James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership developmentBy any measure of common sense — and I emphasize common, not the boutique intellectualism of think tanks or the jargon-fed corridors of Ottawa — Alberta stands today at the most consequential fork in its history. One road loops endlessly through subservience and stasis; the other leads toward dignity, prosperity, and self-determination. The real question echoing across the Prairies is not “Why would Alberta leave?” but “Why on earth would it stay?”We are ceaselessly told, with the smug assurance of Central Canadian punditry, that Alberta is “stronger within Canada.” This is the lullaby Ottawa sings to keep the West docile while siphoning its wealth and ridiculing its lifeblood industries. But for those not yet numbed by the anaesthetic of confederation, let us examine what independence might actually mean — not as fantasy, but as policy, principle, and promise..Take pensions, for instance. Under the Canada Pension Plan, Alberta pays far more than it receives — a perverse arithmetic in a federation that punishes success and prizes dependency. An Alberta-controlled pension plan could correct that injustice. Imagine lower contributions for workers, higher returns for retirees, and inflation protection hardwired into the system — not pegged to the whim of Parliament but enshrined in the architecture. With a younger, higher-earning population, Alberta could deliver a pension system that rewards contribution, not one that redistributes it to curry votes in battleground ridings..Then there’s the matter of taxation. With independence, Alberta could finally craft its own tax code — liberated from the quagmire of equalization and federal virtue taxes. The billions now drained into Ottawa’s bottomless pit of inefficiency could remain here, used to foster innovation, fund infrastructure and ease the burden on those who create wealth rather than consume it. No more lectures from provinces that live off our prosperity while scorning the very industries that produce it.Business, too, would flourish. Ottawa has cultivated a regulatory climate so hostile, it’s a wonder any enterprise ventures west of the Ontario border. Independence would strip away the redundant oversight, the endless environmental delays, and the ideological vetoes. In their place: clarity, speed, and purpose. Alberta could become the most business-friendly jurisdiction in North America — an engine of investment and growth, no longer shackled by a federal government that sees prosperity as a threat, not a goal..And what of Alberta’s immense resource wealth? Independence would mean retaining every nickel of oil, gas, and mineral revenue — not after transfers, not with strings attached, but all of it. These funds could rebuild rural towns, future-proof our economy, and finally allow Albertans to enjoy the full bounty of the land they work. No more sending prosperity east to be doled out in politically convenient packages.Consider energy corridors. Under the current regime, Alberta must go hat in hand to Ottawa for permission to build the very infrastructure that powers the nation. But as a sovereign entity, Alberta could negotiate directly — with provinces, with the U.S., with any partner who sees energy as a necessity, not a nuisance. Pipelines would be built. Railways extended. Trade expanded. No longer would our economic arteries be pinched by bureaucrats and activists nestled safely in cities far from consequence..More than policy, independence is about principle. It is about the right of a people to govern themselves. Why should Albertans — resilient, industrious, culturally distinct — be yoked to a political order that neither understands them nor respects them? Alberta could set its own course on immigration, climate, infrastructure, and foreign affairs. No more carbon taxes imposed from afar. No more regulatory sermons from the Laurentian elite. Just governance rooted in Alberta’s land and led by Alberta’s people.And yes — let us talk about debt. Not the abstract kind, but the real weight crushing future generations. With control of its revenues and spending, Alberta could stabilize its budget, pay down debt, and build a sovereign wealth fund modeled after Norway's. While Ottawa spends with abandon, Alberta could plan for the long term — sovereign, solvent, and strong.So let us say it plainly, even if it unsettles polite company: Alberta does not need Canada. It has the resources. It has the people. It has the vision. What it needs is the resolve to break the chains of a federation that has too often treated it as a colony, not a partner.Let the rest of Canada talk of unity. Out here, we must begin to talk of dignity. For if fairness cannot be found within the federation, then Alberta must find it elsewhere.The sun does not rise only in the East. It rises over Alberta too. And perhaps, just perhaps, it’s time for us to rise with it.James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership development.
