Alberta Independence Is Cringe

Dissecting The Republic of 'Lolberta,' And Why Alberta Independence Will Fail

Calgary police arrest a pastor for holding services during Covid lockdowns.

In an earlier article, I argued that conservatism in Canada is all but dead. If so-called Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre were prime minister today, then the government would still promote sodomy, immigration would continue unchecked, and Canadian troops would tread sand in The Middle East, fighting Iran. Poilievre’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Podcast only confirms that there is no straightforward political path within Canada, short of mass deportations and locking up leftist leaders.

Some right-wing Canadians will counter with, ‘What about Alberta?’ In particular, Alberta independence is framed as a quiet solution to Canada’s political malaise, because Albertans tend to be more conservative. This is somewhat true; I dwelt in Alberta for six years, and know many based, steadfast men and women from Wild Rose Country. If Alberta were to separate from Canada, and either join the U.S. or become a sovereign land, then perhaps it could wriggle free from the left-wing noose pulled by Ottawa.

However, this is ultimately quixotic. Alberta lacks a distinct, rooted identity separate from Canada, and suffers from the same race, gender, and gay communism plaguing the rest of the country. If it were to join the United States, then Albertans would vote Democrat, ruining all rightist aims. The fact is, Alberta independence is the dream of woke lolberts, self-styled libertarians who nevertheless adhere to the core tenets of leftism.

Calgary, Alberta celebrates a Sikh festival.

To see this, it is simple enough to observe the province’s past behaviour, which amounts to a din of leftist, globalist madness. Alberta was the first province to elect a woman to public office, for example, and is now led by a woman (Danielle Smith). Most Albertans support abortion and LGBT rights. In Calgary, Alberta’s largest city, you can get arrested for protesting drag queen story hour. Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city, is overrun by foreign lobbies — especially the Israelis, Indians, and Ukrainians. The current Premier Danielle Smith even had to apologize to Ukrainians, because she offended them when speaking on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Covid lockdown was a test of Alberta’s resolve in the face of leftist ideological onslaught under the guide of “science.” Alberta failed. It jailed pastors for holding church gatherings, imposed harsh vaccine mandates, and persecuted the Coutts anti-mandate protesters (as covered by Autonomous Truck(er)s in his excellent pieces). Lacking a backbone, Alberta has always shown itself ready to bend the knee to the ruling paradigm — which today is leftism.

It would be remiss to mention Alberta without touching upon oil. Canada is the world’s fifth-largest exporter of oil, 85 percent of which comes from Alberta. This has given those who wield the province’s oil trade political sway, so that a western-based, resource-rich elite has been set up against Canada’s old Laurentian elite, based in the east. Aside from wanting lower taxes and less regulation, this western elite is every bit as globalist and leftist as the Laurentians.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

To be sure, Alberta has done some things right: for example, a child under 16 cannot deform his or her body, to become ‘transsexual.’ Trannies are limited from participation in women’s sports. No doubt this is progress in the right direction, but in the end, this is low-hanging fruit. No sane person thinks it is good for children to be mutilated, or that minors should embrace false pronouns.

Alberta is a relatively conservative province, in that sense; however, when compared to U.S. states, many of which ban abortion, curtail immigration, allow for self-defense at home, and have taken steps to eliminate DEI, Alberta is a weak showing. If it were given independence, then little would meaningfully change. The province is already around a third non-white, and this will only continue to grow and impact politics within the province.

Map of Canada in the 19th Century.

The key to understanding Alberta is to examine its history: the province is a product of Prime Minister John A. Macdonald’s National Policy, which promoted western settlement in the 19th Century. Ottawa invested heavily in building railroads in the western prairies, and then early settlers from Britain, the U.S., Scandinavia, Germany, and eastern Europe successfully carved out a civilization from untamed wilderness. The federal government continued to support prairie development through grants, subsidized travel, and the North-West Mounted Police. In 1905, Alberta became a province.

In other words, Alberta’s fate has been tied to Canada’s from the very beginning ; Ottawa provided funds for Alberta to develop, settlers came and developed the land, and thus the province bore fruit.

In more recent years, this relationship has soured, especially after the introduction of equalization payments in 1957 — a federal program that transfers income from wealthier provinces, like Alberta with its tremendous oil wealth, to those which are poorer. This, combined with Laurentian prime minister Pierre Trudeau’s consolidation of federal power, irked Albertans. In 1974, a group of Calgary oilmen established the Independent Alberta Association, the first organization explicitly calling for Alberta independence.

In other words, the motivation for Alberta freedom, from the outset, has been economic — the fact that Alberta is rich, and resents having its oil wealth wrested by power-hungry Laurentians in Ottawa and Quebec. While understandable, this is not a sustainable vision for an independent Alberta; economic conditions fluctuate as technology changes, and Alberta may not remain wealthy forever. Indeed, in the 1930s, Ottawa bailed Alberta out after the province defaulted on its debt. A true independence movement, especially one that calls for nationhood, relies not on economics, but upon shared values and ethnic identity.

Edmonton, Alberta, in 1909.

To the extent that Alberta has an identity, it is indistinguishable from Canadian identity, and this is a good thing. Throughout its history, Alberta never became a ‘wild west,’ unlike the Plains American states with their frequent train robberies, whisky running, and gun-toting culture. Rather, Ottawa supported law, order, and peaceful government through the police, railroads, and treaties with indigenous peoples. The settler Albertan was never a wild cowboy, but more akin to a British gentleman farmer on a quiet frontier.

The most prominent group promoting Alberta independence is the Alberta Prosperity Project, leaders of which covertly met with Trump officials in 2025. When one looks at the group’s website, it lists “Economic Factors” as a primary drive for Alberta gaining independence from Canada. There is no fleshing out of Albertan identity, what it means to be an Albertan as distinct from a Canadian. This just seems to be about the oil.

For an independence movement to be successful, there have to be shared goals built around a common identity. The Alberta independence movement, quite simply, lacks that. Why shouldn’t a Hindu, who arrived in Canada in 2021, be just as Albertan as a man tracing his roots back to settlers in 1891? The Alberta freedom folk do not say.

In the end, I want a strong, united Canada that can bear its weight on the world stage. That requires mass deportations, a return to Christianity in public life, and partnership from Albertans, who are some of the most rugged, competent men and women on this planet. Building modern cities out of harsh, subarctic conditions is no mean feat; a return to Canada, as it should be, requires such resolve, which runs through the blood of every proper Albertan. Yet Alberta independence poisons the sweet waters of brotherly love between Canadians; it is time to put away such childish fancies.