It should not be given airtime at all. If you give it airtime, then you are taking it seriously.

So your opinion is that the “research” put forward in favour of separation should be taken seriously? Because that’s what engaging with it is doing.

Does the Quebec versus Canada framing also have no basis in truth? Was Canada wrong for allowing Quebec to have the autonomy it currently has? Because that’s what Harper’s spent years arguing for, including with his Alberta firewall letter addressed to Alberta’s at the time not separatist Premier. I mean, I personally don’t think Quebec should be allowed to have and run its own pension plan, but it does. If that’s something Alberta’s demanding, can we really be surprised?

And the current separatist sentiment starts in the Premier’s office. Every change to the citizen initiative law that enabled this referendum, from requirements that it be vetted for constitutionality to the lowering of minimum signatures required, was performed by Smith’s government.

How does “Alberta should have more autonomy” translate to “Alberta should leave Canada”? That’s the dot your line’s missing.

There’s no gymnastics required because every time Ottawa oversteps (their words, not mine), they get pissed off. And they usually think Ottawa is overstepping when Ottawa starts telling Alberta what it can do or not do with its resources. It happened in the 80’s (NEP), it happened in the 90’s (Kyoto Accord), and it happened in 2016 (no business case). The difference is in the80’s and 90’s the Alberta government itself wasn’t advocating for separation. Smith, today, is doing exactly that, and all of the changes made to the original 2021 law that enabled this referendum were made by Smith’s government.

No gymnastics required. There’s been a separatist thread running through Alberta since it joined confederation. Literally they were complaining about Canada controlling what Alberta could do with Alberta’s resources in 1905. They’ve just never had actual government support. Quebec is exactly the opposite - most of the last 50 years was a PQ government, including the 1995 referendum, and it went about as you’d expect it to.

Wanting more autonomy for Alberta is not the same as wanting Alberta to leave Canada. The UCP is absolutely a separatist party. The CPC, while absolutely going full MAGA, is not. And I’ve not seen any actual evidence yet that Harper falls in either camp. Happy to be corrected, though.

I’m gonna need a very large citation on that.

Reform party =/= Separatist party. He’s been advocating for more autonomy for Alberta, not Alberta separation. Come Monday you’ll get to see what an actual separatist party looks like.

Yup, which is why we should have been diversifying decades ago. Kudos to Carney for doing it now, but like… this really shouldn’t be the conversation in 2026.

This, twice. Give me Crown over Jack any day.

All depends what they’re buying. If you drink Coke or Pepsi, for example, that would be an American brand made and/or bottled in Canada. And this is why this whole trade war thing is dumb.

Also:

Most centrists gave up on the loblaws boycott after a month.

I didn’t even know there was a Loblaws boycott. I only shop there if I have no other option.

No train for you!

Eh. I’d say he had help. Trudeau senior wasn’t exactly Alberta’s friend. Not to mention the 90’s were all about Quebec.

Neither is getting ripped off by Loblaws.

I mean, sure. But that’s not exactly advocating for Alberta separation. And if memory serves, a guy named Peter won the PC leadership and then promptly folded like a cheap shirt.

That would have been the ideal, yes. Also acceptable: not being lazy and using that as a crutch for 30 freaking years.

I mean anything’s possible, but when did the government start talking about this pipeline and when was the referendum announced? Separation or not, we’ve needed to reduce our dependence on the US since the start of Trump 2.0. We actually should have started before that.

Which might be the only reason I check them out again. Are they doing it on the radio too? That would be useful for me if I ever decide to attend a Charge game in-person. Not a cable subscriber and last I checked YouTube was blacked out if you’re in Canada so I haven’t checked them out as much as I’d like to. Might fix that.