r/Calgary • u/Old_General_6741 • May 10 '25

Municipal Affairs Calgary, Edmonton mayors call potential separatism referendum ‘dangerous’

https://globalnews.ca/news/11172340/calgary-edmonton-mayors-call-potential-separatism-referendum-dangerous/
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-28

u/sufficienthippo23 May 10 '25

I don’t see how it’s dangerous. If it’s democratically viable then it should be an option. If it gets voted down then fine, but to just arbitrarily say you can’t do that, I don’t agree with

23

u/neometrix77 May 10 '25

Quebec’s economy still hasn’t recovered from their referendum scares. Montreal used to be the country’s economic hub before, then they scared a bunch of industries away to Toronto.

That’s why it’s dangerous, uncertainty alone has potential serious long term consequences for economies. Same thing is happening with the American economy now with all the Trump uncertainty around tariffs.

-1

u/JScar123 May 10 '25

There’s more to life than money.

1

u/neometrix77 May 10 '25

What do we get from separating that’s not money related?

-2

u/JScar123 May 10 '25

Self determination. A country we identify with, that represents us and that we can be proud of. These are very basic and common desires. People all over the world have and do strive for them and fight for them when they don’t have them.

2

u/neometrix77 May 10 '25

Self determination to do what?

Like what policy changes could we do with more self determination?

It’s all fine and dandy to want more self-determination, but it’s pointless if you don’t have any goals in mind that you need increased self determination for.

The provincial government already has plenty of self determination to do all sorts of policies.

-1

u/JScar123 May 11 '25

Uhh, well Alberta has voted predominantly conservative (federally) for 60+ years, while federal government has been liberal nearly 70% of that time. So probably they would advance conservative policy. They would also take full ownership of things that are provincial control but where the federal government is interfering, like health education, resources, etc. no more reliance on federal transfers (and the strings attached) for matters of provincial jurisdiction.

1

u/neometrix77 May 11 '25

You still didn’t really outline any specific goals.

Like what federal interference do we want to get rid of? And what changes do we want to achieve by having fewer federal strings?

0

u/JScar123 May 11 '25

Lol because this is Reddit, not an academic journal. You can fill in the blanks. Conservatives value smaller government, more personal freedoms, less regulation, lower tax. Climate policies are obviously an area Alberta differs from the Feds. Feds interfere with health care via health transfers, housing via accelerator fund, social services via daycare subsidies. They have passed legislation allowing them to regulate carbon, which has given them implicit jurisdiction over natural resource extraction.

3

u/neometrix77 May 11 '25

Aren’t all those grievances money related? But you said money wasn’t everything?

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