Quebec’s Sovereignty Votes Were Democracy. Alberta’s Is Suddenly Fascism
Consulting citizens about their province’s place in Confederation does not become authoritarian simply because the province is Alberta. When Quebec asked its people twice whether they wanted out of Canada, the country treated it as high-stakes democracy, but when Alberta puts a softer version of the same question on the ballot this month, large parts of the 'commentariat' reach for words like “fascist,” “illiberal,” and “psychological warfare.” The double standard is glaring, and it reveals more about elite preferences than about democratic principle. Quebec’s 1980 and 1995 referendums were initiated by elected Parti Québécois governments with explicit separatist platforms. The questions were imperfect, especially the 1995 wording that carefully avoided the word “country”, yet the exercises were accepted as legitimate expressions of popular will. Federalists campaigned hard against them. Capital took flight. The country held its breath. After the narrow 1995 defea...