1-in-4 Albertans would vote to separate in a referendum, Angus Reid poll suggests

A new Angus Reid Institute poll shows that if a referendum were held tomorrow, one-in-four Albertans would vote to leave Canada.

For Albertans like Dianne Peake, it's not a far-fetched idea.

She said the country is facing a high-stakes federal election, after nearly a decade of Liberal rule.

Peake spoke with CBC News outside the Pierre Polievre rally in Nisku on Monday.

She said in the upcoming election a Conservative win is critical for national unity.

"If the Liberals get in — Alberta will separate, guaranteed," Peake said.

She said if Mark Carney's Liberals form government, she would be in favour of separating.

It's a sentiment that has come up a few times during this election campaign. Reform Party founder Preston Manning said in a Globe and Mail column last week that a vote for Mark Carney's Liberals is a vote for Western separation. 

Angus Reid said the separatist tone was higher in 2019, in the aftermath of the Energy East pipeline cancellation and threats to the TransMountain expansion. 

The new Angus Reid poll released this week also showed that only 24 per cent of Alberta residents feel their province is respected by the rest of the country, which is less than half the level of the national average, 52 per cent.  

Jared Wesley, a political scientist at the University of Alberta, said some people feel this way partly out of frustration of Conservatives losing election after election. But for some, it runs deeper.

"The hardcore separatists in Alberta are really part of a global group of folks who are quite frankly tired of losing not just elections, but losing credibility, losing their livelihoods and don't know quite who or what to blame, but they know something big has to change," Wesley said.

In his own survey research, Wesley found separatists tend to be older, white and live in rural areas. They often have high school education or sometimes trades education. They are likely to be men who work in industries that are more precarious like oil and gas, Wesley said.

"These are folks whose livelihoods are not only being challenged because of economics and job loss, but they're also being challenged because it's no longer seen as being an honourable profession — being seen as part of the problem when it comes to oil and gas."