Nelson: Referendum was a glorious moment in Alberta's history

It was a masterstroke. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

How many decades have we complained that nobody listens to Alberta? That we’re a handy money-spinner of a province that should be content to supply the cash but otherwise hold its collective tongue.

That’s changed, thanks to Monday’s referendum.

Alberta’s concerns didn’t just become Canada’s topic of conversation these past months. They became the world’s. The BBC, The Economist Magazine, The New York Times — all explained in great detail why this landlocked slice of land on the high northern plain was questioning its very future within Canada.

And yet politicians, commentators and other members of the chattering classes are now whining that the referendum on whether to stay in Canada was a nasty affair, one that should never have happened. What’s more, it was a colossal waste of money.

It might cost as much as $130 million. Not chump change, for sure, but heaven knows how much various Alberta governments have wasted over the decades without achieving anything like this vote.

Let’s face it, separatism has been an undercurrent throughout Alberta for more than half a century. It has waxed and waned, usually in response to the antics of the federal Liberal party holding power in Ottawa.

Two years ago, in the final months of the Justin Trudeau regime, it hit its zenith. Insult followed insult until the only hope was an approaching federal election where, surely, the Grits would be tossed from office.

When that failed to happen, after new Prime Minister Mark Carney used his Captain Canada image to snatch an unlikely victory, our despondency was palpable.

Today, much of that despair has vanished.

Maybe we should ask ourselves if the remarkable change of heart and direction by Carney’s Liberal government was a response to the threat that treading the same path might mean an end to Canada as they knew it. That Alberta wasn’t content to simply suck it up.

Maybe that’s why a new West Coast pipeline is planned and why energy production caps were lifted and onerous electricity regulations deep-sixed.

And perhaps that’s why that arrogant, powerful cabal from the Trudeau era, embodied by former environment minister Steven Guilbeault, are now cowed and voiceless.

Or why, when politicians such as Ontario’s Doug Ford initially mentioned using Alberta’s oil as a bargaining chip in the U.S. trade wars, such chatter was immediately brushed aside. Annoying Alberta suddenly came with potential consequences.

Some might say this was pure coincidence: those things would have happened anyway. That’s how the rest of Canada always treats this province.

Right?

Meanwhile, thanks to this referendum, we know where we stand. That separatist cause is now dead. There won’t be another vote for many a generation. You get one kick at the can, and that’s it. There’s no do-over.

Yet, some now wish we’d just ignored the separatist cause altogether. Just let it endlessly simmer.

But look across the world where major issues are not aired, but either ignored or crushed beneath the weight of officialdom. Are everyday Russians getting a vote on whether their young men should continue getting slaughtered in a pointless war against Ukraine?

Or look to the riots across France this past weekend that began as a row over school conditions but spiralled out of control. Would Parisians have preferred a boisterous debate and vote instead?

Here in Alberta we were arguing, sticking up lawn signs and writing letters to the editor. Nobody was shot, fired or watched their business ransacked.

We took on the biggest issue and came out stronger than ever: sure of where we belong and ready to move ahead.

Monday’s referendum was a triumph. It cleared the head and gladdened the heart.

Our future awaits.

Chris Nelson is a weekly columnist.