After a long day of mowing the lawn, by hand, of course (despite owning a ride-on, I was trained young that real mowing means walking it out), I found myself reflecting on two things. First, the Edmonton Oilers are going to win the Stanley Cup. Book it. And second, and more seriously: the growing chorus of voices warning that even if Alberta follows all the right steps, jumps through every constitutional hoop, and builds an overwhelming democratic consensus, “Canada will never let Alberta leave.”
That line, often said with a smirk or a shrug, (or written with vitriol) is meant to shut down the conversation. But it raises a deeper question that cuts to the core of what this country claims to be.
Because if a province cannot leave peacefully, lawfully, and democratically, then it is not a partner. It is a possession.
And that led me to a troubling comparison.
What, really, is the difference between this attitude and Russia’s treatment of Ukraine? Russia claims the conflict is “a civil matter” between “brothers.” Ukrainians are just confused Russians, so the story goes, rebellious children who need to be brought back into the family. Never mind that they elected their own leaders, wrote their own laws, and declared their own sovereignty. Russia has decided they do not have the right to leave the “family,” and so force is justified.
The weapons are different, of course. But the logic? Uncomfortably similar.
Many federalists in Canada would recoil at this analogy. “That’s not fair. We’re a democracy. We don’t jail people for dissent.” Fair enough, and I hope it stays that way. But the attitude that Alberta’s independence is not even allowed to be a real conversation, that it’s illegitimate by nature — that betrays the same imperial instinct.
Let’s put it plainly: if Alberta is a consenting member of a voluntary Confederation, then Alberta has the right to withdraw that consent. That’s the whole point of a free and equal union. But if that’s not possible — if, when push comes to shove, we’re told “you are not allowed to leave” — then we were never equals to begin with.
We were annexed. Economically useful. Culturally mocked. Politically taken for granted.
In short, we were property.
I don’t believe most Canadians want to think of Confederation that way. But the response to Alberta’s growing interest in independence is revealing. Dismissal. Smug warnings. Open threats. And behind it all, the condescending idea that we’re just too unsophisticated to govern ourselves, that we’d be lost without the wise hands of Ottawa guiding us forward.
To those who hold that view, I’d say this: you’re acting like Russia. And if that comparison makes you uncomfortable, good. Sit with it. Ask why.
Alberta may not win every debate. We may not get everything right. But we are not children. We are not a colony. We are not a mistake of history to be corrected.
We are a people, a people with a culture, and that means we have the right to decide our own future.
Even if that means pushing uphill, one step at a time, like mowing a lawn the old-fashioned way, because it’s the only way we know how to do it right.
Covenant Presbyterian Church 