Recently, the Alberta independence movement has been condemned by various political actors and pundits, such as the Premier of British Columbia (BC), David Eby, as overtly treasonous and little more than a by-product of the lust for oil and the archaic, conservative values that dominate Alberta’s politics.However, the recent surge in popularity that independence has enjoyed throughout Canada and in Alberta is not a consequence of simple politics or treason.Rather, the modern advent and onset of the Alberta independence movement is Canada’s right-wing response to the past decade of Liberal oppression.Since the advent of the Trudeau era in 2015 and the onset of Donald Trump’s first presidency nearly a decade ago, left-wing pundits and political actors throughout Canada have mimicked their American brethren and consistently deployed ‘populism’ and ‘populist’ as catch-all terms for all right-wing ideology and every conservative. Unfortunately, the Left has also laboured tirelessly to transform ‘populism’ into a euphemism for neo-Nazis and tyrants, as well as all species of bigot, in a vain attempt to silo all conservative ideology under the false veneer of fascism and discredit the surge in popularity that all right-wing ideology, values, and leaders have enjoyed in Canada and throughout the international political system post-Trump. In fact, throughout his tenure, Canada’s disgraced former prime minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly attempted to indict the Leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre as a far-right populist and an acolyte at the Altar of Trump, in order to scare Canadians away from Poilievre’s leadership and shame Canadian society away from any conservative politics.In contrast, throughout the modern era, the ‘progressive’ political edifices and news media organizations that currently preside over Canadian society have hailed left-wing ideology as the driver of all socio-political progress since the Enlightenment and invariably associated a left-wing ethos with the democratic ideal, as well as a constant desire to protect and cultivate the fundamental human rights of all people. .In fact, over the past decade, left-wing politicians, such as Justin Trudeau, have consistently been lauded as champions of liberty and human rights, in spite of any fascist, anti-democratic, politics and explicit human rights violations.As a result, Canada’s left-wing politicians and media edifices have inevitably engineered a political spectrum wherein a person or political actor becomes increasingly evil and antithetical to democracy, as their political beliefs and personal ideology become progressively conservative or ‘populist’, and, conversely, a person becomes increasingly good and virtuous, inasmuch as their personal beliefs and political ideology become left-wing and liberal.Therefore, political dialogue in Canada has collapsed and open persecution has summarily become a macabre reality of daily life for every conservative in Canada. Firstly, all right-wing political discourse has been censored and oppressed in Canada since the advent of the Liberal government in 2015. For example, conservative Canadians are consistently precluded from fundamental human rights, such as the ‘right to freedom of’ and the ‘right to religious liberty’. In addition, right-wing media outlets are routinely silenced and, over the past decade, countless Canadian citizens have openly been prevented from commenting on political issues and espousing right-wing political values at public forums by Canada’s left-wing political actors and Liberal government.Furthermore, right-wing ideology has been systematically exterminated and excised from every Canadian university and college. In fact, data indicates that “Nearly half of all Canadian university students are actively concealing their real opinions for fear of sanction or mistreatment” and that “Liberals basically feel free to say anything they want on any subject, regardless of consequences…[whereas] moderates and conservatives and libertarians feel like they have to radically self-censor, if they want to avoid consequences for their beliefs.”Moreover, right-wing political actors have been relentlessly persecuted and ‘Other’-ed in Canada over the past Liberal decade.For instance, “Canada’s justice system has [brought] itself into disrepute,” due to the fact that open populists and conservatives have been menaced with extreme prison sentences that far exceed even the punishments that are meted out against violent criminals, murderers, and sexual predators in Canada. Furthermore, the Liberal government has engorged the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) with funding and loosed it upon the Canadian nation in an explicit effort to “target anybody who happens to be conservative” and “…propagandize against anything they deem to be right of center.”.In addition, from 2015 to 2025, Canada’s former prime minister himself, Justin Trudeau, frequently misconstrued populists as some species of crypto-nazi and attempted to associate all right-wing ideology with the accusations of bigotry and fascism that have plagued America’s President, Donald Trump. Unfortunately, even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has become an instrument for the ‘Other’-ing of conservatives in Canada under the auspices of the Liberal government and recently regurgitated the tired leftist trope that any right-wing or “traditional values” are “…a sign that [a person is] becoming more extremist.”Finally, the Liberal government has explicitly violated Canada’s laws and abused its fundamental democratic processes in order to oppress right-wing politics and preclude conservatives from accessing any legitimate channels for political expression.For example, in 2025, the Liberal government colluded with various aspects of Canada’s provincial and municipal governments in a shameful effort to manipulate Canadian law and prevent the Christian musician, Sean Feucht, from touring publicly in Canada due to the fact that Feucht is an open populist and has publicly expressed his own personal right-wing values and ideology.Furthermore, in 2022, the Liberal government needlessly enacted Canada’s Emergencies Act and grotesquely violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms itself in order to oppress the Freedom Convoy and its bevy of right-wing supporters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada’s Federal Court has explicitly confirmed that the Liberal government “…violated the Charter right to freedom of expression and the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure” and ultimately concluded that “The federal government’s decision…[was] not justified [by] the facts or the law.”Worse still, Mark Carney’s Liberal government has recently introduced various ghoulish legislation, such as Bill C-8 and Bill C-9, whereby it seeks the power to secretly ban conservatives and other ‘undesirables’ from the Internet entirely and to punish any Canadian with a lifetime of imprisonment for a slew of vaguely defined hate-crimes that amount almost entirely to right-wing ‘wrongthink’ and whose parameters can easily be twisted in order to encompass any conservative. In fact, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) itself has explicitly stated that “Bill C-9 [threatens] Constitutionally-protected expression” and that “legislation built on such deep constitutional defects cannot be salvaged and should not be pursued.”More importantly, due to the fact that political discourse has collapsed and all right-wing ideology and politics have summarily become openly persecuted in Canada over the course of the past Liberal decade, conservatives have overwhelmingly been forced to seek out political expression outside mainstream society and pursue diverse modes of non-violent political resistance, in order to achieve any modicum of political self-expression and at all confront the Liberal government’s authoritarian tendencies.For example, although the infamous Freedom Convoy has been retroactively misconstrued by the Liberal government and Canada’s left-wing media as naught but an extremist response to Justin Trudeau’s overbearing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Freedom Convoy was itself overwhelmingly a response to the Liberal government’s overt suppression of right-wing values, ideology, and politics in Canada over the course of the past decade. Even the brave Canadians who risked their own personal freedom in order to support the Freedom Convoy and participate in its noble protest have themselves variously reaffirmed that the Freedom Convoy was a direct response to the Liberal government’s flagrant persecution of right-wing ideology and an emphatic culmination of the decade of Liberal oppression that preceded its eruption. .Moreover, the massively popular independence movement that has recently captivated the Province of Alberta is itself overwhelmingly a response to the Liberal government’s overt suppression of right-wing values, ideology, and politics in Canada over the course of the past decade.For instance, due to the fact that the Province of Alberta and its society are vividly conservative and still predicated upon Canada’s historic mores and foundational ideology, the Province of Alberta’s needs and the values of its people have all been ignored by the Liberal Party’s ‘progressive’ government since the advent of the Trudeau era in 2015, under the pretense that they are somehow ignorant and anti-Canadian or injurious to Canada’s democracy and national progress.In fact, the Democracy Index itself has confirmed that “Tensions…between the Liberal federal government and the Conservative-led [are] now one of the biggest risks to Canada’s political stability.” Even the Premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, has declared that “Alberta’s treatment within Canada has become intolerable” and boldly reaffirmed that the Alberta independence movement has “legitimate grievances.” Alberta is currently flirting with secession almost entirely because the Liberal government has so emphatically insulted Alberta’s right-wing values and rejected Alberta’s conservative socio-political ecosystem and paradigm over the past decade. As Premier Smith herself states, “the eastern media tries to twist it, Albertans want the same thing: to stand as equal partners in Canada, not second-class citizens.”Despite the fact that it has been relentlessly condemned by the Left, the treasonous by-product of Alberta’s outdated values and conservative politics, it is clear that the Alberta independence movement is not at all a consequence of any simple politics and outdated morals, or the culmination of some unhinged lust for treason and pipelines.Rather, the modern advent and onset of the Alberta independence movement is Canada’s right-wing response to the past decade of Liberal oppression.In fact, Canada is now at a vital national crossroads, regardless of any independence movement and its success: Civil discourse has collapsed; violence now roils ominously just below the placid veneer of Canadian society. Therefore, if the Canadian nation is to at all persevere outside the tumult of the modern era and successfully progress into the future, it is clear that Canadians must shuck off the oppressive politics that have been cultivated in Canada throughout the past Liberal decade and, instead, cleave to the liberal-democratic ethos, values, and compassion that have defined Canada and its people since their advent.Most importantly, every Canadian must once more perform the most Northern of labours and gaze not just directly, but lovingly, into the eyes of The Abyss, in order to unwaveringly re-establish the humanity of The Other.William Barclay is an award-winning political theorist and policy expert, as well as one of Canada’s foremost young conservative voices. Follow him on Twitter/X @WillBarclayPCBG.
