Phil Lingelbach

Ottawa is breaking Canada—and half of Westerners say maybe it's time we let them Let’s cut through the political spin and get right to the truth: Alberta and Saskatchewan didn’t break Canada. Ottawa did. And if this country comes apart at the seams, it won’t be because Western Canada walked away — it’ll be because the Laurentian elite shoved us toward the door. This week, the Angus Reid Institute dropped a bombshell, 50% of Albertans and Saskatchewanians now say they support holding a referendum on independence. In Alberta, 36% say they’d vote to leave; in Saskatchewan, it’s 34%. And while the hardcore “definitely leave” crowd sits at 19% in Alberta and 15% in Saskatchewan, that still represents hundreds of thousands of people ready to exit Confederation today. Let that sink in. That’s not fringe. That’s a movement — one Ottawa built with its own arrogance. Why is this happening? Because Ottawa refuses to listen. Refuses to change. Refuses to respect us. Instead, we get: • Bill C-69, the no-more-pipelines law, still on the books • A suffocating emissions cap that targets Alberta and Saskatchewan while letting global polluters off the hook • No national vision for an east-west pipeline, leaving our energy landlocked and our people unemployed And what does the poll show? That we’re not unmovable separatists — we’re desperate realists. According to Angus Reid: • 69% of Alberta “leave” voters and 61% in Saskatchewan say they’d vote to stay if Ottawa built a pipeline across the country • 62% in Alberta and 56% in Saskatchewan would stay if Bill C-69 were repealed • 61% of Alberta separatists and 54% of Saskatchewan ones say ending the emissions cap would convince them to vote "stay" Ottawa could put out this fire tomorrow, but they won’t. Why? Because they don’t see Western Canada as a partner. They see us as a piggy bank. We supply the resources, we pay the bills, and they punish us for it. And let’s talk about how this could quickly backfire. Angus Reid found that if British Columbia blocked access to tidewater, or Quebec vetoed future pipelines, support for separation would increase across the board — and by as much as 20% among soft “leave” voters. Even Indigenous protests wouldn’t hold back the separatist tide. Among the “definitely leave” group, a full majority said that major Indigenous resistance would actually make them more likely to support separation. Here’s one more number you won’t hear on CBC: 71% of Alberta separatists and 74% of Saskatchewan separatists would vote to stay if the federal Conservatives formed government. Translation? This isn’t so much a separatist revolution as it is a desperate cry for fairness. But if Ottawa keeps treating Alberta and Saskatchewan like provinces to be punished, taxed, and controlled — then maybe we’ve got no choice but to take our future into our own hands. Because how long can you stay in a relationship where you’re always paying, always blamed, and never heard? So, here’s the question no one in the Laurentian bubble is asking: Why are Westerners being asked to save a country that won’t take its foot off our heads while we drown? If Ottawa won’t change, maybe it’s time we did. REPORT by @SheilaGunnReid: