Ottawa chased billions in investment away: separatist | Alberta Primetime

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:02]Alberta Primetime with Michael Higgins.

[00:00:04][music] >> Welcome to Alberta Primetime. Ahead tonight, our politics panel on dialogue around separation within the United Conservative Party. But first, weighing the pitch for independence.

[00:00:17]>> This is not something that results in increased prosperity for Albertans. And anybody who's trying to tell them that that's the case is lying.

[00:00:25]>> Uh business community reaction to building debate over a question on secession being added to the October referendum. According to the Calgary Chamber, even the prospect of separation uncertainty causes people to leave and compromises investment, economic growth, and productivity. Joining us now, Keith Wilson, a constitutional lawyer and advocate for independence, also founder of the Alberta Transition Council. Mr. Wilson, welcome back to Alberta Primetime, sir.

[00:00:54]>> Uh thanks for having me on.

[00:00:56]>> Okay.

[00:00:57]We just heard the clip of Deborah Yedlin off the top. And she had much to say in our conversation about why the Calgary Chamber is deeply concerned by the prospect of separation. Notably, that the referendum will trigger significant and lasting economic consequences. As as a starting point, how do you respond to that perspective?

[00:01:17]>> Well, I recognize that she's advocating a political position, and she's wrong to suggest that um when you look at the situation that we're in in Alberta and in Canada, uh that a move towards independence and having decisions and laws and policies passed in Edmonton instead of Ottawa will scare business away. And the evidence of that is pretty clear.

[00:01:43]Uh you if you look at the report from uh the Royal Bank of Canada that was released less than a month ago, it found that over a trillion dollars in investment has left Canada. And and most of that being investment that would have occurred in Alberta because of the uncertainty that's been created by the laws in Ottawa, there's no prospect for us to change those laws. These are laws that are anti-development. They increase the cost of business. They create so much uncertainty that the the corporations and companies decide to invest elsewhere including the United States and around the world but not here. And the fact of the matter is there's a legal pathway to independence where the decision-making and law-making would shift from Ottawa to Alberta and we can create an environment of certainty and I think the greater challenge will have is the amount of investment that will want to flow here because we have the third largest reserve of oil in the world. We have a young entrepreneurial hardworking workforce and we have a diversified economy.

[00:02:41]>> All right. You're a King's Counsel lawyer. We we've spoken with you before on on property rights cases among others. Why why do you believe personally believe Alberta would be better off as an independent country?

[00:02:56]>> Uh well, I I do so because I'm also a dad and um uh and I'm an Albertan and a a family person and a member of my community. And when I look at the direction unfortunately that Canada's on and how dramatically Canada has changed uh under under the governments in Ottawa over the last 11 years that I'm very concerned about the future for my children with the cost of living, future for grandchildren um with the increasingly restrictive laws from Ottawa. They're they're shifted authoritarian type tendencies with censorship and other laws.

[00:03:31]And um it's absolutely clear to me when I look at the the wealth and the the wealth of resources and and entrepreneurial spirit and hardworking Albertans that my kids will have a far better future, a far better future in an independent Alberta. And then I put my lawyer's cap on. So So checks the dad dad box.

[00:03:53]Uh I put my lawyer's cap on and Canada's a unique country. There's no other developed country that that has a constitutional pathway for a province or a state to legally leave and we do in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada said if a clear majority of Albertans vote on a clear question, then we have the right to negotiate a new relationship with Canada. We'll still be neighbors to Canada, but we'll be able to govern ourselves and determine our relationship with the rest of Canada instead of having it imposed upon us.

[00:04:21]>> Okay, so that that that brings us to what we mentioned earlier, the the Alberta transition council.

[00:04:26]What do you bring to the table with that?

[00:04:30]>> Well, it's you know, anybody who's thinking about independence and you know, what they should vote in the upcoming referendum in October, you know, should we stay or should the the Alberta government formally commence a vote?

[00:04:45]Has many questions that are currently unanswered. You know, how are we going to provide continuity of service of of of border services at the airport and at the at the at the borders.

[00:04:59]What is the monetary policy going to be?

[00:05:01]How are we going to transition the pensions from the Canada Pension Plan to Alberta? How are we going to maintain aviation services? So I brought together a group of experts in all of those fields, telecommunications, military, international trade, monetary policy, and we're currently working on a white paper that will be releasing later in July that will detail how the transition can occur. Not advocating for it or against it, just saying if Albertans vote for independence, what does the transition look like? How do we ensure continuity of service? How do we ensure investor confidence? How do we smoothly transition from Alberta being a province, a colony controlled by Ottawa, to an independent country uh with with Canada as our neighbors instead of our controllers.

[00:05:49]>> Uh pent-up anger and frustration have have fueled momentum for separation, which the Smith government has acknowledged by by triggering this separation referendum question. On on the other side of the coin, there are Albertans who are angry, even fearful of of the province being thrust into this situation. How do you address that perspective?

[00:06:10]>> Well, I'm I'm very sympathetic to it.

[00:06:13]But, what I would encourage those people to do is to have an honest open-eyed assessment of the trajectory of Canada.

[00:06:23]We have record debt. You know, the uh Trudeau and Carney Liberals have accumulated more government debt, you know, and that's the credit card the taxpayers' credit card they're racking up uh than all of the previous governments combined. Um the the the debt servicing alone is projected to hit $80 billion. We have inflation. We have the lowest growth rate in G the G20 countries. Canada's in bad shape, and we're seeing affordability crisis. You know, my kids' friends aren't able to buy homes in the in their their their their late 20s and early 30s. Kids aren't having children because of the cost of living. Uh we have uh when the cost of living goes up and when inflation goes up because of government policy, we work as hard as we did tomorrow as we did yesterday, but our money is worth less. So, uh I think people should really look at the authoritarian tendencies that we're seeing from some of the laws in Ottawa and say, you know, is this really So, what scares me more is Alberta staying in Canada and watching this continual uh degradation of what Canada once was and the affordability crisis, and there's no sign that the Carney Liberals are going to change course. Um Alberta has incredibly blessed with resources. We have more than what it needs to be a country. There's been 41 countries come into existence since 1990.

[00:07:49]Uh new countries and creation of new countries is a normal relatively normal thing on the planet Earth. And we have a legal pathway, we have the skills, we have the infrastructure. I think Albertans can do this. And when people look at it, I'm hopeful they'll realize the right choice for their children and their grandchildren is to support independence.

[00:08:07]>> All right. We'll have to leave it there for time. Appreciate your time this evening, Mr. Wilson. Thank you.

[00:08:12]>> Thanks for having me on.

[00:08:13]>> That's Keith Wilson, constitutional lawyer, advocate for independence, and founder of the Alberta Transition Council.