30% of Albertans want to leave Canada if Liberals win election: Angus Reid poll

A new push for separatism in Alberta — with a rally planned at the legislature after the federal election.

It comes as a new poll finds 30 per cent of Albertans want to leave the country if the Liberals form government.

“No more federal income tax, no more GST, no more carbon tax, no more capital gains tax, no more $70 billion leaving our province subsidizing programs in Quebec we could only dream of having in Alberta,” said Jeffrey Rath, an Alberta lawyer.

Rath says May 1 he’ll be speaking on the steps of the legislature in favour of Alberta leaving the country. But he told CityNews for him, that doesn’t necessarily mean joining the United States. 

“When I say statehood, I mean nation-state, city-state, whatever. But there’s lots of people that took what I was saying, and put a caption that said ’51st state.’ But when I talk Alberta statehood, I’m talking about Alberta independence, with a possible merger with the United States,” he explained.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said she will be creating a “What’s Next?” panel following the federal election, gauging the temperature for the idea of Albertan sovereignty.  Saying if Albertans push for it, the question could go to a referendum. 

Talking to reporters Monday, Smith said she wants to reset the province’s relationship with a new federal government, but only if it works for Alberta.

“I want Canada to work, I want Canada to be able to meet its potential, I want for us to be able to build economic corridors and develop all of our resources, from oil and gas to critical minerals and beyond. But I also want Canada to work for Alberta, and it hasn’t for the last 10 years because of terrible policies by the Liberals,” said Smith.

The separation talk comes as Angus Reid releases a new poll showing 30 per cent of Albertans surveyed want to separate. Pollsters are saying the anti-Canadian sentiment in Alberta was higher several years ago. 

“The sentiment of ‘is my province respected by the national government, do I feel like the rest of the country treats us fairly?’ Those sentiments were a lot higher six years ago in 2019, when there was a lot of anger around the cancelled Energy East pipeline, Bill C-69, dubbed in Alberta ‘the no more pipeline bill,’ Jason Kenney’s fair deal panel, all those things happened in 2019,” said Jon Roe, a research associate with Angus Reid.

A first online survey was conducted from March 20-24, 2025, among a randomized sample of 2,400 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum. A second survey was conducted by ARI from March 28-31, 2025, among a randomized sample of 2,131 Canadian adults who are also members of Angus Reid Forum. The samples of both surveys were weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to region, gender, age, household income, and education, based on the Canadian census. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of those sizes would carry a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.