Alberta: destination separation

The seeds of separation are being sown. Thousands have been braving January’s cold to put some heat on the effort for the province to become a free and independent country. This week on West of Centre , host Kathleen Petty speaks with one of the campaign’s key proponents and head of the Alberta Prosperity Project, Mitch Sylvestre. Among many points in their conversation, he tells her there’s no U.S. funding involved in the effort, and that his sense is things would have been much different if Pierre Poilievre had won last spring’s federal election. Then, political pollster Janet Brown and Calgary-based Toronto Star reporter Alex Boyd join the table. They analyze the political calculation by Premier Danielle Smith in making it easier for a separation referendum to go to the people. And they break down the differing views on the separatist sentiment in Alberta — from those who are committed to the cause, to those who are more soft on the idea but want to keep the discussion going to negotiate a better deal with Ottawa. Finally, as the rest of the country rubbernecks at what’s happening in Alberta, the panel cautions Canadians not to oversimplify the secession effort and its impact on national unity at a time when the country needs it most. Host: Kathleen Petty Guests: Mitch Sylvestre, Alex Boyd, Janet Brown Producers: Diane Yanko, Josh Pagé

You can listen to Alberta: destination separation online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Alberta: destination separation is an episode from West of Centre by CBC.

This episode is 00:40:31 long.

This episode was published on Jan 23, 2026.

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