PJ The Belt - September 11, 2025


Western Provinces WEXIT Movement! - TRUMP Recognition of Statehood CHANGES EVERYTHING!

Alberta WALKING AWAY From Canada - The USA STATEHOOD Recognition Incoming？! Alberta Choosing To LEAVE CANADA - UPDATE! Independence & Referendum 2026

Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

143.26

Word count

1,552

Sentence count

95

People

Also mentioned:
Gerard Kennedy Mark Carney Crowns

Harmful content

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

If the Supreme Court of Canada recognized Saskatchewan and Alberta as independent states, the rest of the country would recognize them as sovereign nations. But is it actually possible? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Gerard Kennedy, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, about whether or not separation is actually possible.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Now, if Saskatchewan or Alberta were simply to declare themselves independent states and other states were to recognize them as independent states and the government of Canada ceased to have any control over Saskatchewan and Alberta, it may be that de facto they would become independent states as a matter of international law.
00:00:20.200 And the Supreme Court did acknowledge that that was a possibility. I guess the flip side of what they're saying is that if our concerns are not addressed, we feel as though they have been not addressed, then we're willing to explore separation. It's kind of raising the stakes.
00:00:38.600 Look, I've said it before on this channel. International recognition is the ultimate game changer.
00:00:44.300 That's the line between being called a rogue province and being treated as an actual nation.
00:00:51.200 Now, opponents love to say Canada will never allow Alberta and Saskatchewan to separate.
00:00:57.000 Well, no kidding. Ottawa doesn't want to lose its golden goose.
00:01:01.120 But here's the reality. When the federal government refuses to negotiate in good faith, when it ignores the will of the people, then the outside world can step in.
00:01:11.380 And let's be honest, the United States has already signaled that they respect Western Canadians' right to self-determination.
00:01:20.020 If Washington chooses to recognize Alberta and Saskatchewan, overnight they become de facto new nations.
00:01:29.100 And considering an independent West would be friendlier and closer to America compared to a Canada that causes up to communist China, 0.79
00:01:37.720 well, that's not a hard choice now, is it?
00:01:40.420 Let's dive in. If you support these videos, please subscribe. It's free and it helps our channel grow. Thank you.
00:01:48.560 In the meantime, I mean, we're continuing to garner support. We're talking in town halls, you know, every night across the province.
00:01:57.420 Hundreds and hundreds of people are showing up in small towns.
00:02:00.160 I was in one in Pomona the other night, you know, teeny little speck on the map in Alberta off of Highway 22.
00:02:07.200 Over 150 people showed up, all of them completely in favor of independence.
00:02:12.080 I'm going to be in foremost on Friday, which is way down by the U.S. border.
00:02:16.100 Everywhere we go, we're speaking to pack calls full of Albertans in favor of independence.
00:02:20.540 The other thing people need to understand is all of these what's next calls that Danielle is holding, you know, more than 50 or 60 percent of everybody showing up at those meetings are in favor of independence.
00:02:32.700 And the support is only increasing. Here's the part the mainstream media never talks about. The people.
00:02:40.780 Grassroots groups like the Alberta Prosperity Project are out there every week, holding rallies and town halls, filling up rooms with Albertans hungry for independence.
00:02:50.880 They're not waiting around for Ottawa to grow a conscience.
00:02:55.040 They're educating people, showing the benefits of going it alone.
00:02:59.260 And it's not just Alberta. Saskatchewan has groups like United Grassroots pushing for sovereignty, too.
00:03:06.920 Hundreds of folks are showing up from small prairie towns to big centers, and the energy is undeniable.
00:03:13.960 People know the ship called Canada is sinking, and they don't plan to go down with it.
00:03:19.720 They're ready to build something better, something freer, something that respects them for a change.
00:03:27.340 You know, we see ourselves as an independence movement wanting to form an independent commonwealth, separate and apart from Canada and the United States,
00:03:36.800 but with extremely strong financial and economic ties to the United States, because we see the U.S. as our natural ally.
00:03:44.100 You know, unlike Mark Carney, who sees communist China as his natural ally.
00:03:49.720 Here's the simple truth that Eastern Canada just can't seem to wrap their head around.
00:03:56.180 Albertans see Americans as family.
00:03:59.440 The trade, the culture, the values, it's all connected.
00:04:04.660 Meanwhile, Ottawa and the Eastern elites push their tired, America bad propaganda,
00:04:11.340 like we're supposed to see the U.S. as some enemy.
00:04:14.840 Give me a break.
00:04:16.260 Out West, people see right through the nonsense.
00:04:19.580 In fact, Albertans are the least likely in all of Canada to hold negative opinions about our neighbors to the South.
00:04:28.160 In Saskatchewan, same story.
00:04:31.220 Prairie people have common sense.
00:04:32.980 They know who their real allies are, and it sure isn't a federal government that treats them like second-class citizens while cozying up to China.
00:04:42.900 It's the Americans.
00:04:44.800 Our closest friends, our partners, and maybe soon our fellow countrymen, possibly.
00:04:50.980 Separation from Canada.
00:04:52.720 It is something that has come up since the Liberals were given another term in government,
00:04:57.920 particularly in Saskatchewan and Alberta,
00:05:00.400 with some frustrated with what they view as out-of-touch policies around energy and the environment created in Ottawa that don't benefit the West.
00:05:09.060 The petition's signature threshold for a separation referendum has been lowered in Alberta,
00:05:15.700 and a referendum petition is making the rounds here at home, too.
00:05:20.020 But is separation actually possible?
00:05:23.060 Well, for the answer, we have turned to Gerard Kennedy.
00:05:25.640 He is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta.
00:05:30.360 Gerard, thank you so much for joining us.
00:05:32.960 My pleasure.
00:05:33.380 So, what has to actually be done in order for separation to happen?
00:05:39.560 Well, under the Constitution of Canada, one province has no right to leave unilaterally.
00:05:45.160 So, even if there were a referendum that purported to prescribe separation,
00:05:51.920 that would not give the province in which the referendum occurred the legal right to leave.
00:05:57.160 Having said that, the Supreme Court did hold in 1998 that if a clear majority on a clear question votes to leave Confederation,
00:06:09.240 and they had Quebec in mind, but the logic would apply just as much or almost as much to Alberta and Saskatchewan,
00:06:15.920 then an obligation would fall upon the federal government to negotiate in good faith the exit.
00:06:23.060 So, basically, that's never happened, and those are qualitative rather than quantitative criteria.
00:06:30.480 So, we don't know precisely what would happen.
00:06:33.040 But what's absolutely clear is the majority would have to be clear, and the question would have to be clear.
00:06:38.800 It couldn't engage in hypotheticals.
00:06:40.500 So, a bit of work, obviously, to be done there, but hypothetically, if that work was done and a vote came down to it,
00:06:48.100 is it possible for a province to essentially become its own country, and how would that look?
00:06:56.500 Well, as a matter of Canadian Constitution law, there would have to be some negotiation,
00:07:01.340 and suppose that may or may not occur.
00:07:04.020 Now, if Saskatchewan or Alberta were simply to declare themselves independent states,
00:07:10.500 and other states were to recognize them as independent states,
00:07:14.080 and the government of Canada ceased to have any control over Saskatchewan or Alberta,
00:07:17.940 it may be that, de facto, they would become independent states as a matter of international law,
00:07:24.620 and the Supreme Court did acknowledge that that was a possibility.
00:07:27.680 It might not necessarily be constitutional, and given how other states tend not to recognize breakaway provinces
00:07:37.720 unless the federal government has condoned the departure, I don't think that's very likely.
00:07:44.740 But, I mean, theoretically, it could happen de facto, even if not legally proper.
00:07:51.240 Now, something else at play here.
00:07:52.640 We've heard First Nations groups say separation is unconstitutional because it ignores the treaties.
00:07:59.120 So, how would that have to be handled in all of this?
00:08:02.200 Clearly, the treaties between Canada's Indigenous populations and the Crowns 0.66
00:08:07.140 are with the Crown and Right of Canada, not the Crown and Right of Saskatchewan.
00:08:11.900 So, it's hard to see how Saskatchewan could just assert it has that and move on.
00:08:16.440 It would presumably have to be a part of any negotiated departure.
00:08:20.060 Again, would other states around the world care about that?
00:08:24.380 I don't know.
00:08:25.420 But I would imagine, as a matter of negotiating a legal departure in terms of the Canadian Constitution,
00:08:31.400 that would have to somehow be addressed.
00:08:33.840 I mean, if you look at some of the accommodations that Quebec has received over the years,
00:08:38.340 it's quite clear that our Confederation can accommodate regional difference,
00:08:43.780 respecting that different provinces have different priorities and cultures that need to be respected within region.
00:08:49.480 I suspect that's what they're aiming for, and there's nothing incompatible with the Canadian Constitution.
00:08:55.740 And that, I guess, the flip side of what they're saying is that if our concerns are not addressed,
00:09:01.420 we feel as though they have been not addressed, then we're willing to explore separation.
00:09:05.540 It's kind of raising the stakes.
00:09:07.140 Now, you've brought up Quebec.
00:09:09.300 Of course, this is not the first time we've discussed separation in this country.
00:09:13.120 Is this issue as fervent and maybe even as legitimate this time around as it has been in Quebec,
00:09:20.160 especially during referendums there in the 80s and 90s?
00:09:23.140 Well, certainly Quebec has unique language, a unique culture that isn't entirely shared with Saskatchewan and Alberta.
00:09:32.800 And so as a matter of international law, the Quebecois could be considered a people, more obviously,
00:09:38.840 in a way that it's harder to pinpoint Saskatchewanians or Albertans.
00:09:43.520 Having said that, as a matter of Canadian constitutional law,
00:09:46.360 the 10 provinces are of equal legal stature.
00:09:50.020 So in principle, I don't see how that would really make a difference.
00:10:20.020 Okay, this is for a while.
00:10:21.600 Feeling good.
00:10:23.020 This is for"!
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