This is a special free release of the February 25 edition of The Ezra Levant Show.

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In a wide-ranging discussion with political strategist David Knight Legg, the parallels between the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union and Alberta’s growing autonomy movement came into sharp focus. The lesson from Brexit, Legg argues, is not merely about trade deals or economic forecasts, it’s about culture, confidence and the limits of elite consensus.

Before the 2016 referendum, Britain’s political, media and financial establishments dismissed Leave voters as unserious or misinformed. Pollsters missed a “hidden vote” of citizens who felt it was impolite, even shameful, to express support for Brexit publicly. When the ballots were counted, the establishment was blindsided.

Something similar is brewing in Alberta.

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Economically, Alberta remains Canada’s engine, leading the country in job growth and wealth creation. Yet many Albertans feel their success is treated less as a national asset and more as a political inconvenience. Federal policies such as Bill C-69 and the tanker ban are widely seen in the province as direct constraints on its core industries. Meanwhile, equalization transfers and regulatory barriers feed a sense that Alberta’s productivity underwrites provinces that often oppose its economic model.

But this debate, like Brexit, goes beyond balance sheets.

For many voters, the issue is cultural autonomy as much as fiscal fairness: frustration over federal responses to the trucker convoy, immigration management, public safety concerns and expanding speech regulations has deepened mistrust. In Britain, the Leave campaign successfully reframed the question from narrow economics to sovereignty and identity: “take back control.” That message resonated more deeply than technocratic warnings about GDP losses.

Brexit proved that establishment certainty is no guarantee of electoral reality. If Ottawa misreads Alberta’s middle the way Westminster misread Britain’s, the ‘experts’ may find themselves scrambling to explain the outcome.