{"id":778793,"date":"2026-07-04T01:12:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/778793\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T01:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T01:12:22","slug":"pipelines-separatism-take-centre-stage-at-calgary-stampede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/778793\/","title":{"rendered":"Pipelines, separatism take centre stage at Calgary Stampede"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Calgary Stampede Princess Sarah O’Brien carries the Canadian flag during the national anthem before the start of the rodeo, Friday.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

For eight months, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith<\/a> has argued that delivering an oil pipeline to the West Coast would be the antidote to fight off burbling separatist sentiment in her province and, in her words, prove that \u201cCanada can work.\u201d<\/p>\n

It just so happened, on Thursday, that as she unveiled her government\u2019s proposal for a new bitumen pipeline to southern B.C., a number of Canada\u2019s political and business leaders were dusting off their cowboy boots and hats at the first corporate parties of this year\u2019s Calgary Stampede, which runs until July 12.<\/p>\n

In jointly announcing<\/a> support for a pipeline that would increase Alberta\u2019s oil output by one million barrels per day, Ms. Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney would have been hard pressed to create a bigger splash ahead of the annual rodeo, a famous business and political networking jamboree. Over the next week-plus, a variety of corporate parties will be held across the city that is home to Canada\u2019s energy sector \u2013 an industry that has warmed to the Liberal Prime Minister after a protracted battle with his predecessor\u2019s government over energy and environmental policy.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Stampede may be one of the more unusual rodeos as voters in the oil-rich province also contend with the spectre of a fall referendum that will ask them to consider their province\u2019s future within Canada. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, centre, flips pancakes at the Calgary Stampede alongside Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne, second right, and Calgary Mayor Farkas, right, on Thursday.Dayne Patterson\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

For more than a year, that conversation has been intertwined with the politics of resource development. In March, 2025, Ms. Smith threatened a \u201cnational unity crisis\u201d if Ottawa didn\u2019t reverse course on a bevy of environmental and energy laws she said were stifling the oilpatch.<\/p>\n

Since then, the two leaders have worked to make peace, with Mr. Carney stripping most of the laws Ms. Smith vocally abhorred in their joint pursuit of building an oil pipeline.<\/p>\n

But those moves haven\u2019t quelled separatists, many of whom are members of Ms. Smith\u2019s United Conservative Party. In May, Ms. Smith announced that on Oct. 19, Albertans will pick between two options: remaining in Canada, or starting the political wranglings to holding a second, binding referendum.<\/p>\n

For separatists, this year\u2019s Stampede represents an opportunity to reach an urban audience, many of whom bristle at the notion of leaving Canada. Let Alberta Decide, a group started by lawyer Keith Wilson and rancher Tanya Clemons, will cap Stampede next Sunday with a pancake breakfast at Ranchman\u2019s, one of Calgary\u2019s biggest western bars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cities and places where there\u2019s undecided voters is largely where we\u2019re trying to target our campaign,\u201d Ms. Clemons said in an interview. \u201cA lot of rural [people] are very much in support of Alberta independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: Will Alberta\u2019s pipeline proposal help tamp down separatist sentiment?<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal politicians are also expected to turn out in droves this Stampede. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre<\/a> was in his rural Alberta riding earlier this week flipping pancakes on Canada Day and on horseback in Friday\u2019s Stampede parade; his party\u2019s annual barbecue is scheduled for Saturday in Calgary.<\/p>\n

Corey Hogan, the Liberal MP for Calgary-Confederation, said roughly three-dozen Liberal MPs are expected to be in the city for the rodeo. <\/p>\n

Mr. Hogan said that he and the party\u2019s two other Albertan caucus members, Eleanor Olszewski and Matt Jeneroux, encouraged their colleagues earlier this year to etch Stampede into their calendars \u2013 not only because of the referendum, but because it\u2019s good for business.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are never going to get more work done than you are in those 10 days of Stampede,\u201d Mr. Hogan said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during the Calgary Stampede parade, Friday.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

While Alberta business groups have raised concerns about the fall referendum being a destabilizing force for investment, Thursday night\u2019s pipeline announcement was viewed as a key moment that could take the wind out of separatists\u2019 sails.<\/p>\n

Brett Wilson, a well-known Calgary-based oilman and investor, said that despite his gripes with aspects of the proposal, \u201cwe\u2019ve got something happening in a world where two years ago … it would have never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis noise of separation doesn\u2019t really get us much further ahead of where we are now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Calgary\u2019s business community was quietly optimistic at last year\u2019s Stampede about the country\u2019s direction under the newly elected Mr. Carney, Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said. <\/p>\n

A year later, concerns around roadblocks to resource development \u2013 factors Ms. Yedlin believes have largely animated Alberta\u2019s separatist movement \u2013 have now largely been removed, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think, from a separatist standpoint, it\u2019s going to be a whole lot harder to say Ottawa doesn\u2019t listen to us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms. Yedlin said the pipeline\u2019s potential designation as a project of national interest is an implicit endorsement of federalism: \u201cYou can\u2019t have a nation-building project if the province chooses to separate\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Boessenkool, one of the frontmen for Lead Not Leave, a pro-Canada policy group advocating for a \u201cstrong Alberta within a United Canada,\u201d said he believes the pipeline announcement has damaged the separatist cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just making it more and more irrelevant. Like, why are we talking about separatism when things are working? Why are we doing this?\u201d <\/p>\n

But Ms. Clemons, one of the leaders of Let Alberta Decide, said she\u2019s not persuaded by Ms. Smith\u2019s pipeline proposal. \u201cI think it\u2019s asking Albertans to celebrate something that isn\u2019t actually tangible or real yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Calgary Stampede Princess Sarah O’Brien carries the Canadian flag during the national anthem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,2798,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-778793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}