Gil McGowan of the Alberta Federation of Labour stood in a long line at a pancake breakfast to ambush Premier Danielle Smith with questions. While holding up the line of people seeking a meal, Gil demanded the premier remove the question asking whether Albertans want to stay within the federation.

While doing so, he referenced the debunked claim from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce that the referendum will cause capital flight from Alberta.

The independence issue has been swirling in Alberta since spring 2025 when Mark Carney was elected by Eastern Canada as prime minister. Rallies, petitioning and active movements for provincial secession have blossomed since then.

The news has been dominated with reports on provincial unity in Alberta and now a non-binding referendum on the question will be held in fall.

Despite all that, there has been no indication that the issue is having a negative impact on Alberta’s economy. In fact, Alberta has been becoming stronger.

Alberta has been outperforming the national average with job growth in creating over 105,000 jobs between April 2025 and May 2026. The trend is continuing.

While Canada is now in a technical recession, Alberta’s GDP grew by 2.7% in 2025 and is forecast to grow by 2.6% in 2026.

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Major projects from AI data centres to pipelines are being announced regularly and small business growth has been steady.

If the upcoming referendum is impacting Alberta’s economy, it appears to be doing so in a positive way.

Political instability has always been something that chills capital investment from the private sector. Having it out in a referendum among the citizenry will bring resolution and stability to the province one way or another.

In taking Gil’s advice and robbing citizens of the chance to vote on the issue, the independence question will remain unanswered, and the issue will remain front and centre.

Economic acumen is rarely a hallmark among union leaders and Gil McGowan is always more than eager to demonstrate that.

The only point his stunt made was that the premier’s staff must do better vetting when people attend Stampede breakfasts so citizens aren’t blocked in getting a bite to eat by union activists pulling stunts.