A man buys a hat to raise funds at a rally for Wexit Alberta, a separatist group seeking federal political party status, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, earlier this month. Photograph: Todd Korol/Reuters
Leyland Cecco and David Agren, The Guardian: Wexit: Alberta's frustration fuels push for independence from Canada
The oil-producing western province has suffered years of recession and now a new party is channeling resentment towards the federal government.
The day after Justin Trudeau won re-election, Larry Kitz – a farmer in the western province of Alberta – went online and donated money to a political party with one central goal: separating from Canada. As Kitz tells it, secession was the only cause that matched his growing frustration with the country’s federal government.
“It’s like a bad relationship with someone that’s just draining you all the time,” he said. “On one hand they’ll take the money from you and the other hand they want to knock down [our energy industry]. Eventually you’re gonna have to just call it quits.”
Years of recession and a tepid energy market have helped fuel a growing separatist movement in Alberta, where a fossil fuel industry which once powered a boom is now dragging the economy into bust.
Read more ....
WNU editor: I live in Canada, and while people out West are definitely angry, separatism is not going to happen. But the ruling Liberal party under Justin Trudeau have definitely lost Alberta and Saskatchewan, and this is going to last a few generations.
