Executive director of the anti-oil Pembina Institute Chris Severson-Baker wrote a blog posting rife with the usual sky-is-falling predictions for what would happen if Alberta chose to be independent.

While most of these claims have been made before, the hyperbole is outstanding. He claims, “A separate Alberta would lose investment for at least a full generation.” No evidence of how such an investment chill would come about was provided though.

He speculates that “Alberta would be completely cut off from all coasts, as well as from any Canadian supply chains.” This is simply untrue of course and such claims have already been thoroughly debunked on this site. Severson-Baker goes into the usual tropes about treaty rights and obligations too.

All predictable.

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Where the posting goes above and beyond though is in its hypothesis that Alberta would be impoverished if it became independent because the world will soon no longer need oil and gas.

In an almost hysterical tone, he warns “Several energy scenarios, including from the oil and gas industry, foresee declining global demand in less than a decade.”

All credible studies on world energy demand and consumption predict oil and gas demand around the world will rise for decades. Peak oil theories have been made and debunked since the 1970s though they remain on brand for anti-oil groups such as the Pembina Institute.

Economic diversification can serve any region well, but Alberta is not facing a pressing or immediate need for it now more than any other time nor would it if it became independent.

They go further in threatening Alberta with a good time by stating, “an isolated Alberta would be at a huge disadvantage in providing Albertans with access to EVs, heat pumps, rooftop or balcony solar.”

An independent Alberta’s citizens would have just as much access to whimsical purchases of balcony solar panels as it does today. There wouldn’t be a federal entity mandating such purchases though.

Alberta sits upon one of the largest oil and gas deposits on earth and countries around the planet want to purchase products from it. This will not change if the province becomes independent and if anything, Albertans will be better able to take advantage of the resources.

The Pembina Institute’s claims about oil demand falling are hollow. What the institute really fears is an end coming to Ottawa’s ridiculous policies shutting in Alberta’s resource wealth. They also fear losing the nearly $1 million tax dollars per year they get from federal government grants.