Western alienation

Well, you know, I said this on air last night.

We have had this separatist sentiment in Alberta for a long time, Western alienation.

This has been a theme of Alberta long before I moved here.

It's been around for years and years.

That doesn't mean they're not frustrated, Matt.

And, you know, we can't read minds.

But, you know, I think it's fair to say that Western alienation, as Janet pointed out, has existed for as long as, you know, I've been around and I've been around a long time and I'm really feeling it today.

But...

Janice McGregor explains.

Movements based on political alienation, Western alienation in this case, often come down to identity politics.

Standing beside Danielle Smith at a campaign stop in Red Deer last Friday, the Prime Minister asked Albertans to focus on the bigger picture.

Canada is not a transaction between provinces.

She has pursued what we believe to be her major raison d'être to be in politics, and she's done it in a way that has been true to her beliefs and her principles.

Her goal, we believe, was to be the premier that would finally solve the 121-year riddle of Alberta, Western alienation.

To us, her guiding principles have been twofold.

First, listening to people, and second, believing that people have value and importance.

So in a sense, she's already won.

Change has started.

We are on the road to solving Western alienation.

And there's one final thrust, and that is the next phase of the project.

But does this decades-old narrative of disaffection hold up when viewed through a 2026 lens?

Western alienation is a real thing.

I've felt it.

I've experienced it.

Most people who live in the province come from other parts of Canada or from elsewhere in the world.

Sure, there are sort of native Albertans, multi-generational Albertans, but they are in the minority.

This whole idea of secession as treasonous kind of runs counter to the narrative that we hear in Alberta, that it actually grew out of, you know, a long-simmering sort of feeling of Western alienation.

It's something I grew up with as someone who was born in Winnipeg and raised in, in, on the prairies.

A proponent deploys emotion and a strategist shuns it.

Second, the independence agenda is distinct from the Western Alienation Project.

Third, the independence agenda has three hills that it either dies on or conquers.

This coming referendum, this fall election in 2027, and finally, the binding referendum, if it gets that far.

Josh Andis will join us after a short presentation.

Okay, I said a lot there in the introduction today, Randy, so let's unpack it.

The independence movement and Western alienation are two projects that, although maybe founded on a similar concern, might actually have different components.

Absolutely.