum is not defined.

Political parties interested in separation

Registered Alberta political parties

* Independence Party of Alberta *

Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, which was formed through the merger of Wexit Alberta and the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta in 2020. Views According to its constitution, We ...

(formed through a merger of the

Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta The Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta (french: Parti de la liberté conservatrice de l'Alberta) was an Albertan autonomist, libertarian and conservative political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was named the Alberta First Party (french: ...

and Wexit Alberta)

Registered federal political parties

Maverick Party The Maverick Party, formerly known as Wexit Canada, is a Canadian federal political party. It advocates for constitutional changes to benefit, or the independence of, Western Canada, which includes British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Mani ...