If Canada turns down US statehood, what about just oil-rich Alberta?

If Canada won't take Donald Trump up on his offer to become the 51st state, one Canadian has a counteroffer: What about just Alberta?

Foothills, Alberta, lawyer Jeffrey Rath says he and a lot of Albertans have “had it” with the Trudeau government and, increasingly, even with Canada itself. He says if Canada isn’t interested in becoming the 51st state, then Alberta should accept President Donald Trump’s invitation.

'We're fed up, and we see no reason to continue being governed by complete idiots from Ontario and Quebec who don't even know where their oil comes from.'

As he wrote in a recent Substack post:

With the election of Donald Trump, Alberta has a unique opportunity to shed its inferior status as a Canadian "province" (effectively a colony of Ontario and Quebec) and become an American state.

There is no doubt that President Donald Trump would happily announce Alberta statehood as the greatest real estate deal since the Louisiana Purchase as the culmination of the American 250th anniversary celebration.

First steps

Rath has organized a blue-ribbon committee to move Alberta first on the road to independence and then to join the United States.

“We've had, I've said, several steering committee meetings today. I mean, I'm working with people. We're putting together a package of materials and briefing notes and those types of things," he told Align.

"We don't want to go down there [to Washington] and come across as anything other than serious professionals with a serious professional message that we want to deliver."

Although the immediate catalyst for Rath's plan was Trump's offer — as well as the current tariff crisis and trade war with the U.S. — Rath said he’s “been feeling this way” for three years at least.

Remember the Freedom Convoy

“I have to say, it really came to a head for me when [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau unnecessarily declared the War Measures Act against my fellow Albertans who simply went to Ottawa to peacefully protest,” Rath said, in reference to Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act to crush the Freedom Convoy, a trucker-based protest against the COVID-19 mandates that was centered in Canada’s capital of Ottawa in February 2022.

Rath called Trudeau’s draconian measure "an anti-Canadian unconstitutional violation of our rights. … You know, we need to take our dirty, smelly diesel trucks and our dirty, smelly oil and go home, or face 10 years in an Ontario prison.”

Rath is also furious over the federal government's talk of using Alberta oil and gas to fight Trump’s tariff — despite Canadian law giving provinces jurisdiction over their natural resources.

"We're fed up, and we see no reason to continue being governed by complete idiots from Ontario and Quebec who don't even know where their oil comes from."

Ignorant threats

As evidence of this ignorance, Rath cited the federal government's threat in January to cut oil exports from Alberta to the U.S., a move that rankled local leadership.

"They were all too dumb to know that their own oil comes from Alberta, goes down through Michigan, up through Line 9 Illinois, and then back into Ontario and Quebec. So if they shut off Alberta oil, they would effectively be doing what a lot of Albertans suggested that we should do [in the first place] … let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark."

Rath also slammed Ontario Premier Doug Ford for his continued threats to shut off the electricity to the U.S., saying doing so would constitute an "act of war."

"If you crash the northeast power grid, there's going to be at least 500 or 600 deaths, whether it's from traffic lights going out or ventilators [at hospitals] failing."

COVID all over again?

Rath compared the current euphoria over counter-tariffs against the U.S. to the pro-vaccine groupthink that dominated the country's media and government during the COVID pandemic. Like the vaccine, counter-tariffs are not the cure for what ails Canada.

For that, Rath suggests Canadians look closer to home.

“Everybody keeps forgetting that the Trudeau junta is preparing to slap us all with a 21% increase in the carbon tax in April."

Rath said this carbon tax would likely cripple the Canadian economy far more than any of Trump's tariffs. "It's right across the board on all energy, all home heating, trucks, cars, anything people need to go to work,” Rath told Align.

“And maybe the reason that Trudeau is so mad about this and thinks it's the end of Canada is because he doesn't want to back off on his 21% carbon tax. He's already booked that and cooked that into the books.”

Check out the full interview with Rath below: