Alberta to hold referendum on whether to remain in Canada

Post by Sprocklem » Fri, May 22, 2026, 10:03 PM UTC

slopinthebag wrote: post #292

alistairSH wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now, huge Albertan budget surpluses get sent to Ottawa to be spent outside of Alberta (largely as a carrot to inhibit other independence movements), which is what motivates the Albertan independence movement. Any Albertans would hope the US to be more egalitarian. Is Alberta taxed at a higher rate than other provinces? Nothing in the top few hits on Google indicates this to be the case. And I'm not sure how the…

They're called "Equalisation payments". Certain provinces pay them, like BC, Alberta, and Ontario, and then other provinces receive them. In 2023, the federal government spent $24.0 billion including an estimated $3.3 billion from Alberta, which has not received equalization payments since 1964/65. From 2007 to 2022, Albertans’ net contribution to federal finances was $244.6 billion, more than five times the net cont…

Post by kimos » Fri, May 22, 2026, 10:36 PM UTC

flossly wrote: post #130

mmastrac wrote: post #125

As an Albertan, I'm embarrassed that this is the image we project to the world, and sad that our punishment for collusion with foreign enemies isn't stronger or better enforced. One of the "separatist" leaders is hiding from the law in Texas. He can stay there. If there was any legitimacy in this process, the petition that got 150% of the votes in less time would have been addressed first rather than this sham, likel…

As an outsider I like this idea of being able to vote yourself out. This is the ultimate test of a democracy, imho, that you can leave it democratically (by vote and not by force). We've seen some interesting cases of this, in Spain and in the Donbas of the last years. I think the outcome of people voting against it is a great outcome. You have the freedom. You paid for the vote (its expensive) and "they" did not win…

Post by thunderfork » Fri, May 22, 2026, 10:44 PM UTC

motohagiography wrote: post #222

Some modern precedents for countries established by peaceful legal secession include: - Singapore (Malaysia) 1965 - Montenegro (Serbia) 2006 - Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia) 1993 - Iceland (Denmark) 1944 However, these are rare as most secession events are violent. Establishing a new country typically requires a revolution, and there is more support for that broadly in Canada for various reasons than any single prov…

Post by kazinator » Sat, May 23, 2026, 1:27 AM UTC

d_burfoot wrote: post #211

Many commenters seem to be appealing to an almost religious defense of present political borders. That attitude is untenable: there is nothing sacred about national boundaries, they are mere political artifacts like rules, regulations, tax codes, etc. If the people want to change them, they absolutely have the right to do so. https://unifixion.substack.com/p/political-boundaries-are-no...

Post by jleyank » Sat, May 23, 2026, 1:30 AM UTC

philistine wrote: post #318

transcriptase wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AB sees, correctly, an inordinate amount of tax per capita go out for the privilege of policies intended to kneecap that region's development. Not only that, but the Feds typically use their outsized tax revenue from Alberta to “invest” in Quebec to buy votes via propping up unviable businesses, subsidies, outsized proportion of public sector jobs, and federal spending in general.

Hey, the little old lie that Québec, which does get an outsized proportion of the political attention, gets an outsized proportion of the federal money, which it doesn’t. You can find many examples of specific programs where Québec gets the federal government’s money in incredible amounts. But you add all these programs together and you still come up short per person compared to Ontario. Why? The Southern Ontario car…