A Canadian Flag and the dome of the Alberta Legislature are visible in Edmonton, Wednesday July 1, 2026. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

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From now until the Oct. 19 referendum in Alberta, the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald are publishing your thoughts about the upcoming vote and issues related to separation. Here are some of the latest emails we’ve received.

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I find it priceless that people are actually listening to the trump backed Alberta government and separatists.

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How will Alberta pay for their services — daycare, healthcare, policing, etc — when we can’t do it with support from the federal government at the moment? Think selling a few barrels of oil will help? We already sell to the States at a drastically reduced rate than we sell to the rest of the world.

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Taxes would greatly increase. The comments from the separatists stating no more federal income tax, yeah, the provincial tax would have to increase 50-60 per cent to keep our current services even lower than they are currently at. If you want to separate, then try visiting America for more than a holiday see just what would it would be like. We’re already trying to set up a pay for service medical system. —Leonard Flese

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By every economic and constitutional metric Quebec is given opportunities denied to Alberta.  For the past 120 years Alberta has tried to wring some sense of fairness from Ottawa going back to the days of Clifford Sifton. In 1905 after Alberta entered Confederation the Minister of the Interior, Clifford Sifton stood up in the House of Commons and said that “Alberta’s vast resources will be used to power the East industries,” basically calling Alberta a colony inside a colony. Preston Manning’s 1987 message, “The West wants in,” was met in Ottawa with everything from indifference to ridicule and a multitude of doors were slammed in his face. That message has evolved to today’s message “The West wants out.”

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Thanks to people like Mr. Lukaszuk and the CBC there has been no discussion about the gross economic and constitutional inequities between Alberta and Quebec, many of them unearned by Quebec. The Fraser Institute recently stated that between 2007 and 2022, $224 Billion dollars left Alberta for Ottawa beyond what Alberta was given in transfer payments, etc. The advantages given Quebec did not cost them one dollar. Instead, the same superficial emotional talking points are reiterated with the word ‘Separation’ beating on a drum. This is to the exclusion of any meaningful discussion of the concerns given to Mark Carney by Danielle Smith when he first came to power. People who say they want a united Canada think longingly of a Canada of their childhood and sadly that Canada is long gone.

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By example the Liberal Party has shown that they have no intention of listening to Alberta’s concerns.  A positive referendum outcome will be the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head finally forcing them to come to a table and  listen to us. — Don MacDonald

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Alberta Voices is an Edmonton Journal/Calgary Herald project that amplifies Albertans’ thoughts on separation-related issues. Send your opinion, to be considered for publication, to edm-feedback@postmedia.com with the subject line Alberta Voices.

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