Alberta separatists claim Ottawa vote proves pipeline agreement is “useless”

Alberta separatists are declaring that they have been proven right after a federal vote on the province’s energy agreement with Ottawa failed in the House of Commons.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Alberta separatists are declaring that they have been proven right after a federal vote on the province’s energy agreement with Ottawa failed in the House of Commons. Leaders of the movement claim the vote proved the memorandum of understanding was “useless” and showed Alberta has no future within Canada.

The Alberta Prosperity Project said in a Tuesday news release that its earlier warnings had come true after MPs from all parties, except the Conservatives, voted against an opposition motion. The motion used the exact language of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The final vote was 196 against and 139 in favour.

“Premier Danielle Smith had touted the MOU as a breakthrough just weeks ago, promising it would ‘unleash our energy sector.’ Yet, in a move that reeks of bad faith, the Liberal caucus – led by Mark Carney – rejected the very commitments they had inked,” reads the news release. “This isn’t mere parliamentary gamesmanship; it’s a deliberate sabotage of Alberta’s economic lifeline.”

On November 28, the day after the MOU was signed, the CEO of the APP, Mitch Sylvestre, called it “a useless piece of paper with no binding commitments, no guaranteed pipeline, and no surrender of federal authority over Alberta’s energy sector.”

In an email sent on Tuesday, the group said, “We told you so; (the) Liberal vote proves Smith-Carney MOU was worthless and Confederation is irreparably broken.”

Just minutes before the federal opposition motion failed, the Alberta legislature unanimously endorsed the MOU, with 63 MLAs voting in favour and zero against.

Sylvestre said Smith presented the MOU as a historic breakthrough.

“Mark Carney and the Liberals just proved it was pure theatre. Confederation is not reformable. It is broken beyond repair,” he said. “Today’s vote is the final proof that staying in Canada means permanent economic sabotage. The only realistic path to pipelines, prosperity, and self-determination is independence.”

The federal opposition to the MOU follows decades of federal neglect to Alberta, according to the APP.

“It’s the latest chapter in a decades-long saga of federal neglect – from the National Energy Program of the 1980s to endless delays on projects like Energy East and Trans Mountain. Alberta sends billions in equalization payments to Ottawa, only to see our resource sector strangled by carbon taxes, regulatory red tape, and virtue-signalling policies that prioritize “net zero” fantasies over real jobs and prosperity,” said the group.

Constitutional Lawyer Keith Wilson said the imbalance in Confederation violates the spirit of the constitutional compact.

“Alberta’s contributions far exceed what we receive in return,” he said. “It’s time to renegotiate or walk away.”

The APP said the events in Ottawa should motivate Albertans to accelerate the province’s independence movement.

The group confirmed it would begin its door-to-door signature collection drive in late January 2026.

Alberta Prosperity Project General Counsel Jeffrey Rath told True North the APP already has over 300,000 pledges to sign the petition, well above the 177,000 signatures required to be collected in 120 days.