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Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

bbc.com

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Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#101

Post by Spooky23 »

nonethewiser wrote: post #38
LurkandComment wrote: post #21

Related: Alberta Voter Data was leaked to an American Company by the separatist movement. Also, the question right now is if there will be a referendum proposal. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/05/20/investigations/a... This is clear foriegn political interfierence. It's like mini-brexit. We have a weak, incompitent leader in Alberta who is giving in to her right-wing base so she can stay in power. It's David C…

Mini brexit? A province seceding from Canada is way bigger than the UK leaving the EU.

Mini Brexit in the sense that a foreign entity is working to destabilize another.

Russia and its proxies ran an active measures campaign in the UK. If the US government isn’t doing something similar, the toxic soup of the maga-sphere definitely is.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#102

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

cwillu wrote: post #83
rdtsc wrote: post #78

With all the turmoil in US and other parts of the world I was completely unaware Albertans want to leave. > Smith acknowledged some of those concerns on Thursday, arguing that the federal government has tried to "move towards a more centralised American-style system" and is infringing on provincial jurisdiction. Ah interesting. I always thought US is rather decentralized with each state with its own government and la…

Some Albertans.

Few Albertans. The Forever Canada petition got over 10% of the entire population to sign it. Considering that it was a grassroots effort and that you had to sign in person, meaning you had to go out of your way to sign an entirely optional petition, really shows how much support there is in Alberta to remain.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#103

Post by cwillu »

briga wrote: post #99
cwillu wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile our Prime Minister was raised in Edmonton... No, it's not a thing.

That doesn't make any sense, that's like saying because Trump was raised in New York and he's now president, that New York identity isn't a thing. I think the dismissive attitude here is proving my point.

No, it's not proving anything of the sort. You're trying to claim that the average canadian despises alberta, and that's simply not a thing. It is in fact invented whole-cloth.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#104

Post by janderson215 »

SecretDreams wrote: post #55
zenethian wrote: post #14

As a Minnesotan I would gladly trade Alberta for Minnesota and become Canadian.

I think most of Canada (and probably America) would be okay with trading all the great lakes touching American states + the US west coast for Alberta.

That would be very interesting. I would love to see how that would play out (particularly with California and DC), but it would kill the political balance in both countries. I think having to consider opposing viewpoints is probably paramount to how we have both flourished historically.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#105

Post by bfeist »

nonethewiser wrote: post #30
jszymborski wrote: post #5

Important context, this referendum isn't binding, but rather a referendum on whether a binding referendum should be held. Separation is deeply unpopular, but Smith has been putting her thumb on the scale every step of the way, and this non-binding referendum isn't subject to the Clarity act in the same way that a subsequent binding one would be.

Is there actually even a legal process for leaving Canada? I would assume you can't just decide to leave. EDIT: oh, there is a process. thats the Clarity Act. This seems extremely surprising - I've never heard of this sort of thing before with any other country.

It was put into place after Quebec held a referendum that was close in 1995. Canada remedied the situation by making clear what it would take to leave.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#106

Post by cf100clunk »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #102
cwillu wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some Albertans.

Few Albertans. The Forever Canada petition got over 10% of the entire population to sign it. Considering that it was a grassroots effort and that you had to sign in person, meaning you had to go out of your way to sign an entirely optional petition, really shows how much support there is in Alberta to remain.

I've put up some basic numbers in another comment that foreshadow what a futile exercise this is likely to be for the separatists.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#107

Post by briga »

cwillu wrote: post #103
briga wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't make any sense, that's like saying because Trump was raised in New York and he's now president, that New York identity isn't a thing. I think the dismissive attitude here is proving my point.

No, it's not proving anything of the sort. You're trying to claim that the average canadian despises alberta, and that's simply not a thing. It is in fact invented whole-cloth.

According to this poll (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/poll-canadians-living...), nearly half of Canadians think that: 1) Alberta is not a welcoming place 2) Albertans don't care about other Canadians 3) Alberta is not a place they would feel comfortable living

And noticeably, the opinions of the Albertans are generally different from the rest of the country! How curious for a place without an identity of its own, as you claim.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#108

Post by bfeist »

briga wrote: post #20
vkou wrote: post #2

And do what? There is no 'Albertan' national identity, like there is in Quebec, or Ukraine, or Taiwan or Ireland. You can't build an independent nation around something that is only wanted by a single political party, who have no fucking idea of how to include everyone who isn't a Tory on board with their project. Trace it back a bit, and you'll find that there's nothing to this that isn't driven by the Department of…

Albertan/Western Canadian identity is totally a thing, and has been around for a lot longer than this latest round of separatist sentiment. The west has been griping about unfair treatment from the federal government for over a century now, so 1) this isn't primarily driven by foreign interference and 2) it's not coming out of nowhere. Whether it's a good idea is a different question. I doubt most Albertans want to b…

Former Albertan here. Alberta even griped about unfair treatment when their conservative party had a majority in Ottawa for almost a decade. It’s just what people have learned to say.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#109

Post by cwillu »

zenethian wrote: post #14

As a Minnesotan I would gladly trade Alberta for Minnesota and become Canadian.

While I appreciate the sentiment, that would be condemning a great many Albertans who want nothing to do with separation to a fate I would rather not see a fellow Canadian faced with.

Re: Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

#110

Post by dragon-hn »

multiplegeorges wrote: post #60
ecshafer wrote: post #33

[flagged]

> blocking a referendum because they didn't consult indigenous groups The requirement to do so is in our constitution, the Charter. It's not optional and not absurd to anyone with proper historical understanding of Canadian history.

Americans may have trouble understanding that the constitution means something given what is going on there right now.
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