Op-Ed: Alberta independence could smarten up a dysfunctional Canada
Author: Lee Harding
If Alberta became independent, the crisis would trigger a series of necessary policy reforms in Ottawa and across Canada. Ironically, none of them require Alberta’s departure.
Alberta independence has clear merits its advocates put forward and clear downsides its opponents cite. What has been much less discussed is the potential for helpful governmental and economic reforms for the rest of Canada. If free trade occurred between an independent Alberta and the remaining Canadian provinces, Canada might do more in its component parts than it would together.
Alberta’s healthy oil and natural gas reserves explain only part of the province’s success.
Despite some periods of drift, the province has a long history of fiscal prudence, keeping both taxes and deficits low. The result is an economic juggernaut that funds the rest of Canada.
Numerous analyses have established that the province’s contributions to the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance premiums, business tax revenues, personal tax revenues, and its equalization payment giveaways are enormous.
The Fraser Institute found Alberta’s $244.6 billion net contribution to Confederation from 2007 to 2022 averaged $15.3 billion per year.
A 2026 Library of Parliament report based on Statistics Canada data found that Alberta’s per-capita contribution was almost $4,000 per year. British Columbia’s was roughly $1,000, and all eight other provinces were net takers.
This explains why some Albertans want to leave the mooch-land called Canada, and part of why the rest of the country wants them to stay. Alberta’s departure would leave a massive fiscal hole in national finances. The silver lining is that it would also create a crisis big enough to justify necessary reforms to Canada otherwise too politically difficult to see through.
The absence of Alberta money would force fiscal and policy reforms at all levels of government in Canada.
The result would look much like it did when Finance Minister Paul Martin reduced spending to restore balanced budgets in the mid-1990s. A comprehensive review of spending led to sensible reductions. This included lower transfers to the provinces, which in turn meant less provincial help for municipalities. Smarter and lower program spending ensued everywhere.