Separation Anxiety: The Alberta Referendum

Albertans have voted, and it isn’t close. In this short drop-in episode recorded the morning after the October 19 referendum, Tim Querengesser and Dani Paradis go through the early results, the reactions from both camps, and what the vote means for the separatist movement and for Premier Danielle Smith.

In this episode

• The numbers so far: With 82% of polls counted as of 9:15 a.m. on October 20, unofficial results from Mainstreet Research show more than 1.4 million votes to stay in Canada and about 456,000 to start the process of leaving, roughly 75% to 25%. Official results come out October 29.
• The other questions: Five of the nine questions dealt with immigration, and all five are currently passing. Of the four constitutional questions, the only one without a majority is the one on letting provinces opt out of federal programs like health care, education and social services while keeping the funding.
• On the ground: Dani was at the Forever Canadian rally with Prime Minister Mark Carney on October 17, at the independence rally at the Alberta Legislature, and at the Alberta Prosperity Project’s results night in Edmonton.

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Last show before the referendum. Back in episode two, Alberta Prosperity Project leader Mitch Sylvestre told us there was no American involvement in the separatist campaign. A new Globe and Mail investigation says he met Republican strategists in Calgary this January. Tim goes back through his tape and finds Sylvestre describing a trip to the U.S. in 2025, one he says he told Premier Danielle Smith about the same day.

Then we look at the conservatives now campaigning to stay. Jason Kenney sounds very different from the premier who helped build the tools separatists are using today. Former Reform MP and immigration minister Monte Solberg talks about growing up on grievance politics and why he thinks today’s separatists took it somewhere else. We finish with the question that’s been on Tim’s mind all season: if the vote doesn’t go the separatists’ way, how does any of this end?

Referenced

• The Globe and Mail investigation by Carrie Tait, Nathan Vanderklippe and Grant Robertson on separatist meetings with Republican operatives
• Dani Paradis’ Globe and Mail op-ed on Jason Kenney’s role in the referendum [

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As Alberta heads toward a referendum focused on separation, First Nations people are asking a question most Albertans haven't: What happens to the treaties? In this episode, Danielle goes to Indigenous Rock the Vote in Maskwacis, and Tim and Danielle sit down with separatist leaders, who say an independent Alberta would offer Indigenous nations "a better path." Tim and Danielle then bring two treaty experts into the studio to explain why, for them, leaving is never an option.

In this episode

• Maskwacis Indigenous Rock the Vote
• Separatist leaders explain what an independent Alberta would mean for treaty rights.
• Rob Houle and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse respond to what we heard and explain why treaty has "no exit clause."

Guests and voices

Rob Houle, Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse

Credits

Hosted by Danielle Paradis and Tim Querengesser. Produced with support from Canadian True Crime.

Programming note: Episode 4 will be released a few days late so we can get some interesting people on the record.

Next time we speak with moderate conservatives who are angry with Canada, but not angry enough to separate.

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Separatists talk about a trillion-dollar surplus and an Independent Alberta with no income tax. So, where are the numbers to prove Albertans would be better off?

Dani and Tim start with an Edmonton town hall where separatist organizer Kathy Flett ran into a hostile crowd. From there they check the math behind the movement's biggest promises.

Author Tyler Dawson traces Alberta's grievances back to before it was a province and explains why the National Energy Program still hurts 40 years later. Political scientist Jared Wesley says today's separatism has more in common with MAGA and Brexit, than with Western alienation. Finally, Professor Lisa Young explains why she calls Premier Danielle Smith "Schrödinger's premier."

In this episode

• Tyler Dawson, Author of The Republic of Alberta: An Idea That Won't Go Away and opinion editor at The Globe and Mail.
• Jared Wesley, political scientist at the University of Alberta and the Common Ground project.
• Lisa Young, political scientist at the University of Calgary and author of an Alberta politics newsletter,

Mentioned in this episode

• The Republic of Alberta: An Idea That Won't Go Away by Tyler Dawson
• Report: The Economic and Fiscal Implications of Alberta Separation, University of Calgary (September 2026)
• DisinfoWatch report on U.S. involvement in the Alberta independence movement (May 2026)
• Common Ground: commongroundpolitics.ca

Credits

Separation Anxiety is produced by Danielle Paradis and Tim Querengesser. With production assistance from Kristi Lee. Journalistic and production help by Amanda Erickson. Studio recording and sound production by Omar Mouallem and Zach Dafoe with HAQ Story Studios. Produced with the support of Canadian True Crime.

New episodes weekly. Follow us on Substack: separationanxietypodcast.substack.com

Feedback: [email protected]

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Oh my lanta do we have an episode for you!

On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on whether to hold a binding referendum on leaving Canada. Journalists Tim Querengesser and Danielle Paradis spend the summer with the people who want out of Canada: on a freeway overpass in Edmonton, at an Alberta Day celebration in Mirror, AB and in a Baptist church in Calgary. They ask what's driving the separatist movement, and what role Christian nationalism plays in it.

Credits:

• Produced by Danielle Paradis, Tim Querengesser and Kristi Lee.
• Journalistic and production help by Amanda Erickson.
• Studio recording and sound production by Omar Mouallem and Zach Dafoe with HAQ Story Studios.
• Produced with the support of Canadian True Crime.
• 
  

New episodes weekly. Follow or subscribe so you don't miss one.

Feedback: [email protected]

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Alberta journalists Danielle Paradis and Tim Querengesser explore the upcoming Alberta separatist referendum.

Photo: Amanda Erickson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.