Make Alberta big again: separatists see Trump as an ally

Make Alberta big again: separatists see Trump as an ally

It is a Monday evening in June and hundreds have gathered despite the smoke of the Canadian forest fires in a spacious sports facility in the city of Red Deer, Alberta. A team from Alberta, the Edmonton Oilers, competes against the Florida Panthers this evening in the final of the National Hockey League. The atmosphere is shaped by expectation and tension.

The independence movement in Alberta

But these people are not here because of the hockey game. This is a meeting for the independence of Alberta. It may be difficult to believe, especially in view of the recent boos of Canadian sports fans against the national anthem of the United States, but not all Canadians feel the statements by US President Donald Trump on the sovereignty of their country.

The support of Donald Trump

In the oil -rich Alberta, where an independence movement apparently gains driving, many in Trump see a powerful and important ally. His criticism of the former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was welcomed as well as his calls to promote the oil business. While some perceive an American statehood too far, many in the crowd in Red Deer believe that the US president-as a pro-oil conservative-would recognize a renegade Alberta, a vote on independence should be based on their favor.

The mood pictures of the participants

"Donald Trump is not the rescuer in the world," says Albert Talsma, a welding company from Bentley. "But at the moment he is North America's best asset." With their "Make Alberta Great Again" hen, "Alberta Republic" t-shirts and posters with the inscription "Albertans for Alberta!" It is not difficult to recognize parallels to Trump's Maga movement.

The separatists argue here that the federal system of Canada does not adequately represent their interests; that the Federal Government's efforts to combat climate change restrict Alberta's profitable oil industry (the largest in Canada); that they pay more taxes than they get back; And that their conservative values are overshadowed by the more liberal eastern provinces. "Alberta has been treated unfairly since 1905 when we joined the Confederation. They basically used the West as a colony to use the wealth of the West to support the east," says Kate Graham, a singing grandmother from Calgary.

a feeling of injustice

Kate opens the meeting with a modified version of Janis Joplin's "Mercedez Benz", in which it pleads for independence. Similar to Janis, she sings A cappella and spends the rest of the event at a stand at the entrance, where she sells Merchandise with the slogan "I am Albertan". Similar disappointments express numerous Albertans who speak one after the other against their home country on a stage that is flanked by a large provincial flag.

"You want to suffocate our (oil) industry," says Mitch Sylvestre, a businessman from Bonnyville and one of the main organizers of the meeting, while his croaky voice is interrogating the loudspeaker system. "We have cancer. We have a problem. It's big."

votes for a referendum

In a strange twist, the urge to free Alberta from Canada gained in swing, while the rest of the country agree on patriotism against Trump's tariffs and attacks on sovereignty. Shortly after Prime Minister Mark Carney Liberale had won the national elections with a wave of anti-trump reluctance in April 2025, Alberta's legislature passed a law that makes it easier to organize a referendum on independence.

The new law now only requires 177,000 signatures for a nationwide vote - previously 600,000 - and these signatures can be collected instead of three over a period of four months. According to Statistics Canada, the province has almost 5 million inhabitants, which corresponds to more than one tenth of the country's total population.

The influence of personalities like Jeffrey Rath

A loud advocate of a referendum is Jeffrey Rath, a lawyer and co -founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project (app) that organized the meeting in Red Deer. Rath, which is well over six feet and wears a cowboy hat and boots, has a ranch at the gates of Calgary. He breeds racing horses and follows the sport carefully, especially the Kentucky Derby - "where 'sovereignty' against 'journalism' has won this year," he notes with a grin.

"If you want to know what Alberta makes special, just look around you," says Rath and drives his hand over the landscape. The sight of Raths Pferdeweide is excellent: trembling poplars, white pines and green gentle hills. "It is one of God's treasures on earth. And the people here have a very own culture that they want to preserve."

The desire for support

In Rath's eyes, Trump's attitude towards Canada is an opportunity. His group relies on the support of the US government if successful votes for independence takes place. "Trump's choice gave us a lot of hope," says Rath. "If someone has the courage to recognize an independent Alberta, then it would be the Trump administration."

Westen alienation

separatism is not new in Canada, but has only achieved real political power in the mostly French -speaking province of Quebec. There are numerous pro-independence parties there and the Province has coordinated twice about independence in the past 50 years and rejected this in 1980 with 60 to 40 and 1995 with around one percentage point. In Alberta, enthusiasm for separation has fluctuated for decades, driven by the "alienation of the West" - the resentment that is perceived in the western provinces against a federal system that is dominated by the more populous eastern provinces.

Recently, about a third of the Albertans found independence worth supporting, whereby this support is not evenly distributed among the population. Some of the loudest critics of the idea come from Alberta's indigenous communities, whose contracts with the Canadian crown are older than the province itself. Under the pressure of this community, the government added a provision to the referendum law that guarantees its contract rights regardless of the result.

The views of the government party

Another survey by CBC, the Canadian radio partner of CNN, showed that more than half of the governing United Conservative Party (UCP) would vote for a separation of Canada if they got the chance. Although the percentage of the population, which supports independence, has remained relatively stable in recent years, the proportion of people who support this "strongly" has increased. "We cannot ignore that a third or more of the Albertaner has enough," said Alberta's Prime Minister Danielle Smith, the leader of the UCP, compared to CNN.

some votes against the separation

While Smith's party proposed the legal law, she says that she is against the separation herself and prefers to want "Alberta carry out his sovereignty within a united Canada." She adds: "We had initiatives from time to time that flash, but they almost always calm down as soon as the federal government comes back on the trail". Smith sees the situation as a warning to Ottawa, which has to be taken seriously. "The question is what we can do to react to it?"

The question of the 51st state

One of the most explosive questions related to the split is whether an independent Alberta could join the United States. In February a billboard along the highway between Calgary and Edmonton with texts that the viewers asked to say Premier Smith was to say that Alberta should "join the USA" over a picture of her who shakes the hand.

"I don't think the Albertans are very interested in exchanging a bad relationship with Ottawa for a bad relationship with Washington," says Smith about the possibility of annexation. In Red Deer the crowd seems to be divided about the question. Most who speak to CNN express the wish that Alberta becomes a full -fledged independent country. But others, such as the construction worker Stephen Large from Czar, Alberta, believe that it would be good to have the power of the USA on its side-especially if the negotiations in the event of a "yes" vote should fail.

"The moment when something happens in the direction of independence, our federal government will be angry," says Large, who bears a red "Make Alberta Great Again" cap. "You will do everything you can to hold back, the military and police and whatever you can find to influence us." He points out how the former Prime Minister Trudeau briefly called the emergency law in 2022 when Canadian truck driver blocked the inner city area of Ottawa to protest against vaccination mandate. "We will need some support and the only place on earth that deserves to support us is the US military," says Large.

The support from the community

A woman sitting in front of Large listens to him and turns around, nods in agreement. "I'm with him," she says and introduces herself as Evelyn Ranger from Red Deer. "I am not sure whether Alberta or the western provinces, themselves, can do it themselves. So the USA is still the better way, because you have the military, you have the trade and everything is already there."

Rath refuses to think about whether the Federal Government could call the emergency law or take other measures to suppress his movement if it unilaterally declares Alberta independently. "We will cross this bridge when we reach it, but we don't see it as likely," says Rath. When asked whether he would be ready for an interview, he grins. "Yes," replies Rath and laughs. "It could be from a prison cell."