Fact Check: Claim: Alberta and Quebec are adversaries
Alberta and Quebec have a common foe in Ottawa, and the provinces are well positioned to become allies rather than adversaries.
Quebec and Alberta often appear to have an adversarial relationship as Albertans chafe over preferential treatment bestowed upon La Belle Province while Quebec’s provincial leadership has worked to stymie eastbound pipeline projects. When it comes to provincial autonomy, however, the two provinces are coming closer together.
The Parti Québécois (PQ) is continuing to make gains in the polls as a fall election in Quebec approaches, and the numbers now are flirting with majority government levels. The PQ has an express mandate to hold another independence referendum if it forms the government again. Unity issues in Quebec are about to blossom as they had in the 1990s.
PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon met with Alberta independence proponents in fall 2025 and openly affirmed his support for Alberta’s pursuit of independence. He stated, “So I’ll be happy to collaborate with Alberta and move things forward after the independence of Quebec.”
Plamondon prioritizes Quebec, of course, but in stating he will collaborate with Alberta in the pursuit of independence, he is bringing things to a new level. In a September 2025 appearance in Calgary, he stated that if he were premier of Quebec and Albertans voted in favour of seceding, Quebec would officially recognize the new state.
The leading members of the Alberta Prosperity Project who met with Plamondon echoed his sentiment in offering reciprocal support for their independence movement.
In the 1990s, much of the sentiment from Albertans was federalist-leaning as the province joined others in pleading with Quebec not to vote Yes in the 1995 referendum. What we are hearing more of today is more along the lines of “how can we help you go?”
Outside of the overt independence supporters, Albertan leaders have indicated following Quebec’s path. When running for the UCP leadership, Danielle Smith said “Doing all of the things that Quebec has done to assert its autonomy, collecting its own income tax, asserting its sovereignty to make decisions over its own area of jurisdiction, talking to Albertans about a provincial pension plan, collecting our own employment insurance, having our own provincial police; these are all things that we need to be having a conversation about.” Admittedly, Smith has been less than effective in pursuing such goals so far, though.
The report from Jason Kenney’s Fair Deal Panel on provincial autonomy mentions Quebec 56 times and not in a negative way, but as a model to emulate. Like Smith though, Kenney proved to be all talk and no action with the autonomy measures. That was one of the contributing factors to his ignominious ejection from the UCP leadership and one that is putting Smith’s leadership at risk as well.
With Plamondon well placed to become Quebec’s next premier, Alberta and Quebec are well placed to become allies rather than adversaries. They have a common foe in Ottawa.
Cory Morgan
Cory Morgan is an Alberta-based columnist, political commentator, and longtime advocate for Western Canadian independence. He is the author of the recently updated book The Sovereigntist’s Handbook, a grassroots guide for independence supporters and political activists.
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