Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Edmonton in December, 2025. Alberta’s business community has made it clear that talk of a separation referendum is harming the investment climate in the province, writes Gary Mason.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
Any doubts that Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party caucus is a safe haven for separatists have now been laid to rest.
UCP MLA Jason Stephan, who represents Red Deer-South and is the parliamentary secretary for constitutional affairs, recently penned a column for the Western Standard. In it, he urged Albertans to sign a petition calling for a referendum on Alberta independence.
Of course, we’ve suspected for some time that there are UCP MLAs who want the province to leave Canada. The Republican Party of Alberta, a pro-independence political party, has posted a list on its website of where Alberta MLAs stand on separation. It identifies 19 UCP MLAs as being in favour of leaving Canada.
But none has been as bold as Mr. Stephan in stating Albertans should “act and sign the petition.” He invited “all who love freedom and prosperity to do the same. If Albertans do not act, there will not be a vote.”
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The MLA laid out his rationale, including the fact “Canada is in serious decline” and moving “towards a third-world country.” He said our standard of living was in decline because of “stupid laws and policies emanating out of Ottawa. Some of these laws also erode Albertans’ freedoms in favour of a nanny state.”
Echoing much of the same loaded language conservative politicians and commentators in the province use frequently, Mr. Stephan argued that “Ottawa wants Alberta broken, too.”
“Albertans are producers, rejecting socialist and woke values that produce nothing,” Mr. Stephan wrote. “Many in Ottawa resent Alberta, imposing policies that single it out, seeking to attack, hold back or drag Alberta down.”
Mr. Stephan said measures that Prime Minister Mark Carney has introduced to encourage the development of new pipelines were “motivated out of a bankrupt Ottawa’s desperate need for Alberta’s money and not out of a desire to treat Alberta fairly …”
The MLA’s seething contempt for Canada is felt in almost every word. He doesn’t shy from propagating old canards such as the “transfer” of billions of dollars out of Alberta to Ottawa’s equalization program. He can’t be blamed for spreading this heresy. Alberta politicians have been whipping up populist anger for years selling the same tired falsehood.
Alberta’s tax dollars go to Ottawa to fund many different federal programs and initiatives, including equalization. People in the province are taxed at precisely the same rate as people from B.C. to Newfoundland and Labrador. But for years the equalization myth has worked for conservative politicians looking for votes by bashing Ottawa. (Less is said about why, if equalization was so unfair to Alberta, Calgarian Stephen Harper didn’t do anything to fix the so-called problem when he was Prime Minister).
Gary Mason: Talk of separation is hurting Alberta. Why won’t Danielle Smith denounce it?
Alberta’s business community has made it clear that talk of a separation referendum is harming the investment climate in the province. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has urged the Premier to deal with the matter so potential investment isn’t scared away. The province is currently looking for someone to build a new pipeline to the B.C. coast. Any company contemplating such an expensive endeavour is surely going to want certainty when it comes to the separation question.
So you would think that given the stakes, Ms. Smith would have booted Mr. Stephan from caucus to show how serious she is about stomping out the separatist menance in her midst.
Yet when she was asked about it on Saturday during a call-in segment on her weekly radio show, Ms. Smith declined to make an example out of Mr. Stephan. She said the official position of the government and the UCP caucus is it supports a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada. However, she said individual MLAs are welcome to have their personal opinion on the matter.
Unsaid, of course, is that Ms. Smith couldn’t come down on Mr. Stephan because it would incite a rebellion in her party. There is a strong faction of the UCP base that wants Alberta to leave Canada. Even though polls repeatedly show little support for the idea in Alberta, there are enough UCP MLAs, largely representing rural areas of the province, who would vote to leave Canada tomorrow. And Ms. Smith can’t risk taking them on.
So she’s likely hoping that a referendum does take place and the question is decided once and for all. Or at least, until the next time it becomes an issue.
Firing Mr. Stephan from caucus would have sent a welcome signal to her province and the country that the Premier was serious about snuffing out the embers of separation smoldering in Alberta. Instead, she has allowed them to continue burning.