BC Premier David Eby has got something to say to Albertans who support independence: "Those are not Albertans. Albertans overwhelmingly want to stay in Canada. This is a small group that live in Alberta, that don't want to be a part of Canada. Don't want to be a part of Alberta." He's got a point on the "don't want to be a part of Canada" bit, but the rest? Is the man delusional with fever? Did he hit his head? Albertans who support Alberta independence, "are not Albertans"? Alberta nationalists "don't want to be a part of Alberta"?I try my best to understand the thought process of those with whom I disagree, but I'm having a real hard time with this one. The NDP premier goes so far as to call them "treasonous". Tough talk from a politician who signed away the private property rights of British Columbians to a gang of extortionists who claim everything is theirs because someone went fishing there a few hundred years ago. .David Eby didn't just fail to oppose — but has actively supported — the destruction of ancient property rights sacred to our civilization, predating the Magna Carta. He betrayed British Columbians. But he did what he felt was right — in his own warped way.But it's not treason. Probably closer to treason than Alberta nationalists, but not treason. Alberta nationalists are very open about their stated goal: independence from Ottawa. Agree with them or not, Alberta nationalists support Alberta. David Eby, by contrast, betrayed his own people. He supported policies that would strip a core right from every single British Columbian who owns a home or a parking space. .I conceded the point above from Eby that Alberta nationalists "don't want to be a part of Canada", but even that isn't entirely correct. Most Albertans who support independence actually want to be part of Canada; they just feel that Canada doesn't want Alberta to be an equal, fairly treated part of it.The Reform movement of 1985-2003 boldly declared "The West Wants In" to largely deaf ears in much of the rest of Canada. It is the failure of Canadian elites to take the West up on that call that drives mainstream support for those who now declare "The West Wants Out". Albertans repeatedly put water in their wine to reach an acceptable compromise, only to have it dumped back on their laps. Alberta has not been demanding Equalization reform just since Jason Kenney, or pipeline construction since Danielle Smith. They have been demanding constitutional reform — including changes to the Senate and the House of Commons — since Preston Manning. And all we get is dismissal, or at best, promises. .If David Eby has such a big problem with Albertans voting in a referendum on independence, he should immediately agree to get out of the way of pipeline construction from Alberta to the West Coast. Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn't call Alberta nationalists "treasonous", but he did demand that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith denounce the independence movement. For his part, Ford isn't a stick-in-the-mud on pipelines the way Eby is, but it's a moot point since nobody is going to bother trying to build Energy East so long as Carney continues to give Quebec a veto over it. But if Ford really thinks Alberta independence is such a terrible thing, he should commit to ending Alberta's subsidization of Quebec through Equalization and other transfer programs. While he's at it, he should support ending the federal tariff on Chinese EV's that support Ontario's subsidized non-industry, so that we can get the tariffs on Western beef, canola and pork dropped. If the Atlantic premiers want Alberta to stay, they should consider trading us some of their Senate seats. Alberta has nearly three times the population of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick combined. Yet those two provinces — for some reason — have nearly twice the number of senators as Alberta: each. .Only Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe seems to get Alberta, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting for a fair place for the West in Canada.Saskatchewan and Alberta have had to pass legislation making it illegal for Mark Carney to send armed policemen door-to-door to steal firearms from law-abiding citizens.Alberta is now considering legislation to try to mitigate the disastrous effects of mass migration invited by Ottawa.The left in Alberta — always deferential to federal power — is uniformly opposed to independence, or even making mild demands of Ottawa. Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi's best response so far is to demand that UCP MLAs sign his loyalty pledge. Okay. If Mark Carney and politicians in the ROC (Rest of Canada) really want to kill off the Alberta independence movement, they could do it easily enough: build pipelines, kill Equalization, reform the Senate, stop stealing our guns, and end mass migration..That won't fix everything, but it would kill independence as a mainstream movement right quick.After Eby and Ford's outbursts, the CBC convened a panel discussion on the growing threat of Alberta independence, featuring four federalists. When they start having chinwags about Quebec's ascendant independence movement, something tells me there will be at least one Quebec nationalist invited to the table. But I digress.The one Albertan they had on the panel was Naheed Nenshi's NDP leadership campaign director, Zane Velji.To his credit, he did have some insight. He said it's no longer a fringe movement confined to rural areas but is now out in the open and socially acceptable. He pointed to the huge independence rally held on the Stampede grounds earlier this week."They weren't covering their faces."I doubt many of them did during COVID either, when they were ordered to do so..Alberta's independence movement is mainstream and picking up steam. It's not yet at majority support, but it is comparable to where it was in Quebec at the start of its nearly successful 1995 campaign and in the UK at the start of the Brexit revolt. It has a real chance, and these guys are starting to catch onto it.If the ROC politicians want to stop this thing in its tracks, they know exactly what they need to do. But I bet you they won't.
