\u201cNothing is more laughable to me than the idea that Canadians think we are going to wait for them to tell us whether independence is \u2018legal\u2019 or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have America backing us, you fools.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is dangerous, delusional language, meant to sow division.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/45ca23290210727cf7ce0c6ebd3ba449.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
David Parker is shown at the UCP Annual General Meeting in Calgary on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023.<\/p>\n
But no separatist movement without a detailed, credible road map on separation from Canada will ever convince common-sense Albertans.<\/p>\n
One can comb Alberta separatist online material without finding any clear prescription for this historic upheaval.<\/p>\n
The separatists have for months now been in touch with Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St\u2011Pierre Plamondon, who has a serious chance of winning the next Quebec election.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear they learned anything.<\/p>\n
Plamondon, like every separatist PQ leader before him, recognizes that Canada does not just cease to exist if a province declares independence.<\/p>\n
The current PQ position is referendum first, then a declaration of independence, then dealings with Canada on a new arrangement.<\/p>\n
Plamondon is a hardcore separatist, no doubt of that. But he says an independent Quebec would always be a \u201cfriendly neighbour\u201d to Canada.<\/p>\n
In his view, Quebecers would still have Canadian citizenship, as well as dual citizenship. Trade and travel across Quebec borders would continue as usual. He sees a kind of European Union trade model.<\/p>\n
I talked to Plamondon for 90 minutes when he was in Calgary last September. He made it very clear that Quebec must go but did not have an unfriendly word to say about Canada.<\/p>\n
Plamondon\u2019s position is close to the separatism platform that barely lost the 1995 referendum. Since then, the PQ has done deep studies and analysis of a split with Canada.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4bad080b04ff8617f1b1a76959f3711b.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon holds a press conference in Montreal on Thursday, April 16, 2026.<\/p>\n
Quebec separatism has evolved since 1980, when then-PQ leader Rene Levesque wanted \u201csovereignty-association\u201d with Canada. There was to be a common currency.<\/p>\n
Levesque recognized the many personal ties people have across provincial boundaries. He did not want to sever those bonds.<\/p>\n
His question lost by a wide margin. Later separatist leaders became more nationalist. The 1995 referendum campaign was bitter and emotional.<\/p>\n
But never did any of these separatist leaders \u2014 10 of them since the 1970s \u2014 imagine that an independent Quebec could somehow live on dreams and pure hostility to Canada.<\/p>\n
Nor did they think they could ever win over Quebecers without facing up to that mammoth complexity of separation.<\/p>\n
Quebec has nearly 4,000 kilometres of ocean-access coastline, including the St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay.<\/p>\n
Alberta has none. No province is less likely to thrive as an independent state.<\/p>\n
There is only one way Alberta leaders\u2019 contempt for Canada makes any sense.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t think they need Canada because, as Parker says, \u201cwe have America backing us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only joining the U.S. could give an independent Alberta the access and protection it would need to survive.<\/p>\n
If that\u2019s the game, there\u2019s no need to show any respect for Canada, or offer a serious blueprint for separating.<\/p>\n
Mark Carney is no foreigner. I wonder about these separatist shills.<\/p>\n
Don Braid\u2019s column appears regularly in the Herald<\/p>\n