1940s to 1970s: discovery of oil after World War II, monopolies, Alberta gas, 1970s oil crises The discovery of vast reserves of oil in the 1940s ushered in a twenty-year period of intense exploration, new discoveries, and rapid expansion of Alberta's oil industry. Alberta, however, was still "heavily rural and bitter with western grievance. Freight rates and protectionism made economic diversification in the prairies all but impossible. It was said to be cheaper to send cows and grain to be slaughtered in Ontario than it was to ship meat." According to political scientists David Elton and Roger Gibbins, a 1969 provincial poll found that only 5 per cent of those polled "expressed interest in even discussing the merits of separation." The second oil crisis came
in 1979, in the wake of the
Iranian Revolution. Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (
OPEC) and a few similarly minded oil-rich nations had ceased all oil exports to the United States and countries that supported Israel. In both cases, the price of oil sold to North America spiked and service stations ran out of fuel; long lines were evident at
gas stations across North America. The Alberta government and the Canadian federal government responded politically to address oil reserves and conservation of petroleum resources. In 1971, the Alberta provincial government, headed by
Harry Strom, created an environmental ministry, the first of its kind, with a mandate to manage and conserve Alberta's natural resources. Federally, in 1974, the Office of Energy Conservation was created. Conflict arose between Alberta and Canada after the 1973 crisis, over the management and distribution of Alberta's oil resources, and financial wealth. Nevertheless, support for independence remained a fringe phenomenon. A 1974 survey conducted in Calgary found less than four per cent of respondents "expressed even the most cautious support for separatism"; three years later, 1977 survey by the
Calgary Herald found that only 2.7 per cent of Albertans supported independence. Due to the high oil prices of the 1970s Alberta experienced a boom in its oil sector and the entire economy as a whole. In October 1980, the
National Energy Program (NEP) was created by the federal government under Prime Minister Trudeau, and support for Alberta separatism and anger toward the federal government reached new level of popular support. Trudeau introduced a 25% tax to Alberta's oil. After the introduction of the NEP, Alberta's oil industry collapsed, with a drastic reduction in the number of
oil wells drilled. Abandonment of major projects such as
oilsands caused high unemployment in Alberta. The Petroleum Incentives Program, part of the NEP, was criticized for luring exploration capital away from Alberta. With natural resources falling constitutionally within the domain of provincial jurisdictions, many Albertans viewed the NEP as a detrimental intrusion by the federal government into the province's affairs. Edmonton economist Scarfe argued that for people in Western Canada, especially Alberta, the NEP was perceived to be at their expense in benefiting the eastern provinces. The
1980s oil glut led worldwide oil prices to tank, making Albertan oil uneconomical even in Eastern Canada, causing it to instead purchase foreign oil. This discredited the NEP – as "self-sufficiency" was one of its touted goals. Even though the NEP was often seen as an economic catastrophe, the NEP was never overturned by Trudeau's government, staying in place until 1985. Alberta still initially enjoyed an economic surplus due to high oil prices, but the surplus was heavily reduced by the NEP, which, in turn, stymied many of Premier
Peter Lougheed's policies for economic diversification to reduce Alberta's dependence on the cyclical energy industry, such as the
Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and also left the province with an infrastructure deficit. In particular, the Alberta Heritage Fund was meant to save as much of the earnings during high oil prices to act as a "rainy day" cushion if oil prices collapsed because of the cyclical nature of the oil and gas industry. The NEP was one reason that the fund failed to grow to its full potential. In October 1980, when Trudeau dismissed the threat of Alberta separatism as a bargaining tool from Western Canadians premiers, Lougheed agreed with him by telling
Don Newman that no one in Western Canada wants to separate and they "a part of the mainstream of Canadian life". While
Doug Christie, a British Columbia lawyer, formed the
Western Canada Concept (WCC) in an effort to promote Western separatism. That same year, 2,700 people gathered for a rally at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, to listen to a speech from Christie. In 1982,
Gordon Kesler was elected to the
Alberta legislature in a by-election in
Olds-Didsbury as a candidate of the WCC and attracted national attention. In addition, the Western Canada Federation (West-Fed) was founded, led by
Edmonton businessman
Elmer Knutson, who was credited with inspiring the transformation of
Western alienation ideas into a
political movement. Knutson denied being a separatist, but West-Fed was widely regarded as a separatist organization. In response, Lougheed called a
snap election to catch the new parties off-guard. In the ensuing
1982 provincial election, the WCC won almost 12% of the popular vote (over 111,000 votes), but Kesler was defeated after changing ridings, and no other candidate was elected. The WCC still managed a strong third-place showing in another by-election, in
Spirit River-Fairview, held in 1985. The WCC's popularity declined after the
Progressive Conservative Party, led by
Brian Mulroney, won a majority government in the
1984 federal election. Under Mulroney, the NEP was rapidly dismantled, and Albertans had new hope for achieving a better-negotiated resource wealth distribution. This caused the Alberta separatist movement to dissipate significantly. However, by the end of his time in office, Mulroney was seen as similarly neglectful of Western Canada.
2000s: Reform and Conservative Parties In 2000, the
Alberta Independence Party was founded. Although unable to gather enough signatures to qualify as a registered party, it stood 14 candidates (as independents) in the
2001 Alberta general election. They won 7,500 votes between them. None were elected. Ultimately, the party ended up disbanding by the end of the year. Another separatist party, the
Separation Party of Alberta, ran in the
2004 general election. It nominated 12 candidates who won 4,680 votes, 0.5% of the provincial total. No candidates were elected. There was significant opposition within Alberta to the
Kyoto Protocol as the Kyoto treaty was believed to have negative effects on the provincial economy, which is based to a large degree on the oil and gas industry. (Alberta had the world's second largest proven reserves of oil, behind only Saudi Arabia.) Albertan
Stephen Harper became Prime Minister of Canada in a
minority government in the
2006 federal election. Harper had been a significant figure in the Reform Party and was leader of the Canadian Alliance from 2002 until its merger with the PCs. Due to Harper's Reform roots, Albertans held faith that he would be the trusted figure to protect Alberta's interests. As a result, Alberta's separatist movement sat on the side-lines, with uncertain prospects. Some pundits predicted that this result would cause support for separatism to ebb away. The notion of Alberta secession from Canada gained sympathy from some figures within Alberta's conservative parties.
Mark Norris, who was one of the contenders to succeed
Ralph Klein as the
Alberta premier, told the
Calgary Sun in March 2006 that under his leadership, if a future federal government persisted in bringing in policies harmful to Alberta such as a
carbon tax, "(Alberta is) going to take steps to secede." Also, some politicians believe, and at least one poll indicated that a much larger portion of the Alberta population may be at least sympathetic to the notion of secession than was indicated by election results. In January 2004, Premier Ralph Klein told the Canadian edition of ''
Reader's Digest that one in four Albertans were in support of separation. An August 2005 poll commissioned by the Western Standard'' pegged support for the idea that "Western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country" at 42% in Alberta and 35.6% across the four Western provinces.
Resurgence in the late 2010s and early 2020s Support for Albertan separatism increased with the
Canadian federal election victory of
Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party on October 19, 2015. While speaking at a town hall in
Peterborough, Ontario, on January 13, 2017, Trudeau said, "We can't shut down the oil sands tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. That is going to take time." The next day at a Calgary vs Edmonton hockey game in Edmonton, Trudeau was loudly booed by the crowd. His unpopularity in Alberta was a significant rallying point for Alberta separatists. The topic of Alberta separating from Canada was the subject of a number of mainstream media reports. A September 2018 poll by
Ipsos indicated that 62% of Albertans believed that Alberta "does not get its fair share from Confederation" (up from 45% in 1997), 46% felt "more attached to their province than to their country" (up from 39% in 1997), 34% "feel less committed to Canada than I did a few years ago" (up from 22% in 1997), 18% believed "the views of western Canadians are adequately represented in Ottawa" (down from 22% in 2001), and 25% believed "My province would be better off if it separated from Canada" (up from 19% in 2001). A February 2019 poll from
Angus Reid found 50% of Albertans would support secession from Canada but also found the likelihood that Alberta would separate to be "remote." After Trudeau's Liberals were re-elected with a minority government in the
federal election on October 21, 2019, #Wexit (a
wordplay on "
Brexit", the United Kingdom's departure from the
European Union) trended on social media. On November 4, the separatist group "Wexit Alberta" applied for federal political party status. On November 6, a poll conducted by Ipsos showed a historic high of interest of secession from Canada in both
Alberta and
Saskatchewan of 33% and 27%, respectively. On January 12, 2020,
Wexit Canada was granted eligibility for the next federal election. A May 2020 poll by Northwest Research for
Derek Fildebrandt's
Western Standard found that 41% of respondents would support independence in a referendum, 50% would be opposed, and 9% were not sure. Removing undecideds, 45% would support and 55% would be opposed. Respondents were also asked if they would support a referendum if "the federal government is unwilling to negotiate with Alberta on a new constitutional arrangement": 48% said yes, while 52% said no. Support for independence was higher outside of Alberta's two biggest cities, with Edmonton being the most opposed.
After the 2025 federal election In the lead up to the
2025 federal election, politicians and activists in Alberta voiced that a win for the Liberal Party, which by then had been in power for almost 10 years, would considerably increase support for Alberta independence. The rise in support for the Liberal Party was in part a response to the call by United States President
Donald Trump for all of Canada to be annexed into the United States. While still opposed by the majority of Canadians, support for annexation is greater in Alberta, as some residents see greater cultural and economic connections with the United States than they do with
Eastern Canada. Following the election of the
Liberal Party of Canada in April 2025, Alberta's government introduced Bill 54the Election Statutes Amendment Actaiming to make it easier for citizens to initiate referendums—including on provincial separation from Canada—by lowering participation thresholds. It streamlined
Jason Kenney's 2021 Citizen Initiative Act. The legislation has been controversial, especially among Indigenous leaders, who raised concerns that a separation referendum could threaten their existing treaty rights. In response, Premier Smith's government made late-stage amendments to clarify that no referendum question will be permitted to jeopardize those treaty rights. Justice Minister
Mickey Amery acknowledged the government's commitment to protecting these rights after feedback from First Nations representatives. Bill 54 lowered the threshold for triggering citizen initiative petitions (CIP) from 20% of eligible voters to 10% of votes cast in the previous election. This makes it much easier to initiate referendums, including on provincial sovereignty or separation. It also extends the signature-gathering period for petitions from 90 days to 120 days. The group seeks the Alberta government to hold a referendum on the matter by the end of 2025. On July 5, 2025, Mitch Sylvestre, on behalf of the Alberta Prosperity Project, submitted a citizen initiative petition to
Elections Alberta for Alberta independence. The CIP question proposed is: "Do you agree that the province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?" Alberta chief electoral officer Gordon McClure referred the question to the
Court of King's Bench of Alberta to ensure it did not violate the Constitution. The Alberta Prosperity Project requested that this review be quashed, but that was denied by the court on August 14. On December 5, 2025, Justice Colin C.J. Feasby ruled that the referendum proposal violates the Canadian constitution. In June 2025,
three by-elections were considered important regarding the government of
Danielle Smith as well as Alberta separatism. A separatist party, the
Republican Party of Alberta got between 0.67% and 17.66% in these by-elections. Individuals who support independence or greater separation from Canada cite economic and political reasons (resource and energy management, taxation, and federal policies) as their main motivation. Modern Alberta Separatism is also different from the
Quebec sovereignty movement because it is supported by those on the right almost exclusively, while in
Quebec supporters are on the left and right. According to an Angus Reid poll 65% of
United Conservative Party voters would vote for separation while 97% of
Alberta NDP would vote to stay in Canada. Also, many Albertans polled say they would stop supporting separation if the federal government had more oil-and-gas-friendly policies such as building pipelines or repealing energy regulations, suggesting the desire to separate is primarily economic in nature unlike the movement in Quebec. On July 4, 2025, the Alberta Prosperity Project filed a CIP application for a potential referendum on the issue. Citizens can submit a potential petition question under Alberta's Citizen Initiative Act (passed in 2021, amended in 2025). If enough signatures are gathered, the government is forced to introduce legislation in the legislature (not necessarily to pass such into law) or to hold a referendum (with no mention that such a referendum would be binding on the government). However, Alberta Prosperity Project's question has been challenged as unconstitutional and is under review by the Court. In 2025, Danielle Smith gave Mark Carney until November 16 to fulfill nine demands, leading some to speculate separatism might be pursued by her government if talks fail. In 2025,
Thomas Lukaszuk launched the Alberta Forever Canada citizen initiative opposing Alberta's separation from Canada. Approved by
Elections Alberta on June 30, If 293,976 signatures (20% of voters) are gathered by October 28, a referendum will be triggered. The question asks: "Do you agree that Alberta should remain in Canada?" Lukaszuk explained that his intention was to get a vote in legislature that Alberta agree it should stay within Canada. Lukaszuk's application cited concerns over economic, citizenship, and treaty rights impacts if Alberta separates, noting only a minority support independence. On October 28, Lukaszuk announced that the Forever Canadian petition had more than 456,000 signatures, far above the needed 294,000. After it got verified by Elections Alberta, the government referred it to a legislative committee to discuss it. On September 3, 2025,
Parti Quebecois leader
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon expressed support for Alberta separatism movement. Plamondon later revealed in January 2026 that he met with the leaders of the Alberta Prosperity Project in September, established a positive relationship with them and would be opened to assisting them in a referendum. On December 11, 2025, the Alberta Legislature passed Bill 14, effectively undoing the judicial review of the Alberta Prosperity Project's proposed referendum question. The APP also slightly altered the referendum question to comply with the
Clarity Act. On December 22, 2025,
Elections Alberta approved the application of the petition, and announced on January 2, 2026, that signatures could be collected from January 3, 2026, until May 2, 2026. For the petition to be successful, 177,732 signatures will be required. The organization intends to hold a referendum in October 2026. On March 30, 2026, the organizers of the independence signature drive claimed to have gathered the required number of signatures. On April 10, 2026, Shaina Leonard issued a temporary
stay application requested by the
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation,
Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the
Blackfoot Confederacy meaning organizers can continue collecting signatures but the results of the petition cannot move forward until an overall decision is issued in the court case. On April 20, 2026, Elections Alberta, revealed that it believed that the APP violated third-party advertising laws by paying for public messaging over the province’s $1,000 limit for non-registered groups and filed an injunction in March against them. == Criticism ==