"Much of that grievance is seen through the lens of immigration. Start with Mitch Sylvester, chief executive officer of the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP). A key voice in the movement, Sylvester openly embraces the far-fetched and racist great replacement theory-the idea that evil elites are trying to replace, as Sylvester puts it, "old stock white Canadians.""
"To call this language a dog whistle is an insult to dog whistles. There is nothing subtle about how Alberta separatists scapegoat immigrants. Of course, not everyone interested in breaking away endorses xenophobic theories. But such ideas no longer stay on the fringes. They are now aired, repeated, and-crucially-normalized by the political mainstream."
"Arguments about immigrant-caused systemic strain are not supported by data. The myth of rural Alberta is a powerful rallying cry-but it doesn't match demographic reality. Alberta separatists rely on rhetoric which scapegoats immigrants as a source of social problems."
Alberta's separatist rhetoric is increasingly framed around immigration rather than traditional constitutional conflicts with Ottawa. A small minority of Albertans support separation, with key figures like Mitch Sylvester of the Alberta Prosperity Project openly promoting the great replacement theory and xenophobic policies. These separatists falsely attribute social problems to immigrants and temporary workers, claims unsupported by data. The movement employs explicit anti-immigrant language rather than subtle dog whistles, with prominent separatists promoting conspiracy theories about elites replacing white Canadians and claims about jihadist populations. Alberta's political mainstream, including Premier Danielle Smith, has normalized these xenophobic ideas by adopting MAGA-style strategies that treat newcomers as sources of social strain.
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