So, David Eby is upset. The premier of British Columbia has discovered that some Albertans have been talking to Americans. And not just about hockey or the price of beef. According to reports, figures from the Alberta Prosperity Project have met with current and former officials from the Trump administration. Their topic? The future.For this, Premier Eby reached for the heaviest book on the shelf. "Treason." An "old-fashioned word," he called it, before dusting it off and hurling it across the Rockies.“To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada. There’s an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason,” Eby thundered. He vowed to scold Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, insisting all premiers must “say that this is unacceptable conduct.”Strong stuff. The kind of language that makes for bold headlines in friendly press galleries. But let’s examine the charge, because in the court of common sense, it collapses faster than a Vancouver bike lane in a snowstorm.Since when did talking become treason? There is no evidence, none, of plots, subversion, or whispered secrets of state. It was dialogue. Conversation. The very thing politicians like Eby claim to champion when it suits them. If exploring ideas with sympathetic outsiders is treason, then every environmental group that lobbies the UN against our energy sector should be fitted for a blindfold and a last cigarette.Eby’s real outrage isn’t about foreign collusion. It’s about exposure. He fears the world is starting to listen to Alberta’s story, and the story is compelling.For years, Alberta has been treated not as a partner in Confederation, but as a piggy bank and a political punching bag. Its wealth, generated by the hard work of its people, is siphoned east and west through a fiscal system that punishes success. Its foundational industry has been demonized by urban elites in Toronto and Vancouver, while those same cities happily collect the equalization cheques that energy dollars fund. Its proposed policies are overruled by a distant federal government that shows more interest in photo-ops than pipelines..Is it any wonder some Albertans are looking for an exit sign? The quest for a referendum, as Eby himself grudgingly admitted, is a democratic right. Quebec has done it, twice. The Clarity Act, crafted by sober federalists, provides the framework. That’s the Canadian way.But Eby suggests that even exploring the consequences of independence with foreign observers is a step too far. This is nonsense. Every potential new nation on Earth, from Scotland to Catalonia, engages with the international community. They talk about trade, borders, and currency. They ask, “What if?” To prepare is not to conspire; it is to be responsible.The premier’s claim that this seeks to break up “this beautiful land of ours that our forefathers, our foremothers… fought for” is pure sentimental pap. Our forebears fought for freedom and self-determination. They built a country where diverse regions could thrive. They did not fight for a central government that strangles the economy of one region to buy votes in another. They did not fight for a federation where one premier can vilify the citizens of another for simply exploring their options.Eby’s performative fury is a distraction. A shiny object for the media. It avoids the substance. Why is the Alberta independence movement growing? Why do polls show deepening Western alienation? He offers no answers, only accusations.He says he will “draw the line.” Good. Draw it. Let that line be the boundary where polite Canadian dismissal meets serious engagement with Alberta’s grievances. Let that line mark where the condescension from Ottawa and its allies ends.Because if the first ministers’ meeting is just another session where premiers like Eby lecture Alberta on unity while blocking its pipelines and dismissing its concerns, then they are not defending Canada. They are dismantling it, one sanctimonious syllable at a time.The treason is not in a meeting room in Washington. It is in the sustained, political betrayal of a proud and generous people right here at home. Premier Eby may not like what he’s hearing from next door. But calling it treason doesn’t make it so. It just proves he’s not listening.
