On Sept. 3, the New York Times published a guest essay by Edmonton writer Curtis Gillespie under two stacked headlines: “Trump Isn’t Just Trolling Canada. He’s Helping Push It Apart,” and “MAGA Is Feeding a Separatist Surge in Canada.” It is part of a Times series called “The New World Disorder,” about countries adjusting as America steps aside. Alberta is the exhibit.
Gillespie opens his column describing a United Conservative pancake breakfast during the Calgary Stampede. Premier Danielle Smith arrives in Lone Star boots, a Stetson and a Texas bolo. He reads the outfit as a nod south. He hears her contrast Albertan grit with Ottawa’s mandarins and tie “newcomers” to soaring government costs. Then he finds what he came for: groups such as Albertans4Freedom and United Alberta flags, the “bald-faced” separatist, talk of an independent Judeo-Christian nation, and a push to vote yes on Oct. 19 to a question that would start Alberta down the path to leaving Canada.
