ALBERS: Something big is beginning to grow in Alberta independence movement

James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership development.It was an ordinary Saturday night in my hometown of Calgary. Nothing about the evening announced itself as historic. No banners. No blaring slogans. Just a community hall, a few speakers, and a petition on a table.I had invited my wife, of decidedly unpolitical temperament, to join me at the Queensland Community Hall to hear speakers on Alberta independence and to add our names to the referendum petition. Full disclosure: I had already signed on as a canvasser. My wife, who had never attended anything remotely like this before, agreed simply to come along and sign.The first hint that something unusual was afoot came on the drive over. Apple Maps showed a thick line of congestion funnelling toward the hall. I joked that perhaps all the independence-minded souls of Calgary were converging on the same place. A joke, I thought..WS OPINION: Carney’s EV tariffs are driving Canada into a wall.Turning off Bow Bottom Trail onto Canyon Meadows Drive, the traffic thickened. Curious, but still explainable. When we reached Queensland Drive, one car peeled off down a side street. Perhaps this was nothing after all. But the rest did not turn. And then it became clear: this was not a coincidence.As we searched for parking, the truth revealed itself. A line, two city blocks long, stretched toward the hall. Quiet. Orderly. Patient. I dropped my wife off to hold a place and went hunting for parking several blocks away. By the time I returned, the line had grown.I found her deep in conversation with strangers who, moments earlier, had been strangers in the truest sense. Many stood nervously, wondering just who they were standing with. And here was the remarkable thing: except for one young man who had been involved in the COVID protests, not a single person we spoke to had ever participated in any political activism..These were not agitators. They were citizens.The young man beside us spoke of freedom and resistance to Chinese influence in Ottawa. A middle-aged couple ahead of us had simply had enough of what was happening in Canada. Behind us stood an elderly couple concerned about the decline of what used to be Canada, and of course, for my wife and me, a concern about what kind of country our grandchildren would grow up in.Up and down the line, the conversations were the same in tone if not in detail: calm, respectful, and unmistakably resolved. No theatrics. No slogans. No shaking fists. Just what I can only describe as a Western, steel-spined determination, quiet, unadorned, and utterly serious..TIAN: From cheap gas to expensive vegetables — Alberta is wasting its best asset.I stood in silent awe of it.Inside the hall, the line split: those who wished only to sign and those who stayed to listen. We stayed. The room filled with every kind of Albertan: young and old, men and women, people from many backgrounds. It was Alberta in miniature. Neighbours greeted neighbours. Strangers spoke as if they had been waiting a long time for permission to talk.The speakers addressed hard questions plainly: the Canada Pension Plan and an Alberta alternative; what independence could mean for family finances, lower taxes, stronger pensions, and greater control. They spoke of pipelines, ports, and the curious reality that Alberta is more landlocked inside Confederation than it would be outside it..They also spoke of First Nations, rightly affirming their place in the conversation and their right to vote, while clarifying an often-misunderstood distinction in law: consultation does not mean consent; participation does not confer veto.Finally, they spoke of the day after a successful referendum — not in slogans, but in process. Legal. Orderly. Clear. The kind of roadmap Albertans expect. It earned a standing ovation.As we left the hall, we reflected quietly on what we had witnessed. Something serious had occurred. And as we drove away, we noticed something else: two hours later, the line outside was longer than when we arrived..OLDCORN: Senator Paula Simons’ Alberta independence ‘racist’ and ‘transphobic’ smears go too far.Of course, there was no mention of this in the legacy media, or of the thousands gathered in Red Deer that same night, or the standing-room-only crowds elsewhere in the province. But history does not require permission to unfold.After years of weighing the costs and the consequences of Confederation, it appears Albertans are reaching a conclusion. No hoopla. No posturing. Just the calm, collective realization that a decision must be made.This is history, quietly forming. This is your moment.Your neighbours are stepping out and stepping up.It is time for you to do the same.James Albers is a Calgary-based management consultant specializing in leadership development.

ALBERS: Something big is beginning to grow in Alberta independence movement

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