Mansoor’s Musings: Albertans urged to avoid separation

By Mansoor Ladha on October 9, 2025.

Since September, I have been a volunteer collecting signatures asking Albertans whether they agree that Alberta should remain in Canada. Despite others who shall remain unnamed for the time being, I passionately believe that Alberta should remain in Canada.

Agreed that Alberta has some grievances against the federal government and many believe that the province has been mistreated. Agreed that Alberta is sending more funds to Ottawa than what it is getting.

There is no other place in the world where you have one province that is lightly populated but very rich and doesn’t get equitable amount of transfer payments – yes, it’s a definite recipe for rebellion. However, separating from Canada is not the answer; we must remain within Canada and try to negotiate a better deal for Alberta – admittedly not an easy task.

I volunteered to gather signatures for the petition as I was impressed with the initiative taken by Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian group which has been circulating a petition throughout Alberta aimed at making it official policy for Alberta to stay in the country. Mr. Lukaszuk, an Edmonton resident, is a former deputy premier of Alberta and has held several ministerial portfolios.

This has been an educational exercise for me as I have been warmly welcomed by everyone when door knocking and there has been a staunch willingness to support the petition, indicating that despite what some politicians say, Albertans are a patriotic bunch; even a man walking his dog in my neighbourhood stopped to put his name to the cause!

The petition has approximately 230,000 signatures so far, according to Mr. Lukaszuk. It needs to gather about 294,000 signatures from eligible voters over a 90-day period that ends on October. 28. Some 5,000 canvassers across Alberta, strong believers in One Canada, are aggressively collecting signatures.

The campaign is a result against the separatist sentiment that has flared up in Alberta following the election of the Liberal Party in April 2025. Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government has been chief advocate of separation, fanning the anti-Canada flag. Other separatist parties such as the Alberta Prosperity Party, the Independent Party of Alberta and the Republican Party of Alberta have sprung up singing the same tunes.

One day after Mark Carney took office, Premier Smith introduced Bill 54, which lowered the barriers to a provincial referendum on sovereignty. The bill dramatically reduces the threshold for allowing citizen-initiated referendums from 20 per cent of all eligible voters to just 10 per cent of votes cast in the previous election; this makes referendums approximately 70 per cent easier to trigger, requiring only about 177,000 signatures rather than the previous 600,000.

The legislation also extends the signature-collection period to 120 days from 90 days.

Separation from Canada is a very serious issue and every Albertan should be concerned about it. It would be an economic suicide if Alberta opts out of Canada, beside losing every enforceable protection offered by the constitution.

Independent Alberta will have to negotiate everything with its neighbours, such as share of national debt, the national pension plan fund. And other benefits that we have taken for granted.

As a land-locked oil exporting nation, Independent Alberta will have to negotiate with Canada and the U.S. for access to export and import, citizenship criteria, shared borders, currencies, admission in the USMCA etc. Some economists have expressed fears that talk of separatism could discourage investment in the province and make it harder to negotiate for much needed energy infrastructure and new pipelines.

Representatives of First nations, who are totally against separation, have already stated that the question of Alberta separation is unconstitutional, illegal, and represents a threat to the treaties. According to them, separation would be a breach of the Crown’s treaty commitments to First Nations as set out in Treaty 6, according to a media release.

They further declared its unwavering opposition to separatist rhetoric and the idea that Alberta could consider separating from Canada, emphasizing that such an initiative constitutes a direct violation of treaty rights, which are sacred and legally binding.

Hopefully Albertans are smart enough not to separate and give ammunition to President Trump in his quest for making Canada his 51st state. According to an Angus Reid poll 65 percent of United Conservative Party voters would vote for separation while 97 percent of ND would vote to stay in Canada. Another poll conducted by CBC News indicated that when it came to the question of whether Alberta would be better off if it separated from Canada, 67 per cent disagreed while 30 per cent agreed.

One thing that has changed, however, is the strength of support among the Alberta separatists. In May 2020, only 12 per cent “strongly” agreed. By May 2025, that had grown to 17 per cent.

Optimistically, this trend will continue, and we’ll remain one united Canada, coast to coast to coast. This is the most important issue that Albertans will ever face, more important than even elections. So please play your part as a staunch Canadian to sign the petition circulating in your area.

Mansoor Ladha is a Calgary-based journalist, travel writer and author of Canadian Experience, Aga Khan: Bridge between East & West, Memoirs of a Muhindi: Fleeing East Africa for the West, And A Portrait in Pluralism: Aga Khan’s Shia Ismaili Muslims. He is former publisher of Morinville Mirror and Redwater Tribune.

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