Alberta to hold referendum on possible exit from Canada — Interia

Canada’s province of Alberta will hold a referendum on Monday, in which voters will be presented with nine questions. The most important of them concerns whether the province should consider the possibility of leaving Canada.

As Interia reports, preliminary polls indicated that most Alberta residents want to remain part of Canada. The anti-separatism campaign Forever Canadian was launched by former provincial deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, who was born in Wejherowo, Poland.

Campaign against separatism

Last year, the Forever Canadian campaign collected signatures for holding a referendum. The campaign gathered 456,000 signatures, while the required threshold was 294,000. Lukaszuk called on supporters of keeping Alberta within Canada not to rely solely on opinion poll results and stressed the importance of voter participation in the vote.

According to Lukaszuk, the separatist movement became more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. He links its increased activity to far-right and anti-vaccination circles that participated in protests against restrictions, truck convoys, and the blockades of borders and Ottawa.

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Supporters of the province’s separation are rallying around the Alberta Prosperity Project. They claim that Alberta’s oil sector has been mismanaged and express concerns about Canada’s immigration policy. In early October, The Globe and Mail wrote about contacts between movement leader Mitch Sylvestre and his team and representatives of the US Republican Party.

Claims of external influence

Lukaszuk claims that separatist sentiments are being fueled by external forces. In his view, US interest is related to Alberta’s natural resources, while Russia operates online, using bots on the X and Facebook platforms.

A May report by the Global Centre for Democratic Resilience, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Data and Conflict, and DisinfoWatch stated that the activities of actors from Russia and the United States who fuel separatist ideas in Canada’s information space pose a threat to its democratic integrity.

Lukaszuk also emphasizes that separation would require the creation of its own state institutions, including an army, border service, diplomatic missions, and postal system. In his view, borders, passports, visas, and separate rules for insurance and vehicle circulation would complicate the daily lives of the province’s residents.