Author: Alex Dhaliwal
An Alberta independence group has unveiled a sweeping blueprint for life after Canada, as a new analysis estimates separation could cost more than $200 billion.
The Alberta Transition Council released a 214-page transition plan outlining how an independent Alberta could handle everything from currency and banking to defence, policing, immigration, pensions, trade and oil and gas.
Lawyer Keith Wilson, who spearheaded the report, said Alberta already has much of the infrastructure needed for independence.
“We’re not starting from scratch,” Wilson said. “The people, the resources, the skills, the organizational structures are already in place.”
“We’re simply changing the top of the organization. Instead of having their ultimate boss be in Ottawa, their ultimate boss would be in Edmonton or Calgary.”
The plan would temporarily mirror Canada’s immigration system, with Alberta sheriffs enforcing immigration decisions and potentially recruiting federal border and immigration workers.
The council also argues Canada could not automatically strip Albertans of their Canadian citizenship or passports following independence, while acknowledging Parliament could change Canadian citizenship laws.
The council also argues Albertans could keep their Canadian citizenship and passports after independence, unless Parliament changed the law.
Wilson said independence would be less about upending daily life than transferring political authority from Ottawa to Alberta.
“Alberta Independence is about keeping life the same, the economy the same, but changing how political decisions are made,” he said.
The plan also contemplates negotiations over federal assets located in Alberta and potentially hiring RCMP members into a provincial police service.
But one major figure is missing from the transition plan: the cost.
Wilson said a costed analysis will follow later this month, with Alberta’s government releasing its own before the Oct. 19 vote.
Meanwhile, the Canada West Foundation released a non-partisan analysis estimating Alberta independence could cost more than $200 billion.
Former Alberta Treasury Board and Finance senior manager Lennie Kaplan estimates separation could cost more than $200 billion upfront and $57 billion annually, while shrinking Alberta’s economy by about $39 billion and hurting investment and jobs.
CWF president and CEO Gary Mar acknowledged that grievances driving Alberta separatism are legitimate, including concerns over equalization, market access, federal energy policy and Alberta’s representation in Ottawa.
“Some of these grievances have accumulated over decades,” Mar said.
But he argued independence would create a host of new complications.
“There is no unilateral path to independence,” Mar said, noting separation would require a negotiated constitutional process.
The foundation also warned an independent Alberta could lose Canada’s visa-free travel privileges and health-care coverage elsewhere in the country.
International trade could also become more complicated, with a new international border potentially creating additional barriers for companies moving goods into and out of Alberta.
The assessments come ahead of Alberta’s Oct. 19 vote on whether to remain in Canada or pursue a future binding referendum on independence.
“This is a referendum that’s about much more than a referendum,” Mar said. “This is about Alberta’s future relationship with Canada, and I think that Albertans need to have a clear understanding of what’s at stake before they make that decision.”
And once again an old politician from Alberta stating negative things about the referendum. He was one who along with the rest of cabinet spent wildly when the money was flowing but now lecturing on how much independence would cost. Right now it cost billions to be part of a dictatorship.
No it won't cost that much. Offset it by transfer payments retained, federal taxes allocated towards it and new energy revenue and we will be in surplus in no time. Disappointed in your take on this, so federally biased.