As Europe slides deeper into economic stagnation, its experience offers a stark warning for Canada. Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, recently cautioned that Europe faces an “existential crisis” unless fundamental reforms are undertaken. Her warning should not be dismissed as alarmist rhetoric. Rather, it exposes the structural failures of centralized governance, overregulation, and fiscal mismanagement, failures that increasingly resemble Canada’s own trajectory.Lagarde pointed to excessive regulation, punitive taxation, internal trade barriers, and unsustainable debt as key drivers of Europe’s malaise. Capital is fleeing to more competitive jurisdictions, productivity is lagging, and growth is stagnating. The European Union’s attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all economic framework on culturally, politically, and economically diverse nations has generated fragmentation, resentment, and resistance. In her own words, Lagarde acknowledged inevitable pushbacks from countries that simply want to be left alone.Sound familiar?.BARBER: US doesn’t need Canada anymore and that changes everything.Europe’s Crisis of CentralizationEurope’s difficulties are not the result of insufficient stimulus or interest-rate policy. Lagarde herself conceded that quantitative easing and rock-bottom rates cannot solve structural dysfunction. The problem lies deeper: centralized policymaking suppresses innovation, discourages enterprise, and ignores regional realities.Uniform environmental mandates, excessive taxation, and regulatory burdens have driven up costs across the continent. Debt is rising faster than output, while competitiveness erodes. The predictable result is capital flight, declining productivity, and growing calls for member states to reassert their unique national sovereignty. Europe’s experience is a textbook example of how top-down control undermines prosperity and social cohesion..This is not merely Europe’s problem; it is a cautionary tale and an anathema to the globalist’s agenda. The pushback was inevitable.Canada’s Parallel Path: Federal Overreach and Provincial DeclineCanada is increasingly following Europe’s path. For over a century, federal centralization has strained relations between Ottawa and the provinces. Today, that tension is intensifying. Federal policy attempts to homogenize a diverse country under a narrow ideological framework, stifling regional autonomy, individuality, and entrepreneurialism..WENZEL: Canada’s new culture war is being fought in Google reviews.The economic results are sobering. Over the past decade, Canada’s GDP per capita growth at a mere 1.4% has been the worst among all industrialized nations. Provinces face deteriorating fiscal outlooks due to rising deficits, trade uncertainty, and structural economic shifts. Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, confronts a nearly $1 billion deficit despite projected GDP growth. Ontario is scrambling to counter US trade pressures. Nationwide, economic slowdowns are anticipated by 2026.Alberta: Paying the Price of Federal PolicyNowhere are the consequences of federal overreach more acute than in Alberta..Federal emissions caps, restrictions on oil and gas development, pipeline constraints, tanker bans, and agricultural limitations and censorship mirror the very regulatory excesses crippling Europe. Ottawa’s climate agenda has imposed disproportionate costs on Alberta’s resource-based economy, undermining investment and long-term growth.The recent memorandum of understanding between Alberta and the federal government — ostensibly designed to reduce emissions while enabling development — comes at a steep price. Alberta’s energy sector is being asked to shoulder massive costs, including useless carbon capture and storage expenditures estimated to exceed $30 billion by industry insiders. These costs will ultimately fall on Albertans, while benefits flow disproportionately to politically connected corporate interests, as well as the federal government.Over the next 15 years, Alberta is projected to transfer between $400 and $600 billion more to Ottawa than it receives. This extraordinary wealth transfer funds federal priorities that often conflict with Western values and economic realities..ALBERS: Something big is beginning to grow in Alberta independence movement.Constitutionally, Alberta is trapped. The Constitution Act, 1982 clearly places interprovincial pipelines under federal jurisdiction. Yet Ottawa has effectively delegated veto power to other provinces and select interest groups. Alberta’s economic future is constrained not by its resources or capacity, but by political design on the altar of climate change.This dynamic is not accidental. It reflects a federal structure historically engineered to concentrate economic power in Central Canada. As Clifford Sifton stated in 1904, the wealth of the Prairies was intended to enrich the East. Alberta entered Confederation as a resource colony, and 120 years later, that relationship remains fundamentally unchanged..The Supreme Court of Canada has acknowledged that persistent subjugation, denial of meaningful self-determination, and exploitation may justify the pursuit of sovereignty (Quebec Secession Reference, sections 154–155). Alberta’s circumstances increasingly meet that standard.An Existential Question for Canada and AlbertaEurope’s crisis demonstrates what happens when centralized governance suppresses regional autonomy and economic freedom. Canada is approaching a similar crossroads. Federal governance has failed Western Canada in general, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in particular..WS OPINION: Carney’s EV tariffs are driving Canada into a wall.With global competition intensifying and countries like Venezuela poised to challenge Alberta’s energy market, Alberta cannot afford continued regulatory paralysis, excessive taxation, and political interference. Alberta cannot save Canada from itself. But Alberta can save Alberta.The Case for Alberta IndependenceEurope’s experience underscores a fundamental truth: decentralization fosters resilience, innovation, and prosperity. For Alberta, independence offers the opportunity to reclaim control over resources, taxation, regulation, immigration, culture, and values, aligning governance with the values and aspirations of its people..Under the Alberta Prosperity Project’s vision, a sovereign Alberta would eliminate federal taxation and regulatory duplication, prioritize responsible energy development, strengthen property rights, and restore accountability. Independence would enable meaningful improvements to pensions, healthcare, education, and social programs, without Ottawa’s bureaucracy or ideological constraints.A sovereign Alberta would protect faith, family, freedom, and opportunity. It would benefit citizens across the political spectrum by restoring self-determination and economic vitality.A Choice AheadDear reader, the choice is approaching..OLDCORN: Senator Paula Simons’ Alberta independence ‘racist’ and ‘transphobic’ smears go too far.More Canada, governed like Europe, leads to an existential crisis of centralization and decline. More Alberta — free, self-governing, and accountable — offers prosperity for families and future generations.That choice may come as soon as the fall of 2026, in a referendum on Alberta sovereignty.History shows that nations flourish when they control their own destiny.Alberta deserves no less.Dennis L. Modry, BSc, MD, MSc, FRCS(C), FACS(C), FACCP(C)Postdoctoral Fellow, ImmunologyClinical Associate Professor (Retired), Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of AlbertaFounder and Director, Heart & Lung Transplantation ProgramFounder, Cardiovascular Intensive Care UnitChair and Co-Founder, Alberta Prosperity Society and Project
