Calgary Stampede attendees take in the view from the Sky Ride on July 4. The event, dubbed the greatest outdoor show on Earth, runs through Sunday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
As the sun rose in the Alberta sky last Sunday morning, Western Canada’s political and business elite descended on Heritage Park, a historic village located 15 minutes from downtown Calgary.
An early-morning pancake breakfast is a mainstay of the Calgary Stampede, which started July 3 and ends this Sunday. But unlike the pancake breakfasts hosted in church yards, community centre halls and bars across the city, this breakfast is exclusive.
Now called the Legacy Stampede Breakfast, it was first launched more than 70 years ago by former Calgary mayor and senator Harry Hays. Invite-only guests – wearing cowboy hats, boots and denim – include Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, energy executives, military leaders, federal ministers and a dairy cow called Mary.
Crowned with a garland of roses and preceded by bagpipes and drums, Mary took centre stage in front of the gathered crowd. Her unpasteurized milk – secured on site in front of the audience – is mixed with a concoction of fluids announcer Alida Visbach claimed was dishwashing liquid, high-octane Alberta fuel, Pepto-Bismol, cowboy tears and “good-old fashioned gasoline.”
“We still haven’t switched over to electric and hopefully we never will,” Ms. Visbach said.
Pipelines, separatism take centre stage at Calgary Stampede
This white-ish liquid is then poured into shot glasses and fed to guests. Those who are brave enough to try the substance receive a certificate declaring them to be “a brave soul of questionable judgment.”
The process of making this “trail boss tonic” is “unique and reminds us not to take ourselves to seriously,” Ms. Visbach said.
But don’t let the levity of this Stampede event fool you – 2026 was a momentous year for the greatest outdoor show on Earth. Alberta is – as Ms. Smith repeated in her remarks at the many events she attended across the week – “having a moment” as the province celebrates its economic rise, while contending with the spectre of secession.
The precursor to Stampede was launched in 1886, when the district of Calgary was little more than a CPR station and a police post. The event’s original architects threw together a rodeo that would exhibit the finest agricultural talent and industry of Canada’s Wild West, a bid to draw the finance and power concentrated in Ontario and Quebec across the prairies.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, cooks pancakes at the Premier’s annual Stampede breakfast on Monday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Over the past century and a half, the Calgary Stampede has evolved alongside its host city, but its mandate remains the same: capture wealth and power, and make it distinctly western.
Cowboy attire is expected of everyone who attends Stampede. Federal Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson spent his first day in the city wearing a staid suit. By the next, he was wearing a bolo tie, cowboy boots and a leather vest reminiscent of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s 2005 tight black leather vest.
Five-star steak houses decorate their exteriors with hay bales and wooden plank fencing, and corporations from Suncor to Netflix and Google budget tens of thousands to host or sponsor exclusive open-bar events in Calgary’s finest venues. The U.S. consulate served lobster rolls and blue, white and red doughnuts at their estate located in Mount Royal, the city’s first tony enclave.
Canadians cite U.S. influence, separatist sentiment in Alberta as threats to unity, poll finds
It is a familiar adage at Stampede that the Alberta economy can be measured by the sponsorship bids on the chuckwagons – trailers pulled by four horses racing around the rodeo track at 65 kilometres an hour. Should Alberta business be bullish, the bids will be high. This year, the Calgary business community shattered previous records – committing a total of $6.075-million. That’s $2.235-million above 2025.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged to make Canada a resource economy again, and Alberta is one of his aces in the hole. In 2026, Stampede has not only enticed money westward, but it is also a celebration of Alberta’s reinstatement as a province of federal priority. The federally backed West Coast pipeline − announced one day before the official kickoff of the Stampede − is a case in point. Meta’s Wednesday announcement of a $13-billion data centre outside Edmonton is another.
Other Conservative premiers sought to gain from Alberta’s “moment.” On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ms. Smith proposed a 3,300-kilometre pipeline route between their two provinces. The night before, at an event hosted by Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen at the Telus Convention Centre in downtown Calgary, Mr. Ford spoke of the values he shared with Ms. Smith – lowering taxes, lessening government and cutting red tape.
“The West was ignored for 10 years under Trudeau,” he said. “No longer is the West going to be ignored … God bless the people of Alberta. God bless the people of Canada, and we’re going to keep moving forward.”
Ms. Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford shake hands on Monday after announcing a new proposed oil pipeline from Alberta to Ontario.Todd Korol/Reuters
However, securing this leverage in Ottawa came at a cost – one that has bred uncertainty across the city.
While the Premier might now be talking about how she is “delighted to be in a new era of partnership with the federal government” – as she did at an event hosted last Friday by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters – she has also unleashed long-held grievances. In May, Ms. Smith announced that the province will host a referendum on Alberta independence. That vote is now 100 days away, and those who staunchly advocate in favour of Albertan secession are present across Stampede events.
Leaders in Alberta’s separatist movement joined Ms. Smith and the handful of Conservative premiers at the event at the Telus Convention Centre. These included Keith Wilson and Tanya Clemens – leaders of Let Alberta Decide – and Eva Chipiuk, a lawyer who has represented Stay Free Alberta, the group behind the provincial independence campaign.
Mr. Wilson is hosting a public pancake breakfast on Sunday at the 54-year-old, iconic Calgary country-bar Ranchman’s Cookhouse and Dancehall. The event is sold out.
Top separatist leaders have also dangled the threat of holding a party vote on Ms. Smith’s leadership. (A vote would require formal support from 22 of the party’s 87 constituency associations to force a leadership review – a scenario that currently appears unlikely.)
Spam fries, candied pickles and ramen doughnuts feature on Calgary Stampede’s menu
So, while the energy executives and politicians gathering on the rooftops of Calgary hotels might be chuffed about political and economic momentum, they are also contending with yet more uncertainty.
As one executive for a multinational corporation told The Globe and Mail during a chuckwagon rodeo race on a hot afternoon this week, should Alberta separate, the company would seriously consider moving their operations. Talent will be too difficult to attract, and their business depends on seamless nationwide integration.
The Globe is not identifying the source. They were not authorized to speak on the record.
Stampede 2026 might be a celebration of the provincial industry – and what it has managed to secure from the federal government over the past year – but it has also always been a distinctly Albertan event, in part born out of a sense of isolation from Central Canada. This sentiment will not expire when Stampede ends.
With reports from Matthew Scace