Abacus Data recently asked Albertans what they want their government to concentrate on. On Tuesday’s Rebel Roundup, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle read the list and then watched the CBC explain the province to itself.

The poll, shared on X by Abacus CEO David Coletto, put everyday affordability at the top, followed by health care, including wait times and access to a family doctor, then housing, then growing the economy and creating jobs.

What do Albertans want the provincial government to focus on? pic.twitter.com/4tyG06mICW

— David Coletto (@DavidColetto) October 20, 2026

Sheila traced each one back to Ottawa. Inflation, she said, comes from federal overspending. The strain on doctors and housing is an immigration problem the federal government has promised to fix “for how many years now.” And the economy, in her words, has been stagnant “for a decade.”

Getting pipelines built and Alberta’s energy to market came in at 20 per cent, and Sheila called it the test that decides the rest.

“For the people of Alberta, that pipeline is the litmus test,” she said. “If you can get this done, we might believe that you can get the rest done. But if you can’t get a simple pipeline built, why are we gonna trust you with the economy?”

Further down the list, only 11 per cent of Albertans named U.S. tariffs, which Sheila set against the “American derangement syndrome” in other parts of the country. Balancing the budget ranked low too, and Sheila had the reason: six straight balanced budgets. “We’re already delivering on this,” she said.

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Then the hosts got to the line that caught their eye. Protecting the environment and addressing climate change was a priority for six per cent of Albertans.

“Think about all the taxes and how much of the political establishment in relation to the federal government pushes this stuff on you,” Sheila said. Lise added that the pile of federal green spending, billions in subsidies on one side and taxes on the other, is being spent on something few Albertans listed at all. If the true cost of those programs were known, she said, the other numbers on the list would move too.

Getting a better deal for Alberta within Canada drew 10 per cent, which Sheila noted sits well below the share of Albertans who voted to leave the day before.

Then came the CBC.

On referendum night, Rosemary Barton asked her At Issue panel whether the vote was a test of “cooperative federalism.” Andrew Coyne said the Yes side’s leverage argument was “a fairly detestable way to approach federal questions” and “fundamentally a bluff.” He added that the Liberals are at 33 per cent in Alberta polling, their highest since 1968, and that “they smell blood.” Althea Raj doubted Ottawa would have “ponied up $40 billion to build a new pipeline to the West Coast” without the pressure. Aaron Wherry said polls suggest “maybe as little as a third” of Option 2 voters want an independent country.

Coyne closed by saying nobody had a mandate to hold the referendum and that Premier Danielle Smith called it “to save her job at the top of the UCP.”

Not one of the four is from Alberta.

“I am so pleased that this Laurentian A-team has assembled to tell us Albertans what’s bugging us,” Sheila said. The panel was so bad, she added, that she found herself agreeing with Barton for a moment, when the host said the vote doesn’t make anything go away.

“Could the national broadcaster perhaps bring on an Albertan to talk about Alberta issues? Would it kill you people to put one of us on the panel?” she said. “I don’t even care if you have to dust off Monty Solberg, a federalist. At least get someone on there from the province.”

That, she said, is part of the alienation: Albertans don’t see themselves reflected in the institutions they pay for, like the CBC, or in the people they vote for.

Rebel Roundup airs Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. MT / 1 p.m. ET.