Columnist Andrew Coyne published a piece in the Globe and Mail headlined "Canada is one of history's most successful countries — here's a look at who's trying to destroy it."

Sheila Gunn Reid and Marty Belanger — known on social media as @MartyUpNorth — walked through Coyne's views on this week's Buffalo Roundtable. Their verdict: it helps the independence cause more than it hurts it.

Coyne's case for Canada leans heavily on history. It's the second largest land mass in the world, with a Constitution whose features have been unchanged since 1967. It's in the top decile for standard of living and civil rights.

But the argument is rooted in nostalgia — reaching back to achievements from 40 or 50 years ago. 

"We were once a great nation," Marty said, recalling Wilfrid Laurier's famous prediction at the turn of the last century that the 20th century would belong to Canada. "He was wrong," he said. "We are a nation of unfulfilled potential — and within that nation of unfulfilled potential, Alberta is being completely tied down."

Sheila noted that the very things Coyne holds up as achievements are among Alberta's biggest grievances.

The exploding population, the judiciary, the unelected Senate.

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"Why even be proud of that?" asked Marty. Coyne's column names Mitch Sylvester, Jeff Rath, and Premier Danielle Smith herself among those apparently trying to destroy the country.

Sheila compared the federalist argument to a neighbour telling a couple to stay in an abusive marriage because they have a nice house. 

"That's all they have," she said. "Yeah, but look at the big house you have." Marty added that he has had people tell him things could be worse — pointing to China as the benchmark. "So I'm slightly better than China. Wow. Fantastic," he said. "How about an aspiration to being really good?"

Marty pointed to Norway — a country of five million making a run at the World Cup quarterfinals with everything seemingly rowing in the same direction — as the kind of comparison worth making. When Alberta tries to do the same, he said, it gets criticized.

Sheila closed with a pointed observation. "I hope they never stop sending out Andrew Coyne to talk to Albertans," she said, as Marty added that Coyne is writing from Toronto and probably hasn't been to Alberta recently to get an objective view.

The Buffalo Roundtable, where weekly guests join Rebel News hosts to discuss the top issues facing Western Canada, airs live every Wednesday at 11 a.m. MT / 1 p.m. ET.