Canadas Texas threatens secession and will vote whether to become 51st US state

“Canada’s Texas is threatening divorce, and it could eventually become the 51st state,” crows the ultraconservative think-tank behind the Trump administration.The free people of Alberta are about to take a vote.It’s Canada’s fourth-largest province, both by size (about 411,187 sq mi) and population (5 million).It’s home to North America’s iconic Rocky Mountains, where crystal clear glacial lakes are scattered across forested landscape.Its dinosaur fossils are a valuable window to the past, while its fossil fuel deposits are … valuable.The fourth-largest oil reserve on the planet gives Albertans high employment, higher-than-average incomes, and a younger population.It also means it contributes much more to the federal budget than Canada’s other nine provinces and three territories do.Just like Western Australia.This is resented by many local politicians, big business lobbyists, media pundits and members of the public.They ask: Why should they subsidize their eastern overlords?Just like Western Australia.Now, Alberta gets to decide if it really wants out.An October referendum will ask: Should we quit Canada?“For decades, many people there have felt that the rest of Canada – particularly the federal government in Ottawa – has been drawing disproportionately on Alberta’s prosperity,” write British constitutional academics Richard Brant and Professor Nikos Skoutaris.Some 700,000 Albertans signed petitions in recent years calling for a vote.

These were declared invalid in an Alberta court for ignoring indigenous treaty rights.But the noise they generated prompted the provincial government to ask the question properly.It’s been on Albertans’ minds for a while.Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau took control of local oil prices and raised export taxes on the industry.So the multinational oil companies took their business to tax havens elsewhere.Alberta’s economy tumbled, unemployment soared, and national revenues collapsed.It took just five ye...