Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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CALGARY — Alberta’s separation drive came to the province’s largest city Monday, with hundreds lining up to add their names to the list of people wanting to vote on the province quitting Canada while the Opposition NDP called on the premier to drop the “word salad” and tell everyone where she stands.
“Freedom!” shouted one man, arms raised, as he left the signing centre at the Big Four Building on Calgary’s Stampede grounds.
Ahead of the doors opening, hundreds curled in a line around the edges of the massive event venue east of downtown.
Some petitioner supporters said separation might be the only way to fix what they call a toxic relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.
Kelsey MacKay said Ottawa has imposed policies that have “kneecapped” Alberta’s industries and believes it’s more radical to remain in Canada than leave the country.
“Staying in a country that’s just, like, stealing your money in taxes, nothing to show for it, more abusive policy coming from the federal government,” MacKay said.
“I don’t see another way at this point.”
Calgary is the most recent stop for the province’s separation drive, organized by the group known as Stay Free Alberta. Similar turnouts have been spotted in other communities in recent weeks.
Canvassers are looking for almost 178,000 signatures by May to force the province to consider a referendum, in which Albertans would be asked if they agree the province should leave Canada and go it alone as an independent state.
Their stop in Calgary comes amid ongoing suggestions from the U.S. government that Alberta would like to join its neighbour to the south.
U.S. President Donald Trump has openly mused about Canada becoming America’s “51st state.
Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent weighed in on the separatist movement in Alberta. He called Alberta a “natural partner” for the U.S. given the province’s natural resources.
While others in line Monday said their focus is on leaving Canada, MacKay said she’d be OK joining the U.S., claiming it would give Alberta access to a stronger dollar and a reduced tax load.
She also said that if Alberta were to become its own country, the U.S. would likely “capture” Alberta anyways. “Not in a hostile way, but I think … we’d need to get access to markets and everything else,” she said.
Jeffrey Rath, general counsel for Stay Free Alberta, said the goal is not to join the U.S.
“Why the hell would we want to fight tooth and nail for a year and a half or two years to leave Canada and the clutches of the Canada Revenue Agency to put ourselves under the taxing jurisdiction of the U.S. Treasury and what used to be the (Internal Revenue Service)?” he said.
“Free and independent Alberta: That’s what we’re doing.”
Also Monday, Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the separatism debate is proving harmful to the province’s interests —potentially costing jobs — and urged Smith and her United Conservative government to put the issue to rest by signing a pledge against separatism.
“Alberta’s New Democrats unequivocally denounce separatism and unabashedly stand with Team Canada,” Nenshi told reporters. “Can the separatist (United Conservative Party) government say the same?”
Nenshi said Smith has been trying to support both sides of the issue, and that her oft-repeated phrase that she supports a “sovereign Alberta within a united Canada” is nonsensical “word salad.”
The NDP has noted that while Smith purports to stand for Canada, her government has amended legislation to ease the way for a citizen-led petition to spark a separatist referendum.
“When you try to play both sides sometimes you stand with neither,” Nenshi said.
A spokesperson for the United Conservative caucus said in a statement Monday that they “support a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada” and that Nenshi is deflecting from a poor track record as Calgary mayor and NDP leader.
“But he has chosen to fearmonger and peddle misinformation to try and resurrect his crumbling political party,” the statement reads.
Speaking on her weekend call-in radio show on Saturday, Smith responded to Bessent’s comments by saying she is working to forge a new relationship between Alberta and Canada and is not hearing demands from Albertans to join America.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2026.
— With files from Jack Farrell in Edmonton
Dayne Patterson, The Canadian Press
