CALGARY — The world’s richest man has entered the ring of Canadian political debate — and more specifically, into growing calls for Alberta independence.Elon Musk sparked a wave of online reaction late Monday after responding to a viral Canadian political clip with a blunt assessment: “Canada is cooked.”A video of NDP MP Leah Gazan went viral on social media as she condemned Mark Carney’s Liberal government and Budget 2026 for cutting $7 billion from Indigenous Services Canada and Crown Indigenous Relations.“They provided zero dollars to deal with the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+,” Gazan said.“This is abhorrent. This is callous because the very Liberal government that has stripped organizations of life-sustaining funding has now committed $13 billion to military spending.”.The video quickly gained traction online, drawing commentary from prominent US figures such as conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who mocked the terminology used by Gazan.“MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ means ‘Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual,’” Walsh tweeted.“Apparently they’ve added murdered people into the LGBT community. Murdered is now a queer identity. This is the kind of innovation we get from Canada.”Musk then entered the conversation, replying to the clip with a short post that has since amassed 39 million views..Alberta political activist and independence advocate David Parker responded directly to Musk, writing that “Alberta independence is the only way to save what we have left.”Musk simply replied, “Yeah.”.That response quickly ignited discussion among independence supporters, some of whom urged Musk to lend his influence to the movement.“Elon, help us however you can, brother. This is it — we form the new republic or Canada is done,” political commentator Yukon Strong said..“Let’s hope October 20 is the last time we have to worry about the Liberal uniparty,” said independence advocate David Robinson.At the same time, Musk’s comment also raised concerns among some users about potential political fallout from Ottawa. Several suggested his endorsement could intensify scrutiny of X in Canada, particularly amid ongoing debates over federal online regulation such as the Online Harms Act.“I suspect the Canadian government may try extra hard to squash X in Canada now,” one X user wrote.“They will almost certainly find a way to ban Elon from Canada for this one-word reply,” said another..Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi took to X on Tuesday morning, speaking out against Musk's message."I'm ready to fight like hell for this country, and against anyone trying to tear it apart," Nenshi said. "The richest man in the world wants Canada to become the 51st state and is now amplifying Alberta separatism." He also added that Albertans deserved to know who was funding the independence movement. On Monday, the National Post reported a Pollara poll showed as many as 42% of those surveyed would vote for Alberta independence.That number comes as Stay Free Alberta, the organization behind the independence petition, recently announced it had surpassed the signature threshold required under Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act.
