Why Not Statehood for Canada’s Disgruntled Alberta?

Canada’s western province of Alberta is taking the first steps to decoupling from the government of the country’s Liberal Party prime minister, Justin Trudeau, once again raising the possibility of America embracing manifest destiny and adding a new state to the union. Last week, the United Conservative Party — which governs the oil-rich province almost as big as Texas — passed the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, ignoring criticism and forging ahead with the rugged individualism you’d expect from a place that’s often called the most American in Canada.Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, told the House of Commons, “It’s not like Ottawa is a national government. The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign, independent jurisdictions.” This was seen as a shot across the bow to Ottawa, with the Toronto Star calling it a “trap” for Mr. Trudeau.According to the Canadian Press, 2021’s Free Alberta Strategy urged the province “to assert greater autonomy for Alberta within Confederation, while simultaneously laying the policy and administrative groundwork to transition Alberta to separation and sovereignty should negotiations fail.”Alberta chafes under the arbitrary diktats of Ottawa, and — while it may surprise Americans who threaten to move to the Great White North should their preferred presidential candidate lose — the Alberta Statehood Party seeks what the Red Deer Advocate describes as “the freedoms provided under the U.S. Constitution.”The party leader, Glen Carritt, told the Advocate, “We’re not going anywhere with this abusive relationship that we have with Eastern Canada and Ottawa,” and accused Mr. Trudeau of “trying to kill our oil and gas and agriculture industry in Alberta,” preferring the “autonomy” enjoyed by the several states. Two years ago, Peter Downing sponsored billboards asking if Alberta should join America, co-founding a movement advocating for the western provinces to head south — a movement known as Wexit — warning that Mr. Trudeau’s policies “spell our economic death.”A poll taken by Abacus Data at the time found 20 percent of Albertans like the idea of Wexit and 26 percent “could live with it.” While 54 percent called it “a terrible idea,” discontent with Mr. Trudeau’s continued march leftward offers the opportunity to chip away at their resistance. The idea may seem far-fetched, but it’s no more so than President Biden advocating for statehood for Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. The obvious goal there is to add four new Democratic senators, with the nation’s capital solid blue and the island territory leaning that way.Balance has often been the watchword when adding new states, dating back to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, when Maine was added to offset the slaveholding Show Me State. Hawaii and Alaska — the 49th and 50th members of the union — were also added together with an eye to canceling each other out in 1959.Of course, the most American question to ask is, “What do we get out of it?” Well, we’d get two NHL franchises, the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. Plus, Alberta’s oil reserves, which are larger than those in Texas, and its bounty of natural gas, which is half of the entire nation of Canada. Yet because of onerous regulations mirroring the Green New Deal, the Calgary Sun reported last month that “Texas remains much more attractive than Alberta in the eyes of energy investors.” And still, the province has greater economic output than the Lone Star State.Alberta would also stop funding Ottawa’s “equalization payments,” which confiscate money from prosperous provinces in the west and spread their wealth around to poorer ones back east. For every dollar Albertans send to Ottawa, they only get 60 to 70 cents back, while Texas breaks even with Washington.With so much talk about adding stars to the flag — not to mention calls to dissolve borders — it could be time to redraw the map, not for cynical reasons like adding Senate seats, but for the most American reasons of all: Sharing the blessings of our liberty and prosperity, which are as tempting for the huddled masses as they are for Albertans yearning to breathe free.

Why Not Statehood for Canada’s Disgruntled Alberta?

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