{"id":111641,"date":"2026-07-01T11:56:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/111641\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T11:56:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T11:56:48","slug":"gunter-albertans-are-rediscovering-a-deep-connection-to-canada-amid-separatism-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/111641\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunter: Albertans are rediscovering a deep connection to Canada amid separatism debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Am I surprised by a Leger survey conducted recently<\/a> for the Association for Canadian Studies? The results show that of all Canadians, fewer Albertans identify more strongly with their province or region than with the country.<\/p>\n

Just 34 per cent of Albertans put province ahead of country, down from 45 per cent a year ago.<\/p>\n

By contrast, 60 per cent of Quebecers and 58 per cent of Atlantic Canadians identified more with their province or region despite their governments\u2019 finances being sustained only because of generous transfer payments siphoned through the federal government.<\/p>\n

Those provinces are followed by 53 per cent in Manitoba and Saskatchewan who put province first, and 42 per cent in Ontario.<\/p>\n

The least-committed Canadians according to Leger are British Columbians, 66 per cent of whom put province over country.<\/p>\n

Am I surprised Albertans are in first place? A bit. If we have predicted second or third was more likely.<\/p>\n

Many (most?) Albertans have often been of two minds about Canada \u2013 deeply resentful of the federal government while being patriotic Canadians at the same time.<\/p>\n

We hold out hope that the federation can be made to treat us more fairly, but aren\u2019t entirely unhappy to be Canadian.<\/p>\n

I know how they feel. There are days when federal politics infuriates me (like every day someone named Trudeau is in the Prime Ministers Office) and days when the Laurentian domination of our institutions, culture and TV sports commentary is equally galling.<\/p>\n

My blood boils when TSN becomes the Toronto Sports Network and devotes half of its hour-long Sports Centre to covering every minutia of the Maple Leafs, then crams everything else happening in the world of sports into the other half.<\/p>\n

There is absolutely no doubt that Alberta is where I want to live. I love the people, the culture and the landscapes.<\/p>\n

All you have to do is drive or a ride a horse through the foothills, with the Rockies as the backdrop or take a trip up the Icefields Parkway or even just watch the sunset while smelling a field of fresh mown hay and you know what it means to be a truly passionate Albertan.<\/p>\n

If we weren\u2019t passionate Canadians, would we stand in a crowd at an Oilers playoff game and boom out \u201cO Canada\u201d at 120 decibels? (I\u2019m sure if the Flames ever make the playoffs again, their fans will do the same.)<\/p>\n

Or observe a Canada World Cup watch party anywhere in the province and you\u2019ll witness an equal love for the country.<\/p>\n

Remember that far and away the most watched television event in Canadian history was Sidney Crosby\u2019s \u201cgolden goal\u201d at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Seventeen million Canadians (including nearly three million Albertans) watched out of a total population of 34 million. Almost exactly half.<\/p>\n

There followed a mass honking of car horns and celebrations in the streets of Alberta when Crosby\u2019s overtime winner forced the Americans into silver.<\/p>\n

So why is there so much separatist sentiment? I\u2019ll admit there have been times when I thought leaving was the better option.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve concluded lots of Albertans think it\u2019s central Canada that has left Canadian values behind, not Alberta that has abandoned Canada.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not very keen on the fact the rest of the country keeps electing Liberal governments that attack our major industry, pilfer our prosperity to finance policies we disagree with elsewhere and disparage our way of life while seeking to impose their woke values on us.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Some separatists have recently worried that passion generated by Canada\u2019s World Cup run will dampen the vote for independence in the fall referendum. It\u2019s way more than that.<\/p>\n

Like most other Canadians, Albertans have been forced to think more about Canada and Canadian values by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s gratuitous and hostile attacks on this country.<\/p>\n

Ironically, while Alberta\u2019s separatist leaders appear to be big fans of Trump, it\u2019s Trump persistent jibes about making Canada the 51st\u00a0state that has increased Canadians\u2019 pride in the country, including here in Alberta.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the separatist movement has encouraged voters to take a stand and stop being complacent. More Albertans are realizing they have a deeper connection to Canada than they realized.<\/p>\n

Are you having a Canada Day party on Wednesday? Name the last time you had an Alberta Day celebration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Am I surprised by a Leger survey conducted recently for the Association for Canadian Studies? The results show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[710,8872,38882,17,9431,1772,16197],"class_list":["post-111641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta-legislature","tag-albertans","tag-association-for-canadian-studies","tag-canada","tag-canada-day","tag-david-bloom","tag-sidney-crosby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}