Fact Check: Is the independence movement just about greed?

Calgarian businessman and former senator-in-waiting Mike Shaikh wrote a column in the Calgary Herald making the case that Albertans should eschew the pursuit of independence for fear of the unknown and uncertainties. He also stated, “Alberta separation is about greed and a mistaken belief that Alberta is capable of standing alone.”

Both statements are dead wrong.

To say the movement is simply about greed is dismissive and inaccurate. The movement has a more complex basis of grievances than simply the fiscal case. The erosion of personal freedoms, along with democratic accountability, underrepresentation in Ottawa, frustration with federal overreach on provincial jurisdiction, and a cultural difference with Eastern Canada underpins much of the independence movement. Not to mention pressures from a decade of m*** immigration and a failing justice system. To try and boil those concerns down to a simple case of greed is irresponsible and indicates a disconnect with Albertan sentiment.

Albertans are pursuing a better fiscal situation, but is that greed? Are Mr. Shaikh’s business interests non-profit? If outside pressures are harming the economic well-being of his enterprises, does he try to mitigate those? Or will he leave it be because to defend his interests would be greedy?

Alberta has been a m***ive net contributor to Confederation for decades. From 2007 to 2022 alone, Albertans paid more than $244 billion more into federal coffers than they received back in spending and transfers. How much draining are we expected to take without speaking up? Is it greedy to put up barriers to keep thieves from pilfering your earnings?

Shaikh also implies that Alberta’s economy is little more than oil and agriculture, thus couldn’t stand on its own. Alberta’s economy is increasingly becoming diversified, and the resources that would remain the foundation of it are more than strong enough to sustain an independent state. Switzerland is doing quite fine while landlocked and without the benefit of Alberta’s resource sector. Shaikh’s points sound more like those from a disconnected Laurentian than an Albertan businessman.

There is little to fear in uncertainty when the status quo paints such an ugly economic picture. Alberta faces pipeline delays, Impact Assessment Act obstacles, carbon pricing regimes that ignore comparative advantage, and shifting climate targets that treat the province’s resources as a problem to be managed rather than an ***et to be developed. Is it greedy to have become tired of grovelling to Ottawa to seek permission to develop the economy?

Another certainty to be faced is lost freedoms as the federal government continues to impose legislation targeting free speech and trying to control internet communications.

The unknown holds more appeal than remaining in the federation for a growing number of Albertans. Shaikh mentions the grievances began in the 1970s, which again is untrue. Alberta has been chafing within the federation for over a century.

As a man who ostensibly conducts business within Alberta and as one who wasted the time to run in a Senate election only to have his ambitions to be a senator put forever on the shelf by Ottawa, Shaikh’s optimism with the Canadian state is striking, to say the least.