A prominent separatist group in the province has released a discussion paper floating a vision for an independent Alberta — including a president, open-carry gun laws, a maximum 10-per cent income tax and a supreme court based in Grande Prairie.
The 54-page document entitled “Foundation of Freedom” was released by the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), the group behind the “Stay Free Alberta” petition and one of many pro-independence factions.
According to APP’s chief executive, Mitch Sylvestre, the paper isn’t a final constitution by any means — rather, it’s a jumping-off point for people to begin discussing their ideas for an independent Alberta.
“If you look back at history, the Americans, when they started their constitution 250 years ago, it was a major, major fight for people to get what they thought would be the best path,” he told CBC News.
“So we believe that there's going to be lots of discussion around this and people are not all going to agree.”
Indeed, while the leader of another separatist group told CBC News he thought the document was “fairly solid,” another said it was too early to have such conversations. Federalist groups, meanwhile, panned the document.
While Sylvestre’s group published the paper, he said it was a collaborative effort with the Black Hat Gang from Medicine Hat taking the lead, and considers himself a “participant at best.”
The Black Hat Gang is a group that proposed a draft document of Albertans' rights in 2024, which included "informed consent" to medical care, as well as rights to keep and bear firearms, to use "sufficient force" to defend one's property, and "freedom from excessive taxation."
President, elected judges, and a new branch of government
The discussion paper presents a form of government that is more reminiscent of the U.S. than Canada, with a president, vice-president and ministers under the executive branch.
The document proposes that a total of 40 senators from 20 "senatorial districts comprised of municipal districts and special areas” would also be elected, not appointed, under the legislative branch.
A fourth branch of government called the “oversight branch” would be responsible for audits, investigations and enforcement, according to the document. Under the branch would sit an elected inspector general, auditor general, solicitor general, elector general and attorney general.
The judicial branch would consist of three levels of courts, according to the document: community courts, regional courts, and a supreme court. Judges will also be elected, the paper suggests.
All those institutions would be spread out across Alberta.
The document proposes the legislative assembly be based in Edmonton, the executive in Calgary, the senate in Red Deer, the oversight branch in both Medicine Hat and Lloydminster, and the Supreme Court seated in Grande Prairie.
That idea, Sylvestre said, doesn’t completely resonate with him.
“That, I think, may not be my idea of the best way to do things,” he said, adding that the actual decision would be up to the people in the event that Alberta were to separate.
The paper also discusses ideas around taxation and rights.
For example, it floats the idea of an up to 10-per cent income tax on Alberta citizens, and an up to 10-per cent consumption tax on the net purchase value of goods or services.
Law-abiding citizens would also have the right to carry firearms “openly or concealed, for self-defense and lawful purposes," the paper suggests.
It also suggests that no citizen be “discriminated against on the basis of medical choice.”
English would be the only official language in this conception of an independent Alberta, and as for passports, every citizen could expect one “at no charge.”
Separatists react to the ‘Foundation of Freedom’
“I'm all about the people making the rules. I'm all about defanging government,” Sylvestre said. "So there's lots of things [in the document] that I like.”
Cory Morgan, founder of the pro-independence third-party advertising group Pathway to Independence, told CBC News he thought the document is “fairly solid as what you would expect out of a draft constitutional document coming from a republic point-of-view.”
“Very heavily focused on individual rights and keeping checks and balances on the government,” he said.
“It might be a little too large or prescriptive, but I guess when they're looking at it being a discussion document it’s something as a basis to to work towards perhaps having more content rather than less is a good thing.”
In a statement to CBC News, Keith Wilson, co-leader of the registered third-party advertiser Let Alberta Decide, said “I do not support this particular proposal.”
“I also believe the timing is premature. Any process to develop a new constitution should begin only after Albertans have made their decision on independence through a referendum — not before.”
Federalist calls plan ‘wild west on steroids’
Thomas Lukaszuk, leader of the Forever Canadian movement and former deputy premier of Alberta, called the paper the “wild west on steroids.”
“It's a little bit of a social experiment on what would happen to five million people locked in a land-locked province who will be armed and unvaccinated, who will be libertarians, and only their personal rights are protected above any communal group rights.”
Among his list of concerns was the focus on “individual rights over societal rights,” and a lack of rights for minorities. For example, the Francophone community is not acknowledged in the document, he said.
Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary and member of the federalist group Lead Not Leave, crunched the numbers on the taxation plan shared in the paper.
“I estimate that out of the a little over $73 billion that the federal government currently raises from Alberta, a separate Alberta would be left with only about nine of that. It would be a very large reduction,” he said.
“And then when you add to that the fact that provincial transfers to Alberta, those would no longer be received. Certain Alberta taxes would also be eliminated. What you're left with is that Alberta would actually face less revenue as a separate entity than the current provincial government.”
The Alberta Prosperity Project is seeking people's thoughts and suggestions on the document.
The APP held a launch event for the paper last week, but it was overshadowed when a speaker used a racial slur during the presentation.
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