At Alberta, Canada, national unity in voting

The threat of Canada from US President Donald Trump has dominated the elections, but the country is also facing a challenge from within. Some Western Canadians, who are tired of a contract of liberal rule, are publicly calling for separation.

He stands in front of a crowd of about 100 about 100 in a small events hall in the city of Lithperridge, Dennis Modri ​​asks the locals about the future of Alberta.

Who thinks that Alberta should have a greater role in Canada, asks? Decorate or so raises their hands.

Who believes that the boycott should be pressured for the division of Canada and the formation of its own nation? About half of the crowd raises their hands.

“How many people would like to join the United States?” Another offer to support half of the crowd.

Mr. Moderi, a retired heart surgeon, is a co -leader of the Alberta Al -Azhar project, a popular organization that is pushing for the independence referendum.

The possibility of division has always been a point of discussion in this conservative province. But there are two factors that gave them a new momentum: Trump’s comments about making Canada the 51st American state, and the subsequent increase that granted the liberal party in the polls before the federal elections on Monday.

Mr. Moderi BBC told the separatist movement in recent months – partially driven, as it is believed, by the president’s speech.

“We are not interested in that,” he said. “We are interested in sovereignty Alberta.”

However, Jeffrey Rath – a lawyer and nanny of Caljari, was not one of the founders of the project – rejecting the proposal of the state 51. Although it agrees to independence is priority, he could see a future that Alberta joined with the United States.

He said: “We have a lot of common denominators between our neighbors in the south in Montana … (and) with our cousins ​​in Texas, which we do anywhere else.”

Previously, on the political parties, the possibility of the unity crisis is now discussed.

In an opinion article in the National Globe and Mail, Preston Manning – Albertan, one of the founders of the modern conservative movement in Canada – warned that “large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of the liberal government, regardless of who leads it.”

He accused the Poor Management of National Affairs and ignoring the priorities of Western Canadians, and added: “The vote in favor of Carney Liberals is a vote for Western secession – a vote for Canada’s disintegration as we know it.”

This sense of “Western alienation”, a term used to describe the feeling that the region is often ignored by politicians in the capital of Canada, is not new. For decades, many in the oil -rich wild and gas provinces in Alberta and Saskakhtwan have stumbled on how an incomplete representation, despite the economic importance of the region as a whole.

This resentment grew during the liberal government of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which brought the environmental policies that some Albertan seen as a direct attack on economic growth in the region.

National opinion polls indicate that the liberals, who were now under Mark Carney, could go to the fourth consecutive victory on election day on Monday. It can come partially due to the increase in support in Ontario and Kepeck – the eastern provinces in which many population is concentrated – only to the regional gap.

Judy Schneider, whose husband’s oil industry in Calgary, told BBC that she would vote “yes” in the independence referendum.

She said she did not see Carney, who spent most of the past decade from Canada, but she grew up in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, as Western.

“It can come and say,” I am from Alberta, “but is it?” Mrs. Schneider said.

Alberta is still an independent probability – a The last Angus Reed poll He suggested that only one in four of Albertan would vote to leave Canada if a referendum is now conducted. However, the majority of Canadians feel that the issue should be taken seriously, A separate Nano survey indicated.

Political analysts say the gap will be a challenge to the country’s next prime minister, especially if Carney wins. “The current existing between East and West will not be resolved,” said Mr. Modri, the activist, even the victory of the conservative leader born in Calgary Pierre Poeleti.

These broader feelings Daniel Smith, Prime Minister, who leads the United Conservative Party, have pushed its way in commercial talks with the United States, while the leaders of other provinces and the federal government have coordinated their efforts closely. She even visited Trump at his home, Mar Lago in Florida.

In Canada, Smith has publicly warned of the “crisis of national unity” if the demands of Alberta – which centered on the abolition of environmental laws during the Trudeau era to accelerate the production of oil and gas – are not met by the new prime minister within six months of elections.

While Smith refused to talk about the explicit separation as “nonsense”, critics accused her of destroying fire at this time affiliated with the future of Canada.

Even those inside the separatist movement have different ideas about the best way to achieve their goals.

Lorna Ghetton, the newborn and obstetric and volunteer in the Alberta Al -Azhar project, BBC VCV Lythbridge that her goal is to have a better relationship with the rest of Canada.

The current union described it as “broken”, and it is believed that the referendum, or its threat, will give Albertan the “financial lever” in future negotiations with Ottawa.

But Mrs. Ghetton also rejected any idea of ​​becoming an American state 51.

“They have enough of their own problems. Why do I want to be part of that?” She said. “I prefer to be an independent or sovereign or boycott with a better deal in Canada.”

On his farm outside Calgary in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Mr. Rathin has a different view.

While he was inclined to sweat horses, he talked about the political and social positions of free institutions and the small government that Albertin and many Americans shared.

“From this perspective, I will see Alberta well in the United States,” he said.

He is currently collecting a “fact -finding” delegation to travel to Washington, DC, and bring the movement directly to the Trump administration.

However, many voters at Alberta refuse the idea of ​​independence completely, even if they agreed that the boycott has been overlooked.

Steve Laqlan agrees from Lithperbridge that the West lacks acting in Ottawa, but said: “We already have a separation, and we need to communicate.”

The liberals are not completely closed from the boycott. Opinion polls indicate that Alberta may send more liberal deputies to Ottawa more than 2021, in part due to the changing population composition that led to the creation of new steps in urban Edmonton and Kalwai.

James Forster, who lives in the battle center area in Calgary, told the BBC, a conservative voice but bent in recent years. This time, a liberal will vote for a “Carney worker”.

“I feel the best man to deal with Trump,” he said. As for the feelings of separation: “I am not worried about it.”

Additional reports and videos by Elis Alana