What would Alberta look like if there were no federal income tax, no burdensome federal regulations on the province's industry? These questions are a focus for Jeffrey Rath, co-founder of the Alberta Prosperity Project and a leading voice in the Alberta independence movement.

“Alberta doesn't need anybody to prosper and go forward,” Rath said during his appearance on last week's episode of The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid.

“Our oil reserves dwarf the oil reserves in Texas, and our gas reserves dwarf the gas reserves of the entire continental United States — just in Alberta,” Rath said, describing the province as capable of being a “very viable” independent country.

The Alberta Prosperity Project co-founder was also critical of Premier Danielle Smith's joint announcement alongside Ontario Premier Doug Ford, which detailed a plan to see new pipelines created in Canada.

Go Ad Free

“Why are we shipping oil by pipeline to Ontario to benefit the Ontario economy?” Rath asked. “We need to be harvesting the wealth of Alberta and building refineries in Alberta instead of subsidizing battery plants and bug plants in Ontario.”

Instead of shipping oil, Rath said Alberta should be focusing on sending “finished products like diesel and gasoline” to other markets.

Eastern Canada treats Western Canada “like colonized people,” he said, “that are just meant to send money to them while they tell us what to do.”

An independent Alberta would be “better off,” Rath said.

“It's time for people to internalize the fact that there is nothing Danielle Smith can do by memorandum of understanding or agreement — or that Mark Carney can promise Alberta — that is more valuable to Albertans than just getting the hell out of Canada and no longer being subject to federal regulation or federal taxation.”