The Alberta Project - May 20, 2025


Alberta： A History of Separatism (Part 1)


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

138.28426

Word Count

1,224

Sentence Count

66


Summary

A two-part series that aims to uncover the long-winded and tumultuous history of Alberta s tumultuous and frankly abusive relationship with the federal government. In this episode, we'll cover the early days of Alberta's relationship with Canada, from the founding of the separatist movement in the early 20th century, to its eventual breakup from Canada in the late 1980s.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hi everyone and welcome to my two-part series that aims to uncover the long-winded and tumultuous history of the Alberta separatist movement.
00:00:11.220 Not very many people know that this debate isn't something that just flared up after the recent Canadian election.
00:00:17.900 The separatist movement in Alberta has stood strong against Ottawa's overreach for 50-something years now.
00:00:25.220 And I'm excited to be bringing much of this history into focus, especially for young people such as myself who may not have lived through the early days of Alberta's tumultuous and frankly abusive relationship with Ottawa.
00:00:39.260 So without further ado, let's get into it.
00:00:41.920 Our story starts with the father of Alberta separatism, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
00:00:59.180 Trudeau came into power in 1968 with a majority government.
00:01:03.380 His first action as prime minister was to heavily pursue multiculturalism and bilingualism.
00:01:09.000 Not off to a great start, given that English-speaking Canada had to give in to bilingualism solely because of Quebec.
00:01:16.040 In 1973, following the Arab oil embargo, Trudeau requested that Alberta agree to voluntarily freeze its oil prices, to which Alberta refused.
00:01:25.840 And so, Trudeau's government imposed a 40-cent tax on every barrel of Albertan oil exported to the United States,
00:01:34.860 forcing Alberta to sell its oil at a discounted price to the rest of Canada.
00:01:40.700 Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, who was famously critical of the oil sector in Alberta,
00:01:47.220 called this decision the most discriminatory action taken by a federal government against a particular province in the entire history of Confederation.
00:01:56.500 Soon after, in 1974, disgruntled Calgary oilmen formed the first organization advocating for Alberta's independence from Canada.
00:02:05.800 The Independent Alberta Association and its members were dissatisfied with how little political representation Alberta got compared to the eastern provinces,
00:02:14.500 and how the federal government felt that it was its duty to encroach on the development of Alberta's resources,
00:02:21.100 which are well within provincial jurisdiction.
00:02:23.680 They were also burdened by the fact that Alberta was being treated this way,
00:02:27.380 despite the fact that the province massively over-contributes to Confederation.
00:02:31.960 Tensions went on between Alberta and the federal government,
00:02:34.660 as Alberta was practically subsidizing central and eastern Canada by selling its oil well below market price to the central and eastern provinces.
00:02:42.880 There was hope on the horizon, however.
00:02:45.020 In 1979, the Conservatives formed a minority government under Joe Clark.
00:02:49.740 Given that Clark was himself an Albertan and had voiced his concerns about the government's treatment of Alberta,
00:02:56.020 particularly its oil sectors,
00:02:57.960 Albertans were relieved and hoped that soon they may reach a better deal with the newly formed federal government.
00:03:03.880 However, just after only nine months in power,
00:03:07.520 Clark's government fell, triggering an election,
00:03:11.120 in which Trudeau's liberals formed a majority government,
00:03:15.420 no thanks to the West.
00:03:17.020 I want to point your attention to the electoral map of the 1980 general election.
00:03:22.420 And as you can see here,
00:03:23.940 the entire, like, liberal Red Sea was mostly congregated around central and eastern Canada.
00:03:32.300 What's interesting about this is that,
00:03:34.420 you know, despite two seats in Manitoba that the liberals won,
00:03:40.440 west of Manitoba, liberals won zero seats,
00:03:45.020 which solidified this idea that central and eastern Canada decide the election outcomes.
00:03:53.660 And so, you know, this made many Albertans hopeless,
00:03:57.240 that not a single representative in the new government was representing their province.
00:04:03.980 And not only did the Liberal Party win the election without having a single seat west of Manitoba,
00:04:12.100 they won with a majority government that practically has free reign.
00:04:18.840 Clearly, Canadian elections were pretty much decided in Ontario and Quebec.
00:04:24.860 These two provinces were the sole arbiters of deciding who gets to run the entire country.
00:04:31.700 Trudeau had even bigger plans for Alberta's oil this time around.
00:04:35.520 On October 28, 1980, Trudeau's government announced the National Energy Program.
00:04:41.660 The stated goals of this program were to promote Canadian self-sufficiency,
00:04:45.840 increase Canada's ownership of its oil and gas sector,
00:04:49.040 and ensure greater federal revenue from oil profits to then dump on the eastern provinces.
00:04:55.760 The NEP introduced domestic price controls,
00:04:59.140 making sure that Alberta could not sell its oil domestically at the full global price.
00:05:04.640 It introduced a federal tax of 8% on oil and gas revenues before provinces received royalties.
00:05:11.600 This massively ate into the revenues of the government of Alberta.
00:05:14.440 The NEP increased the share of federal profits from the oil and gas sector through new taxes and profit-sharing schemes,
00:05:21.640 all of which were viewed as brazen federal overreach into Alberta's constitutional rights to control its own natural resources.
00:05:29.900 It created incentives to encourage Canadian companies to take over U.S. energy firms,
00:05:34.720 which massively reduced foreign investment.
00:05:37.240 It provided subsidies for Canadian companies to explore resource development anywhere else but Alberta.
00:05:43.560 The NEP imposed a tax on any and all oil exported outside Canada in an effort to keep domestic prices low,
00:05:51.480 and the profitability of Alberta oil suffered massively as a result.
00:05:55.760 Under the NEP, the bankruptcy rate in Alberta rose by 150%.
00:06:00.600 Unemployment in Alberta went from 3.7% to 12.4%.
00:06:05.480 Some estimates have stated that Alberta's total losses under the NEP were somewhere between $50 to $100 billion.
00:06:12.760 The massive surpluses that Alberta would have received from the higher global prices of oil at the time
00:06:18.960 were massively stymied by the NEP, which meant that Alberta couldn't meaningfully grow its heritage fund.
00:06:26.480 There were two newly formed separatist organizations after the 1980 election.
00:06:32.400 West Fed and Western Canada Concept would go on to hold massive meetings in Alberta and rally major support.
00:06:39.200 The Western Canada Concept would go on to become a political party in Alberta.
00:06:43.800 However, the party became discredited, largely due to infighting and issues with leadership.
00:06:49.420 After Trudeau's resignation in 1984, Brian Mulroney's Conservatives sweeped the election in a landslide victory.
00:06:56.380 Many in Alberta believed that a strong Conservative majority government could remedy their ills, but they were mistaken.
00:07:02.700 Canada's own Ronald Reagan faced many criticisms for his sluggish dismantling of the NEP.
00:07:08.540 His lack of quick action was partly due to a fear that he may alienate the central and eastern provinces who were heavily subsidized by the NEP.
00:07:17.120 How ironic. This wasn't the end of his government's passive-aggressive attitude towards Alberta, however.
00:07:22.860 In 1986, the government was on the lookout for a contractor to do maintenance on 138 CF-18 Hornet fighter jets that Canada had just bought.
00:07:32.920 One of the bids was from a partnership between Winnipeg's Bristol Aerospace and Edmonton's Northwest Industries.
00:07:39.760 They submitted a lower-cost bid and had even received very high technical ratings from the Department of National Defense.
00:07:46.900 Montreal's Canadair, however, had proposed a higher-cost bid while also receiving a lower technical evaluation from the Department of National Defense.
00:07:56.040 Despite the Department's clear recommendation of the bid proposed by the Western Aerospace Corporations,
00:08:02.820 Mulroney's government opted to reward the contract to Montreal's Canadair.
00:08:07.080 This decision sparked outrage in Western Canada, as it blatantly showcased the government's favoritism of the central and eastern province.
00:08:15.240 And so that's a wrap for the first episode.
00:08:18.140 And for episode two, the timeline will start from the parties and organizations formed after 1986 and the Chrétien liberal government.
00:08:32.180 And it will end at the new liberal Kearney government.
00:08:37.160 Thank you so much for watching.
00:08:38.960 Please remember to leave a like and subscribe and share with anyone who may be interested in a deep dive about Alberta's long separatist history.