EDMONTON -- Premier Jason Kenney is delivering a sharp rebuke to would-be Alberta separatists by saying “either you love your country or you don't.”
Kenney says he understands frustrations felt by some Albertans with the federal government and the province's role in Confederation, but adds there's no such thing as qualified patriotism.
He also says threatening to leave Confederation is an empty threat because there's no evidence the majority of Albertans want it.
He also says it's foolish economically, given that the uncertainty surrounding Quebec's separatist intentions in the late 1970s led to businesses fleeing the province en masse.
Kenney was responding to public comments made this week by one of his United Conservative caucus members who sat on a panel that gathered input on ways that Alberta could assert itself more.
Drew Barnes, in a public letter this week, urged Kenney to take a much harder line with the federal government on cost-shared programs.
Barnes wrote that he is hearing a strong sentiment across the province to separate if change doesn't occur.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2020
