There is a fantasy among some Alberta separatists that Quebec separatists are their friends. Not likely. They are risky company for an Alberta politician of any stripe. As Premier Danielle Smith visits Quebec for friendly talks with the new premier, Christine Frechette, she knows who to avoid.
Political Context
It is much noted in Quebec that the separatist Parti Quebecois could win a provincial election on Oct. 5. Alberta’s referendum is Oct. 19. There has never been a moment like that. Our separatists dream of a grand alliance, with swarms of campaigners arriving in Canadiens jerseys.
The problem for them is that Quebec separatists are both condescending to their cause and deeply hostile to Alberta’s main industry. In Parliament last week, Bloc Quebecois MPs blasted Prime Minister Mark Carney for saying the Clarity Act would apply to Alberta’s referendum question. They sounded sympathetic to our separatists.
Bloc Quebecois Hostility
But Bloc MP Patrick Bonin suddenly intervened: “It has been announced that a new dirty oil pipeline will be built as early as 2027,” he declared. “The environmental assessment for this pipeline will be carried out by the Canada Energy Regulator in Calgary, and the prime minister will even be able to change the criteria as time goes on. Furthermore, construction may begin before the assessment has even been completed. This is an environmental sellout that will have a ripple effect for generations.”
You won’t find Alberta separatists in that corner. The Bloc has a long, consistent record of hostility to Alberta oil and gas, and any pipeline, anywhere.
Parti Quebecois Leader's Views
Yves-Francois Blanchet, the Bloc leader, also says Alberta separatism isn’t legitimate. “Oil and gas isn’t a culture,” he said. “It requires a culture of their own (to separate). I’m not sure oil and gas qualifies to define a culture.” The leader of the provincial Parti Quebecois, who might be premier after the Oct. 5 election, appears more sympathetic. “Alberta does have a genuine identity,” Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said in an interview, when he visited Alberta last year and held meetings with separatists. “An identity cannot be imposed and it cannot be denied. It’s there or it’s not. If people are fed up with an unnecessary government that tells them the opposite of their democratic will, that’s a source of identity. So, I think there’s something legitimate going on here.”
The condescension rivals Liberal Ottawa at moments of peak arrogance. Plamondon is slightly less hostile on the economic front. He even suggests there could be some natural gas development within Quebec. But he is about as attractive an ally as the separatist leaders’ other key candidate for help and resources, U.S. President Donald Trump.
