Alberta is having a referendum in October where the main issue is whether it should separate from Canada. However, that is not the only question that will be asked. Many of the other questions have to do wth immigration, one’s “legal status,” and most of all giving the provinces more power.
One of the questions is about abolishing the federal senate. Another question that hit me hard was that they want to give the provinces more power to opt out of certain government programs, which isn’t great because Alberta has already messed around with disability programs here. Alberta wants to give less and less to people.
Just wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on this whole thing.
Canada and the US are both artificial settler colonial constructs whose breakup would be objectively beneficial for the world.
If Alberta secedes it will get either get absorbed by US or become their satellite. It won’t be like balkanisation. So it will be a net gain for US at the cost of Canada. All I know about Alberta is that they have a lot of oil. Their hockey team is called the Oilers lmao
So it will be a net gain for US at the cost of Canada
The Canadians are so subservient to the US that any American president could phone Canada up and ask for literally anything and the Canadians would give it to him immediately at any time no questions asked. The president could ask to sleep with the prime minister’s wife and the prime minister’s wife will be flown in the very next hour.
Canada being a vassal of the US already, any secession or accession would be purely performative and would only change the de jure state of things rather than what materially matters.
I agree, but as someone who lives here I am almost 100% certain that Alberta would immediately be absorbed by the US, which would make things even worse here than it already is. I guess I am just scared about conservatives gaining more power…
I agree with [Loathsome dongeater] (https://lemmygrad.ml/u/ksynwa) and [amemorablename] (https://lemmygrad.ml/u/amemorablenam).
While destruction for the sake of destruction satisfies visceral instinctive drives, it serves no one, least of all the actor and those on behalf of whom the actor supposes s/he is acting, and often exacerbated the conditions we dream would be ameliorated.
I’m very sorry you are faced with this, and hope you can fare fairly well, in any event, comrade.
Idk I give up on formatting
I don’t think it’s that simple. Their dismantling and regional replacement with something indigenous / pro-indigenous is important, that is for sure. But separatism without replacement isn’t necessarily good for anyone, especially if it’s backed by even more radically settler settlers.
Like to put it in example of historical context, imagine if we looked at the US’s Civil War era and said the secession of the Confederate States was objectively good because it breaks up the US and that it would have been better that way. Those were states that broke off because they wanted to keep their slaves. We could try to argue that the world would have been better off if the outcome of the Civil War was a splintered US instead of a reunified one, but it’s too many unknowns. What if the Confederate States had existed alongside for a time, then grown stronger, and eventually annexed/absorbed the others? Creating an even more hardline rightist US?
I’m not saying going back and trying to answer those questions is what matters. Just trying to make the point that the kind of breakup is important.
This is exactly why you’d be hard pressed finding an Indian who supports this. Alberta is reactionary as all hell. The capitalists get rich by plundering the land, and Alberta is quite rich in the resources that they’re after. But the pesky treaties with us, and government oversight is a foil for making even more money. It’s clear that if Alberta separates, they will cease any lip service to the treaties with us.
Also, as pointed out by several others, Alberta would be immediately snatched up by the US. This would be disastrous for everyone but the US.
This is a very important pat of the issue. The indigenous people of Alberta would be the ones hurt the most by secession. Their funding and protections are federal matters and independent Alberta would not honor those commitments.
I think at worst it will just lead to more freedom for them in terms of control from the central government (which is pretty bad). But peaceful secession sounds impossible. But also Canada keeps surprising me with being a bit spineless.
Danielle Smith has brain worms (not sure what sort, she’s all kinds of crazy) and the whole right wing infighting/one-upping of Albertan politics is mindblowing.
The secession language is funny because it’s not legal (on multiple levels) for a province to secede, so Smith had to get the language all carefully due up:
The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.
As far as I can guess, none of the other nine questions are constitutional either (and many require majority or unanimous consent from the other nine provinces as they amount to constitutional amendments). Albertans just have a persecution complex and, with the big bad Quebecker Trudeau (oh wait, the other one was the Quebecker… whatever, he is too, get him!) of office and a Western Canadian in his place they need a new (old) big bad to fight against, the federal union as a whole. Aside from the three-plus-generations long tradition of fucking over workers, migrants, sick, elderly, kids, queers… basically everyone who isn’t an oil tycoon or a far right grifter politician.
It’s a shame because Alberta is beautiful (when you ignore all the oil mess) but it’s just so fucked.
We already have evidence that the US is actively engaging in destabilization in Alberta. I think this is the whole imperial boomerang in action. Canada has supported these kinds of things all across Lain America for decades, and now chickens are coming home to roost.
My suspicion is that if Alberta secedes it will be ruled by the petroleum companies almost instantly. If not on paper, then certainly in practice. Back to company towns, company scrip, and horrid working conditions for the Albertan worker. The Pinkertons will make a fortune on beating and killing workers who try to organize just like they did a century ago.
alberta seceding is a nothingburger but also as demeritum said it will weaken both alberta and canada, and as imperialist powers, we shouldn’t have an issue with that. even if alta is absorbed by amerikkka, it doesn’t really meaningfully boost them. canada already shows no willingness to resist america in the smallest of ways.
If you think Brexit was good because it weakened the EU then you should agree with Albertan secessionism.
It will weaken Canada and make Alberta more vulnerable to be devoured by outside capitalist powers.
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