As discussion around Alberta separation continues, a new survey suggests many Canadians believe the United States would back the province if it chose to leave Confederation.
Greenland polling had twice as many people in definitive support for joining the US than AB has of becoming independent. Nobody was interpretating that result as a “close enough to be concerned”.
It’s also worth noting, that since the USA has piped up on the topic of AB separation, support for separation has actually gone down.
I’m not necessarily trying to diminish your stance, only trying to put it into a more global perspective.
People making Brexit comparisons… I don’t think it’s a reasonable comparison based on the popular concept of identity. While the benefits of membership were contentious between stay/leave camps, “identity” was not really a factor… across the board, a negligible amount of anyone, stay or leave, saw the EU as part of thier identity. Identity is complex in the UK as it stands, are you more British, Welsh, English? A londoner? There already was less competitive identity space for an EU identity.
In contrast, Albertans broadly identify as Canadian. Even in the slivers of percentages of people who aren’t fully committed to staying, it’s still high. To leave would mean sacrificing part of thier identity. When push comes to shove, that’s generally a non starter, regardless of the topic.
There will be no separation. Honestly, I’d be surprised if it even manages to get to the point of referendum. The referendum would be AT LEAST a supermajority “stay”. You can’t Sabre rattle once you’ve shown the world you have no Sabre. The leverage afforded by the threat is the political value. Why throw one of your best political tools in the garbage?
Fair enough. I’m just a concerned American who’s probably sticking his nose in where he shouldn’t for lack of being well-informed. I’d just really hate to see the utter destruction of our country spread to you guys.
It’s fair and appropriate for you to be urging caution, and to be sharing how high the stakes are. I do sincerely appreciate it.
I had a buddy in Finland telling me AB separation is making news… in FINLAND.
In an era of a crazy doom news cycle, I just want to try and put this one to bed. This particular story isn’t worth the sweat, especially with all the other things that are.
And who knows. Maybe something will take a left turn and suddenly this becomes realer. Just right now, it isn’t.
Thanks for understanding. I’m glad to hear things are a bit less rocky up there than I feared.
Well, there is good news in that several local elections in the past year have literally taken a “Left” turn in the US - with some surprise upsets in deep right territories. I’m just hoping Trump is unable to rig the system thoroughly enough to prevent that by the time the national-level elections occur.
Greenland polling had twice as many people in definitive support for joining the US than AB has of becoming independent. Nobody was interpretating that result as a “close enough to be concerned”.
It’s also worth noting, that since the USA has piped up on the topic of AB separation, support for separation has actually gone down.
I’m not necessarily trying to diminish your stance, only trying to put it into a more global perspective.
People making Brexit comparisons… I don’t think it’s a reasonable comparison based on the popular concept of identity. While the benefits of membership were contentious between stay/leave camps, “identity” was not really a factor… across the board, a negligible amount of anyone, stay or leave, saw the EU as part of thier identity. Identity is complex in the UK as it stands, are you more British, Welsh, English? A londoner? There already was less competitive identity space for an EU identity.
In contrast, Albertans broadly identify as Canadian. Even in the slivers of percentages of people who aren’t fully committed to staying, it’s still high. To leave would mean sacrificing part of thier identity. When push comes to shove, that’s generally a non starter, regardless of the topic.
There will be no separation. Honestly, I’d be surprised if it even manages to get to the point of referendum. The referendum would be AT LEAST a supermajority “stay”. You can’t Sabre rattle once you’ve shown the world you have no Sabre. The leverage afforded by the threat is the political value. Why throw one of your best political tools in the garbage?
Fair enough. I’m just a concerned American who’s probably sticking his nose in where he shouldn’t for lack of being well-informed. I’d just really hate to see the utter destruction of our country spread to you guys.
It’s fair and appropriate for you to be urging caution, and to be sharing how high the stakes are. I do sincerely appreciate it.
I had a buddy in Finland telling me AB separation is making news… in FINLAND.
In an era of a crazy doom news cycle, I just want to try and put this one to bed. This particular story isn’t worth the sweat, especially with all the other things that are.
And who knows. Maybe something will take a left turn and suddenly this becomes realer. Just right now, it isn’t.
Thanks for understanding. I’m glad to hear things are a bit less rocky up there than I feared.
Well, there is good news in that several local elections in the past year have literally taken a “Left” turn in the US - with some surprise upsets in deep right territories. I’m just hoping Trump is unable to rig the system thoroughly enough to prevent that by the time the national-level elections occur.