‘A Dangerous Bluff’: Carney Likens Alberta Referendum to Brexit
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/world/canada/mark-carney-alberta-referendum-brexit.html
‘A Dangerous Bluff’: Carney Likens Alberta Referendum to Brexit
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/world/canada/mark-carney-alberta-referendum-brexit.html
35 Comments
This is obvious to anyone with half a brain, yes.
Ugh, this whole thing is so stupid. The ignorant and angry are getting spurred on by advisories nations to destabilize us. There is no good reason for this silliness to have gone on this far.
EDIT: for non-Canadians who don’t know, this is pointless. Several First Nations have treaties with the Dominion of Canada, not the Province of Alberta. For Alberta to leave Canada, Alberta would have to get the Forst Nations to rip up their treaties. There isn’t a chance in hell of that happening as they know what would happen if Alberta became independent.
I’ve gotta say when I read about the Alberta referendum, Brexit is the first thing that came to mind, and then it reminded me of the outside forces that influenced Brexit, and how social media and information bubbles were happening once again. And here we are in 2026, with the UK thinking about joining the EU again. Let’s hope Albertans realized they should stop believing everything they read online…
In modern civilizations uninformed people have too much power. It’s too easy to rile them up with fake news.
It is a referendum whether to have a referendum – Canadian at its heart, a compromise. Extremely frustrating compromise with an obscure foreign (American/Russian) influenced minority.
If they join Cascadia they’ll be all right.
Proof that even in Canada there’s abysmally dumb people
As is the case here, Brexit was also heavily influenced by foreign actors. Russia and China are hard at work in the background .This is an existential threat to Canada brought about by people with no critical thinking skills.
I will say this over and over. You can get support of 15-25% for ANYTHING. Poll people in other provinces, and you may get 15-25% for THEM to separate. The difference in Alberta is our Premier won her leadership by going around to the separatists and telling them to support her. They did so she has been governing FOR THEM. They have consistently said that if she doesn’t do what they want they will pull her down. That makes Danielle Smith a GIANT coward and/or a separatist.
She has changed the legislation two or three times to help out the separatists. The fact that she grabbed the Forever Canadian petition (which has been gathering dust on her desk for months) and is using the number in that petition for her 700,000 people wanting a referendum is a giant lie. The Forever Canadian petition was always a vote in the legislature. MLAs were supposed to vote on it. It was never a referendum question, and she knows that.
Not every conservative is a separatist, but every separatist is a conservative.
Sir, Brexit was very clearly not a bluff.
You can say it was stupid all you want but you’re admitting it could happen here.
I don’t see the bluff. The Court held Parliament gets the final say on a province seceding.
Not only is is nigh impossible to separate but if they think they are getting any of the important stuff, they are dreaming
They wouldn’t get any federally owned/operated land or buildings, no trans canada highway, no native land covered under treaties
Just forget about it
Also the world is slowly moving away from oil. Do they really think they can survive alone economically long term?
What a dumb dream
Neoliberals’ inability to process Brexit without wrapping it in insults or framing it as foreign influence is exactly why Brexit happened.
Surely it couldn’t have been us and our systems and our priorities and our hubris and our deaf ears?
And no, it wasn’t because of some Facebook ads and twitter campaigns.
Brexit has been a unmitigated failure for the UK
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I argued with an idiot who claimed the lands in Alberta are Alberta’s and if they leave, they’re taking the lands with them.
The funny thing is, he acknowledged the existence of the treaties between Canada and the indigenous peoples, but if Alberta leaves, the treaties no longer exist as if Canada doesn’t exist.
When the Canadian economy is shrinking under Carney, no wonder people are looking for an alternative. He’s just going around the globe giving speeches while Canadians get poorer. Carney is a banker, he’s one of the”them”. Never forget that.
Not Brexit, the Donbass more like
The fact that the premiere is blatantly supporting the referendum is really fucked up
I say we let them separate! Consequences:
– Land title reverts to the indigenous claim prior to the creation of the province, around 60% of the Alberta’s land becomes soverign first nations territory. Almost all of which consists of the rural farmland and oil patches. Current property owners lose all claim to this land.
– They are kicked off the Canadian Dollar, creating a country with no currency crisis, sending them into an immediate depression which will take years to correct even if they were allowed to adopt another currency (ex. USD).
– Alberta imports around $80B of goods from other provinces, which they could be immediately cut off from, massive supply chain shocks which would cripple any businesses in the already-struggling new country.
-65% of Alberta exports are to the USA (most of which is O&G), they would become entirely at USA’s mercy to dictate all trade terms. 35% of Alberta’s foreign exports now travel through BC to foreign markets, BC would immediately cut off all shipping & export access to Alberta. Since there is not excess export capacity to the USA, all O&G would need to immediately shutdown since there is nowhere to send the oil without the TMX pipeline, etc.
With no imports or exports, landlocked without ocean access, at war on 3 sides with Canada, at USA’s entire mercy, and with no currency – Alberta’s future would be fucking grim.
Because of that, Alberta’s two largest cities – Edmonton and Calgary which make up about 55% of the population and are majority NDP voters (but who are gerrymandered so they have no representation currently), would see a mass exodus out of Alberta. This not only represents most of their population, but around 80% of the province’s wealth – and the more who leave, the more who will leave – a self-fueling exodus.
I give it 12 months before Alberta is Afghanistan.
If Alberta seperates, the US will take it and all it’s resources, Albertans will become not even the 51 state but a US territory with no voting rights
I wish there was something we could do to stop the Epstein class from weaponizing the dumbest and angriest 30% of the population against the rest of us. It’s proving to be a devastatingly effective tactic.
Question is, what has RCMP and the liberal govt done to battle misinformation? We know Marlaina is a crazy conservative, what stopped the federal govt?
I mean the Trucker Convoy should have been a wake up call.
If Alberta leaves Canada, Quebec will leave next, and then it’s over. Canada has sold out to the highest bidder and I honestly don’t blame provinces for wanting to go their own way. A country with such great potential and it got looted by foreign interests and greedy politicians.
Maybe Canada can ask some of the US border states if they want to leave the US and join Canada
Is Alberta even remotely capable of supporting itself or is their plan to secede and then beg Trump to take them in or something
If they do succeed Trump will be posting on social media about making Alberta the 51st state on day 1.
Oil? Yes please, get the army ready
Carney should give a passionate speech about being a proud Edmonton boy
Man had to guide England through Brexit when he was Governor of the Bank of England. I like to think he knows what he’s talking about here.
I mean after the CBC exposed those sleezy YouTubers from the Netherlands who were posting fake Canadian videos to YouTube…
To clarify, out provincial government chose to go with a confusingly worded question that amounts to a referendum about potentially having a referendum.
Meh tell’em it’s Canada or US betcha they’ll change their mind.
Its executives of Canadian petroleum companies that are pushing for this to maximize their profits.
Perhaps its time some states separate from the US. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a bit of a push from foreign countries.
Albertans deserve the same human right of self-determination that the UN and every legitimate government supports.
Just governments are only legitimate when their power is derived from the consent of the governed. And when the government departs from the will of the people, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.