Is it ‘treason’ for Alberta separatists to maneuver with foreign officials? Ottawa says no

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/alberta-separatists-treason

26 Comments

  1. Tricky_Reason892 on

    The path to separation was solidified with the passage of the Clarity Act in 2000. It was red meat to get a portion of the Quebec separatist vote. Don’t discount the idea of Alberta separatism because the term ‘Treaty rights’ gets shouted across the room at news conferences. There’s a legal argument that Alberta can separate and still uphold the treaties.

    Until the Supreme Court of Canada states Alberta cannot separate, I’m talking this seriously.

  2. Treason, as defined by Canada, is the attempt to overthrow the government by force/espionage.

    Most of these separatists are backed by American money. America would annex Alberta the second it left Canada.

    They’re not smart enough to understand they are being used.

  3. I think Ottawa just doesn’t want to escalate the situation. Right now these guys are seen as fringe nutjob clowns and the government is happy to keep it that way.

  4. If the movement to seperate is being stoked by a foreign power that seeks to annex Canadian territory then yes it’s treason.

    This isn’t about Alberta wanting to be it’s own country this is about a very small minority who want Alberta to be a US state.

  5. ComfortableWork1139 on

    Just a reminder to everyone here that it was also “treason” for the 13 colonies to break away from the UK. That didn’t stop it.

  6. Pleasant-Split-299 on

    They are absolutely traitors. But they are to stupid to be treasonous right now and honestly if they left, Canada might have more leverage over them without them being a province. But if they let the American army in it would cause problems and at that point they would be treasonous.

  7. ghostdeinithegreat on

    Is it treason for alberta separatists to manoeuver with the USA government?

    It’a paywalled but it’s a question asked by a UsA owned media so I’m going to assume their answer is no?

  8. The most basic democratic principle of the right to self-determination, at least philosophically, technically means that even a group as small as a neighbourhood could separate & form their own gov’t. (Of course these movements are nearly always squashed, powerful governments don’t usually care about Kant’s philosophy of moral autonomy).

    Whether we like it or not, if more than 50% of Albertans want to be their own country – that’s within their right (again – philosophically, not legally).

    This is literally how dozens upon dozens of countries on this planet came to be.

    However you’re framing this in your mind – think about Ukraine-Russia.

    In our defence of Ukraine’s independence from Russia, at least in the eastern provinces, our reasoning is simply “Well if they don’t want to be a part of Russia, they don’t have to”.

    Don’t get me twisted I would hate having a huge block of our country gouged off the map. But our focus should be making them NOT want to leave.

  9. The Logan Act is stupid and not consistent with Canadian values on a free society. There’s a reason the US has basically ignored it too. If someone wants to talk to another government, go ahead, you don’t need Ottawa to bless it.

    These Alberta separatists are a joke and we are making a mistake by treating them as serious political operators.

  10. Weird_Rooster_4307 on

    Yes because instead of moving to what they like they are acting like spy’s selling out their neighbour’s. If you don’t like where you live MOVE to where you think it’s better.

  11. MegaCockInhaler on

    Why would a Democratic vote be treason? Seems more like treason to try and block a democratic vote

  12. Initially I was not taking Trump’s 51st state comments very seriously, till I found how US took over parts of Mexico to expand its territory.”

  13. Ottawa has good reasons for not calling it treason and prosecuting people, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t treason.

  14. DwayneGretzky306 on

    It may not fit the legal definition of treason but corrupt politicians meeting with foreign parties should be illegal and hopefully expand to encompass separation in general.

    Would love to see losers in Alberta and Quebec simultaneously dealt a blow.

  15. How about they just subtly release who these people are in contact with.

    Flood Facebook with pictures of Danielle and trump.