Alberta

Conrad Black: Liberal intransigence threatens to pull Canada apart

After spending most of last weekend in Calgary and having the privilege of speaking with scores of well-informed Albertans including a number of prominent political figures, I came away with an uneasy feeling that it is not generally recognized in Canada how politically vulnerable this country is and how vivid and well-founded are the public policy grievances of Alberta. Alberta was a conventional farming and ranching economy until the discovery of oil there in 1947. Today, mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction account for a quarter of Alberta’s GDP, and 70 per cent of exports, with ancillary benefits to the construction, manufacturing, transportation and other industries.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta, Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

ALBERS: One example of why Canada is broken — and why Alberta must choose

I confess, I admire the US Constitution. It is not perfect, but it is brilliant in its resilience. For 250 years, it has allowed America to stumble, argue, repair, and carry on without losing the thread of its republic. It adapts without amputating. It reforms without razing. Always striving for better without tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

And now — consider our own sorry spectacle this week. A prime minister, having failed to meet even one of his glittering campaign promises, cloaks himself not in Canadian maple leaf but in Ukrainian blue and gold. With flourish, he pledges $2 billion more in aid, perhaps even troops, as though Canada were a vault stuffed with surplus riches and battalions to spare. Noble? Perhaps. Accountable? Not in the slightest.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Western Alienation Separation", Alberta

Braid: When Ontario and the feds start acting like bros forever, Alberta should be very worried

Danielle Smith and Doug Ford are courteous with each other, but it’s a fragile friendship that could shatter at any moment.

Premier Smith and her people know this very well. They’re cheery on the surface but quietly suspicious. Old grudges die hard.

Uneasily, they watch the Ontario premier’s deepening ties with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Ontario

‘Fully in support’: Some Alberta separatists try to rally support in the Trump White House

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Between the Edmonton Oilers making their second consecutive Stanley Cup appearance, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s well-publicized links to the region, and Premier Danielle Smith’s regular appearances on Fox News, Alberta has been on America’s mind a lot this year.

This ought to go over well.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta, Canada, USA

CARPAY: Alberta can leave Canada, without court approval

Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer, Gordon McClure, has received a proposed constitutional referendum question: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?”

Gordon McClure has gone to court to ask a judge’s opinion on whether a referendum on Alberta separation would violate Canada’s constitution.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Western Alienation Separation", "Western Independence", Alberta

Alberta farmers in this conservative stronghold feel conflicted as Battle River-Crowfoot byelection nears

Harvey Nahirniak walks toward his paddock of cattle, his tall rubber boots caked with rich, black soil.

Cows, dusted with mud, huff in the afternoon heat. His beloved workhorses stand in the sun like statues while the farm’s fat, white guardian dog, Marvin, pants in the shade.

Nahirniak’s expertise lies in crops and cattle. His family has farmed the same stretch of land in the sleepy hamlet of Round Hill, Alta., for generations.

The CBC wants you to believe Poilievre is in trouble.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta, Conservative Party

John Weissenberger: Canada fought for Quebec. Would it do the same for Alberta?

Will an Alberta separation referendum spark a massive unity rally, or a mighty pan-Canadian caravan converging on Calgary or Edmonton? After all, that’s what happened in 1995, when Quebecers looked like they were voting to leave Canada and thousands flocked to Montreal’s Place du Canada for a “Great Love-in.”

Albertans aren’t holding their breath. Clearly Central Canada views Quebec’s possible separation as an existential threat, while the West’s concerns are mere “grievances.” Those of us born and raised “back east,” but transplanted West, who’ve lived both sides of the divide, experiencing firsthand the disparate treatment of the two regions, can perhaps help explain it.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta, Canada

ALBERS: What independence could be like for Joe and Jill Albertan

In recent weeks, I’ve found myself wrestling with an all-too-familiar irritation: taxes. Not the paying of them — which is a civic duty — but the monstrous, ever-expanding burden of them. We Canadians have long accepted that our governments dip deeply into our pockets because, we told ourselves, the returns were worth it. Roads. Healthcare. Security. Civilization itself.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta

A Separatist Movement Is Brewing in Canada — But Don’t Count on a 51st State

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario — Many Canadians are furious with President Donald Trump, aghast at his trade war and his calls to annex their country. Then there’s Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta. “We have a longstanding relationship with the Americans that goes back over 100 years, and it’s going to last 100 years or more,” she says in an interview with POLITICO Magazine.

Smith’s approach may be distinct in part because she’s a Conservative who meets regularly with Trump administration officials. Her oil-and-gas-rich Alberta also has a large trading relationship with the United States that is largely tariff-free.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Western Alienation Separation", "Western Independence", Alberta

NAVARRO-GENIE: Alberta deserves a police force that reflects its values

The recent comments from RCMP Staff Sergeant Camille Habel, who decried traditional values as a path to extremism, should be fuel for every Albertan committed to building a provincial police force that truly reflects our values, not Ottawa’s vision of what we should become.

Habel’s statement, framing beliefs rooted in community and local culture as potentially dangerous, highlights a growing disconnect between the RCMP and the values that Albertans hold dear. This underscores the urgent need for a police force that is accountable to our province and its distinct way of life.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Far Left Extremist", Alberta, RCMP

Alberta, Ontario premiers want ‘several’ oil pipelines built under Carney government

OTTAWA — The premiers of Alberta and Ontario both said at a meeting Monday that they are cautiously optimistic that Prime Minister Mark Carney will successfully get a new oil pipeline built in Canada. But Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the planning should not be limited to just one.

Meeting with her Ontario counterpart in Calgary, Smith said Alberta crude oil should have access to a “growing share” of pipelines. “I’m of the view there’s probably room for more than one pipeline, probably several.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Alberta, Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Ontario

Alberta and Carney: conflict and collision — Can Alberta survive Carney’s net-zero agenda?

It should be evident to Albertans that the province is on a collision course with the federal Liberal government, driven by a fundamental disagreement: will Alberta and Western Canada be allowed to fully develop its hydrocarbon endowment, or will that economic value be lost in pursuit of the climate policy known as “net zero”?

This collision is inevitable and imminent. Net zero is difficult to reconcile with growing, or even sustaining, existing hydrocarbon production in Canada.

Sometimes you get the impression the Liberals want Alberta gone.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Alberta, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Alberta Next survey asks if province should withhold social help for some immigrants

CALGARY — Whether Alberta should withhold social services from some immigrants is among the issues Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is tabling for debate this summer when she travels the province to consult citizens on potential referendum questions.

The tour is part of what Smith has dubbed the “Alberta Next” panel. At a news conference Tuesday, she announced details of its work and named its 15 members.

At the same time, six online surveys were launched on the panel’s website, which are to help inform what questions the government puts to a referendum next year.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta

Smith says push for oil pipeline not just an ‘ideological argument,’ as premiers, Carney meet

SASKATOON, Sask. — Pushing for an oil pipeline to be on the first list of major projects to be fast-tracked by the federal government is about more than mounting “just an ideological argument,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said at the opening of a meeting between premiers and the prime minister on Monday.

Speaking to reporters on her way into the First Ministers’ Meeting in Saskatoon, Smith expressed hope other premiers would rally around her desire to see a pipeline built carrying Alberta bitumen to the coast of British Columbia.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inAlberta, Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Conrad Black: Alberta Independence Would Be the Death Knell for Canada

All of Canada is waiting to see which of the Mark Carneys that we saw in the recent election campaign emerges as the new prime minister. The two choices are the long-standing climate-change advocate who was apparently the inspirer-in-chief of the Justin Trudeau government, and who persuaded that regime to bind itself with non-biodegradable hoops to the notion that climate was the greatest problem facing Canada. This, of course, is nonsense. Canada’s greatest problems are economic competitiveness and a declining comparative standard of living with steady net capital outflows, as well as the disintegration of the Confederation and the official self-degradation of the country.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Western Alienation Separation", "Western Independence", Alberta