Irritants such as Canada’s imbalanced senate, punitive equalization program, and economic embargoing of Alberta’s resources have done far more to entrench the independence movement than the pandemic did.
Mount Royal University professor Duane Bratt posted on X, “Biggest indicator for support for Alberta Independence is support for the Freedom Convoy. Quantitative data for my Substack linking COVID and separatism.”
Bratt had written a column at the end of July trying to link the independence movement to protests against COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
There is doubtless some overlap between those who supported the Trucker’s Convoy and those who support the Alberta independence movement today. People who question government authoritarianism tend to be supportive of both movements. It doesn’t mean the movements are directly related at all, though.
To begin with, the Alberta independence movement predates the COVID-19 pandemic by generations. Alberta has chafed within the federation since the 1930s under the Social Credit Party and had a strong, full blown independence movement in the early 1980s. To claim today’s independence surge is a manifestation of an event that happened five years ago is outright false.
The Freedom Convoy was national, sudden, and issue specific. The government’s improper use of the Emergencies Act to respond to the peaceful protest coupled with the ongoing attempts to jail people involved in the protest certainly has fostered growth in the independence movement. But that incident only helped bring a movement that was already heating up into a boil.
Irritants such as Canada’s imbalanced senate, punitive equalization program, and economic embargoing of Alberta’s resources have done far more to entrench the independence movement than the pandemic did.
https://x.com/DuaneBratt/status/2101434764050010455
Opponents to independence are trying to rebrand the base of the independence movement because they want the file closed rather than debated. They don’t want to enter the realm of debating the fiscal and political inequity of the federation and would rather label independence supporters as being part of an anti-vaccination movement.
The convoy was a protest about pandemic policy that occupied a capital for three weeks.
Alberta independence is a much older argument about who owns resources, who writes the federal bargain, and whether a provincial majority vote can eventually lead to secession. One was an occupation. The other has a ballot date.
To dismiss the movement as remnants of the Trucker’s Convoy protests is an act of misdirection and could backfire.
Signup
The legacy media is counting on one thing: that you'll see the false headline and never see the correction. Don't let them get away with it.
Sign up for email updates from Alberta Fact Check and we'll send every new fact check straight to you the moment it's published. You'll always know what was said, who said it, and exactly where they got it wrong. It's free, it takes ten seconds, and it's the easiest way to stay one step ahead of the spin.