Mike Shaikh, centre, during a convocation ceremony where he received an honorary doctorate of laws at Mount Royal University on June 10. Photo by Darren Makowichuk /Postmedia Network

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Debate about Alberta’s future has begun. I believe some questions need to be clearly answered.

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There are two aspects to this debate — the emotional and the factual.

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I can be emotional about Alberta, Canada and Canadians. Since arriving in Calgary in the early 1970s, my wife and I have built a strong, healthy and successful family. Even though in a constant state of change, the business environment in Alberta and Canada gave me an opportunity to build successful businesses.

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That’s the emotional. But so far, facts have largely been ignored in this debate.

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Spanish philosopher Jorge Santayana once wrote that those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.

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In the early 1970s, an Alberta separatist movement was born following the formation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). After the disastrous Yom Kippur War, OPEC decided to punish Western countries that supported Israel by raising the international price of oil from about $2.50 to around $12 per barrel.

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Alberta’s independent producers wanted the world price.

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More than 50 years later, little has changed. Alberta separation is about greed and a mistaken belief that Alberta is capable of standing alone.

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Separation in the 1970s died because people came to realize their vision of Alberta standing alone was unfeasible and impossible. In 2026, little in terms of fundamentals has changed.

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Separatists see only two sectors of Alberta’s economy — resources and agriculture — on which they intend to build a national economy. Let’s be realistic. While an agriculture economy has considerable merit, can it support five million Albertans?

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In the 1970s, the Progressive Conservatives, under Peter Lougheed, recognized Alberta’s shortcomings and set out to negotiate with the federal government and work on diversifying Alberta’s economy.

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Since the first wooden railway tie was dropped on the black soil of Alberta, Albertans have been dreamers, builders and hard-working entrepreneurs. Our destiny has been to lead Canada, rather than leave it.

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Without access to tidewater, they recognized it was increasingly expensive and difficult to serve markets outside of North America.

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During the recession in the late 1980s, Alberta companies headed south to develop new markets. Alberta businesspeople returned from their U.S. marketing trips pledging never to do business in the Lower 48 states again. To be polite, the Americans took them to the cleaners.

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Recent trade blunders by the U.S. show it is a dying market. And this is the market separatists want to build on? Petroleum, too, is a fading commodity with several decades left, but its value will decline as the world seeks and develops replacements.

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The separatists have tied their wagon to the United Conservative Party. For the separatists, there is an enormous problem. With separation, Alberta becomes an island. Just because the separatists base an economy on resources is far from a guarantee of continued prosperity for Albertans.