Alberta exercising a lawful democratic process should not trigger federal economic punishment.

 

Globe and Mail's BC-based Alberta columnist Gary Mason is now openly calling for Ottawa to economically pressure Alberta if Premier Danielle Smith permits a referendum on separation.

Mason wrote on X:

“If Danielle Smith announces a separatist referendum for the fall, the feds should immediately halt any further work towards a new pipeline until this question is resolved.” 

Alberta exercising a lawful democratic process should not trigger federal economic punishment.

Quebec held two actual separation referendums, elected openly separatist governments multiple times, and continues to tolerate serious sovereignty sentiment at the highest levels of provincial politics. Yet Ottawa never threatened to freeze infrastructure projects or economically isolate Quebec for allowing voters to have their say.

Prime Minister Carney boasted about the Special Projects Office fast tracking a Quebec mine owned by Nouveau Monde Graphite, although the project began in 2021. 

And today, Quebec separatism is hardly dead. Recent polling continues to show the Parti Québécois competitive with the CAQ.

Meanwhile in Alberta:

  • No separation referendum has been announced.
  • No independence vote has happened.
  • Petition signatures have not been reviewed.
  • Albertans are using a democratic mechanism created under Alberta law.

Yet Mason’s response is effectively: no pipeline unless Alberta “behaves.”

Ironically, Mason himself has previously argued pipelines are essential to Canadian national unity, warning years ago that alienating Alberta could fuel separatist sentiment.

Now the same columnist appears to be endorsing exactly the kind of retaliatory federal approach many Albertans say drives western alienation in the first place.

When Quebec debates sovereignty, it’s treated as democracy. When Alberta does it, some outside pundits immediately start talking sanctions.