Olds & District Chamber of Commerce president Mark Johnson understands and sympathizes with Albertans who support "wexit," the idea of Alberta separating from the rest of Canada, but he says that's just not practical.
"It's fine and everybody's excited and worked up and angry and pissed off and whatever it is, but that doesn't help us. So what can we do," he asked during an interview with the Albertan.
Over the years, Albertans have become increasingly frustrated with the fact that no new pipelines have been built, thanks to intense opposition from various groups and entities including environmentalists, some Indigenous people, and the governments of B.C. and Quebec.
That frustration hit new heights Oct. 21 after the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was re-elected with a minority government which has no representation from Alberta, Saskatchewan and eastern B.C.
Johnson described the sentiment as understandable, but said the concept of separation is unrealistic.
"We're still landlocked. Even if it's Saskatchewan, Alberta and (eastern) B.C., we're still essentially landlocked," he said, noting agreements would still have to be made with B.C. or northwestern U.S. states to get oil and gas to tidewater.
He also said separation would entail renegotiating all the trade agreements Canada has with other countries.
"All the trade agreements that we benefit from as Canadians, we would lose," he said, adding other costs and complications include creating the new country's own currency and passports. A new military would likely have to be created as well.
Johnson cited the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was recently renegotiated by Canada, the U.S. and Mexico as the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, as one example of a thorny issue.
He noted the U.S. is a much larger economy than an Alberta-Saskatchewan-eastern B.C. country would be and thus negotiations could be pretty one-sided.
Johnson suggested instead that Alberta and Canada look at creating a new federation similar to Switzerland, a country which is a loose federation of semi-independent cantons which can even set rules for citizenship.
However, it's unclear how that would solve the issue of getting oil and gas to tidewater.
"I think yes, that there needs to be a further discussion of the role of all of the provinces. And Quebec themselves made that very clear. And I think Alberta, Saskatchewan and the majority of B.C. made that very clear; we do not agree (with the current federal government and the status quo)," Johnson said.
Johnson noted Quebec has managed to carve out a great deal of autonomy for itself over time. He conceded a big reason for that is it has a lot of political clout because it has 75 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons.
"It's good to have the discussion, but the downside far outweighs the upside," Johnson said. "And are there ways that we can have discussions that don't involve our way or the highway?"
