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Stephen Harper warns Alberta separatism will bring 'no benefit' | CBC News (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 2 days ago by to c/canada@lemmy.ca
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Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper cautioned against the prospect of Alberta separation in a column Friday, writing that even voting just to "send a message" would represent a fraught approach.

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[–] 18 points 2 days ago (16 children)

He is one of the voices that fueled this fire in previous decades, and now he is speaking against it?

That's like Sam Altman warning about the risks of AI...

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  • [–] [S] -2 points 2 days ago (15 children)

    Waitasec. When did he explicitly advocate for separation? He advocated for more autonomy, which is not unprecedented (see also: Quebec), but I've always seen him as pushing for more freedom within confederation, not freedom from confederation. Happy to be corrected.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 days ago (4 children)

    He brought the Reform Party into the Conservatives. That's why the crazies seem so loud nowadays.

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 2 days ago

    I mean, sure. But that's not exactly advocating for Alberta separation. And if memory serves, a guy named Peter won the PC leadership and then promptly folded like a cheap shirt.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (9 children)

    When did he explicitly advocate for separation?

    That's not what I was referring to.

    He stored the fires of western alienation and anger at Ottawa.

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  • [–] [S] -5 points 1 day ago (8 children)

    Eh. I'd say he had help. Trudeau senior wasn't exactly Alberta's friend. Not to mention the 90's were all about Quebec.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 day ago (7 children)

    You have to do a lot more gymnastics to put the blame of the current state of Alberta separatism on those two things than Stephen Harper's actions and effect on conservatives across the country.

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  • [–] [S] -3 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    No gymnastics required. There's been a separatist thread running through Alberta since it joined confederation. Literally they were complaining about Canada controlling what Alberta could do with Alberta's resources in 1905. They've just never had actual government support. Quebec is exactly the opposite - most of the last 50 years was a PQ government, including the 1995 referendum, and it went about as you'd expect it to.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (5 children)

    That isn't explaining how there's no gymnastics required. Besides that, the point was that there's a mod direct throughline with Harper's actions.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 day ago (4 children)

    There's no gymnastics required because every time Ottawa oversteps (their words, not mine), they get pissed off. And they usually think Ottawa is overstepping when Ottawa starts telling Alberta what it can do or not do with its resources. It happened in the 80's (NEP), it happened in the 90's (Kyoto Accord), and it happened in 2016 (no business case). The difference is in the80's and 90's the Alberta government itself wasn't advocating for separation. Smith, today, is doing exactly that, and all of the changes made to the original 2021 law that enabled this referendum were made by Smith's government.

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  • [–] 2 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (3 children)

    Now connect the dots between Smith's UCP government and Harper's effect on conservative parties around the country, and then the dots with those other situations. Which path has less dots?

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 23 hours ago (2 children)

    How does "Alberta should have more autonomy" translate to "Alberta should leave Canada"? That's the dot your line's missing.

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  • [–] 2 points 20 hours ago (1 child)

    This entire conversation is all about the current separatist sentiment. It always was.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 10 hours ago

    And the current separatist sentiment starts in the Premier's office. Every change to the citizen initiative law that enabled this referendum, from requirements that it be vetted for constitutionality to the lowering of minimum signatures required, was performed by Smith's government.

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