No, Alberta Does Not ‘Subsidize’ the Rest of Canada - The Tyee

Open this photo in gallery:A supporter of Parti Québécois cheers as members of the party are elected in Montreal on Monday. ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP/Getty ImagesFour years ago, as the Coalition Avenir Québec rolled over the competition to win 90 of the National Assembly’s then 125 seats, the Parti Québécois looked like a spent force. The sovereigntist “party of a generation” had its worst election result since its founding in 1968 by René Lévesque – the ruffled, chain-smoking everyman who charmed baby-boomer francophones – taking just three seats. Its then rookie leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, only won his seat because the far-left Québec Solidaire candidate was forced to pull out of the race after being caught removing her rival’s campaign literature from a home mailbox. Now, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon is a household name, known by most as PSPP, and, after Monday’s provincial election, set to become Quebec’s next premier. Parti Québécois projected to form government in QuebecThe PQ is back. Like it or not, Canada will need to brace itself for another rocky chapter on the unity file.

EdmontonAlberta’s population continues to grow — and faster than almost all of Canada, Statistics Canada’s latest population estimates suggest. Almost 76,500 more people called province home as of July 1Nicholas Frew · CBC News · Posted: Oct 05, 2026 9:34 AM EDT | Last Updated: October 5Listen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results. Alberta's population grew by more people than any other place in Canada since 2025, Statistics Canada's latest estimates suggest. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)Alberta’s population continues to grow — and faster than almost all of Canada. Statistics Canada estimates that more than 5.1 million people lived in Alberta as of July 1, up nearly 76,500 people — or about 1.5 per cent — from a year before, according to the agency’s latest data. No jurisdiction added as many people over the year, data suggests, and only Nunavut and the Yukon — places with much lower populations than Alberta — grew at a greater rate.

On Monday, Albertans vote on whether to stay in Canada or hold another binding referendum on quitting Canada. If the vote goes as polls suggest, a majority of Albertans will mark an X to stay in Confederation, and Premier Danielle Smith has said if that’s so, she expects everyone to accept it and move on. Leaders of the independence movement contest that. And political watchers are divided about whether separation — previously a fringe sentiment — will now be a prominent, permanent feature of Alberta’s political landscape, as in Quebec. Julian Castro-Rea, a political-science professor at the University of Alberta who studies the separation debates in Quebec and Alberta, believes as long as Alberta feels alienated from the Canadian capital — feeling that Ottawa benefits from Alberta’s resource economy without giving back — the movement will have fuel. “Even if the referendum is lost, the westernization will still be around, because it’s kind of a way which, traditionally, Albertans have related to the rest of Canada,” says Castro-Rea, who believes western alienation may remain indefinitely. Story continues below advertisement

It’s no secret the long-held Canadian consensus on immigration has fractured — pulled apart by a rapid increase in new arrivals post-pandemic and growing affordability challenges. Now, that fracture is starting to show up at the ballot box. The Parti Québécois won a minority mandate in Quebec on a platform that included promises of tighter immigration controls, which the party linked to protecting French culture and easing pressure on public services and housing. And when Albertans head to the polls Monday to vote on whether to hold a future referendum on separation from Canada, they’ll also be answering five separate questions on immigration being pushed by the government of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Those questions include:— Should the province should have more say over economic immigration?— Should provincially funded services should be restricted to citizens, permanent residents and those with “Alberta-approved” immigration status? Story continues below advertisement