What Alberta is asking Canada

The Alberta referendum debate offers an opportunity to engage seriously with the future of the federation

Some people across the country are overreacting to Premier Danielle Smith’s May 21 announcement that Alberta will add a 10th question to its Oct. 19 referendum ballot, asking whether the province should remain in Canada or begin the constitutional process for a future binding referendum on separation. But the real issue is not the ballot question itself. It is why so many Albertans believe the federation is no longer working for them.

The vote in October is not a secession vote. It is a vote about whether to authorize a future vote. Nothing about it transfers territory, alters a treaty, or removes a constitutional right. The federal Clarity Act remains in force. Aboriginal rights remain in force. The constitutional amendment formula remains in force. The October ballot is a measure of opinion that many Albertans want. The premier has said she will vote to remain. Other Canadians may join the debate, but only Albertans will decide whether to hold one.

Yet some of the country’s most prominent voices have responded as though the country were under attack. A First Nations chief and a provincial premier have called the premier or other Albertans traitors. A federal Liberal MP called the question “baffling” and warned that it “will divide, will distract, will damage.” Calgary’s mayor reached for barroom language. The Prime Minister, who watched Brexit from inside the Bank of England, compared the two events even though Brexit was a direct, binding vote, and this is not.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew struck a friendlier note, admitting he wondered what Alberta separatists have to complain about, and hoping a future Churchill project would be “a big old hug to our friends in Alberta.” The puzzlement seems honest and the warmth genuine. Curiosity and goodwill are the right instincts. They naturally lead to the next step: listening.

That is what this moment calls for. Alberta has been unhappy in the federation for some time. The question is why. The other nine questions on the ballot offer part of the answer.

They address whether the province should take more control over immigration to match its capacity to build housing, schools, and hospitals. They address whether provinces should have input into Supreme Court and federal judicial appointments. They address abolishing the Senate, an institution few Western Canadians have ever found responsive. They address restructuring equalization, a program every Western province has reason to examine.

These are not the hillbilly grievances some claim they are. They are the constitutional concerns of citizens who built much of the country and have spent the past decade being told their concerns are illegitimate.

Manitobans know something about being treated as a lesser partner in the federation. They know what it is like when Ottawa dictates policy on ports, agriculture, energy, and Indigenous affairs with little regard for prairie realities.

The reflex to tell Albertans to be quiet should be resisted. The Alberta ballot questions affect every province, especially western ones.

The contribution Manitobans can make is to reject the name-calling and the insults that have dominated the response. Calling neighbours traitors is not an argument. Calling a ballot question stupid is not an analysis. Treating 700,000 Albertans who signed one of two competing petitions as confused or duped is not respectful. They and the country deserve better.

There is an opportunity to engage rationally with what Albertans and other Western Canadians are asking. Real reforms to the federation should be part of the discussion. Real proposals for a fairer distribution of authority between Ottawa and the provinces are possible. A country worth keeping is one whose members can speak honestly about what needs improving.

Canadians who love Canada should want to rebuild a country that no one wants to leave. That work begins with listening, not insulting. Premier Kinew and Manitoba can lead by example.

Dr. Marco Navarro-Génie is the Vice-President of Research and Policy at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. An expert on radical revolutionary movements and political identity, he is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal for exemplary public service. He is the author of three books, including the 2023 release Canada’s COVID: The Story of a Pandemic Moral Panic, co-authored with Barry Cooper.