Alberta anti-separatist brings hard message to central Canada: show a little gratitude - National Post

Former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk speaks about the threat of Alberta separatism at an Economic Club of Canada event in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National PostArticle contentThe most striking moment in former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk’s speech to a Toronto business audience about the perils of Alberta separatism came when he mentioned Thursday’s breaking news that Prime Minister Mark Carney will fast-track a new Pacific Link pipeline from Alberta to the West Coast as a project of national interest.

It was striking because there was no applause, not even a murmur of assent or a rustle of emotional reaction for this pipeline that is being styled as a marquee nation-building project for a divided and imperilled nation, strategically announced 18 days before Alberta votes on whether to hold a sovereignty referendum.

If anyone was looking for a case against Alberta going it alone, this was it.

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So the downtown Toronto audience’s silence was an illustration of a recurring theme, that some of Alberta’s beef with the rest of Canada, especially Central Canada, is the attitude.

This came up first in the speech to the Economic Club of Canada by Lukaszuk, a staunch anti-separatist and a former cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments of Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford. And it came up again in the following roundtable discussion led by former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty.

“It’s time to admit that some of those grievances are real,” Lukaszuk said. Alberta contributes substantially to Canada as a whole and has legitimate concerns that equalization payments to the provinces give Albertans short shrift. “A certain amount of gratitude is not too much to ask.”

He said the separatist movement is boosted by unequal representation in the Senate, and by the tendency for national elections to be decided before polls even close in the West. Lukaszuk said he has had the deflating experience of hearing CBC declare a majority while he was still waiting in line to vote in Alberta.

“To us, it feels like our votes don’t matter,” he said. It is fodder for separatism, but it also encourages Albertans who are merely frustrated with their place in Canada to vote with the separatists just to send a message.