Canada separatists submit bid to force Alberta independence vote

Alberta separatists submitted stacks of boxes to election officials on Monday, which they said contained the signatures of more than 300,000 supporters, enough names to force an independence referendum in Canada's oil-rich province. 

A boisterous crowd of several hundred waved the blue provincial flag on a bright, clear day, cheering as separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre delivered the petitions to Elections Alberta. 

"We're not like the rest of Canada," Sylvestre told AFP.

"We're 100 percent conservative. We're being ruled by Liberals who don't think like us."

"They're trying to shut down our industry," he said, referring to the lucrative provincial oil sector. 

The pro-independence camp in the western province of five million people had existed on the margins for decades, but the movement has gathered pace in recent months and is closer than ever to triggering a vote.

Polls put separatist support at roughly 30 percent, but even if the federalist side wins a prospective referendum, leaders on both sides say the process has left Canada permanently changed.

- 'Treason' -

Standing outside the provincial legislature on a grey Sunday evening, former Alberta deputy premier and activist for the federalist side, Thomas Lukaszuk, told AFP he now struggles to look at the blue provincial flag that fluttered behind him, saying it has been co-opted by separatists.

"It stands for something that most of us Albertans and Canadians don't stand for. It's a form of treason," said Lukaszuk, who moved to Canada as a child when his family sought refuge from communist Poland.

Lukaszuk, who is spearheading Alberta's Forever Canadian campaign, said the ongoing separatist movement has been helped by a right-wing premier, Danielle Smith, who has sought closer ties with President Donald Trump's Republican Party.

Tacit support from Washington, including several State Department meetings, has also helped, he said.

"The separatists are not elected members. They're just citizens of Canada residing in Alberta, and they actually formed delegations and are received by the highest levels of US administration. That must be very empowering to them," he told AFP.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also drew Canadian furor in January when he said Alberta and the United States would make "natural partners".

- 'Fabric' divided -

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Sylvestre heads Stay Free Alberta, which had until the beginning of May to collect 178,000 signatures. 

While he says the group easily cleared that bar, Elections Alberta needs to verify the names -- a process placed on hold by a court ruling. 

Indigenous groups in Alberta who signed treaties with Britain before Canada secured independence -- have filed a legal challenge, arguing that separating Alberta would violate their treaty rights, a case that could render the entire process moot.

But Michael Wagner, an independent historian and long-standing supporter of Albertan independence, told AFP last week that even if his side loses, the movement "is not going to just disappear." 

"I think this is going to be a permanent change in our political culture."

- Oil politics -

Alberta joined the Canadian confederation in 1905 and resentments towards eastern political leaders in Ontario and Quebec fueled marginal separatist movements at various points over the last century.

But anger at Ottawa intensified in protest against former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's 1980 National Energy Program, which broadened Ottawa's control over the oil industry.

The program included new taxes giving Ottawa more revenue from Alberta's oil as a safeguard following the oil price shocks of the 1970s.

Wagner called the program a "game-changer" which entrenched the idea of independence.

Fast-forward 35 years, and Trudeau's son Justin was elected prime minister with a climate-conscious agenda reviled by many in Alberta.

Standing outside Elections Alberta on Monday, separatist supporter Tammy Kaleta told AFP "the Trudeau regime" -- both Pierre and Justin -- had driven her towards independence. 

"This movement really inspired me," the 64-year-old said. 

Some independence supporters want to join the United States -- Alberta borders the US state of Montana -- but the group's leaders say they are merely seeking support from Trump to help secure an exit from Canada.

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