Former premier Jason Kenney says Alberta's independence debate has become so personal that it is ending friendships and dividing families, calling the movement a "perfect umbrella for every obsession, paranoia and anxiety" on the political right. 

That concern might carry more weight if it weren't coming from the premier whose own COVID-19 policies produced some of the deepest social divisions in modern Alberta history.

During the pandemic, Kenney's government imposed vaccine passport requirements, business closures, funeral limitations, remote schooling, and prolonged restrictions on family gatherings. Many Albertans experienced broken friendships, estranged relatives, workplace conflict, job loss, cancelled family holidays and fractured communities as people argued over compliance, vaccination status and public health rules.

His government's handling of the pandemic became one of the defining reasons for the revolt within the United Conservative Party that ultimately ended his premiership.

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By comparison, today's referendum campaign is asking Albertans to participate in a democratic vote.

People disagree about Alberta's future. Some conversations are emotional. Some friendships may be strained. That happens during contentious elections, constitutional debates and referendums. It also happened during the Quebec sovereignty referenda.

But there is an important distinction between a government imposing restrictions on daily life and citizens peacefully debating a political question on the ballot.

Kenney is entitled to oppose Alberta independence and to criticize the movement. Equally, supporters are entitled to advocate for it. Vigorous political disagreement is not evidence that democracy has failed; it is evidence that democracy is functioning.

Political debate may strain relationships, but democratic disagreement is not the same thing as government-imposed separation.