Hey! Alberta
Hey Albertans. UK resident here. I understand you're thinking of leaving Canada, or something. We sort of did the same thing 10 years ago when 17% of the UK population voted for us to leave the European Union. They called it Brexit.
Brexit was sold to us as "taking back control" and "sovereignty". Brexit would mean we could determine our own laws, instead of those pesky Germans and Frenchies (the "establishment") telling us what to do.
We could control who came into the country, stopping all those refugees coming here from countries we started wars in.
Britain was so great that other countries would be fighting each other to make incredible trade deals with us, free from European restraints. We could determine our own tariffs, it would be like printing our own money.
The other side, the side of status quo, singularly failed to promote the benefits of EU membership, thinking people would be aware of all the things they just take for granted in everyday life. The things we no longer have.
Since Brexit the UK has struggled. You see it in the town centres where rows of stores stand empty. You see it in the stores that still trade; the range of food is much more limited, it's smaller, more expensive, less choice.
You see it in the potholed roads, the grass verges left to overgrow, the sidewalks where paving slabs are broken or dangerously uneven.
You see it online, where something bought from Europe takes forever to cone, costs more and incurs an import tax. That's if they even trade with the UK, as the costs and complexity of the UK and European companies doing business with each other means it's just not worth the time and expense to offer products to that market.
So many businesses that thrived doing trade with Europe have closed.
Once you could step on a train in London and step off in Paris within a couple of hours, no need for a passport or papers. Vacations to Spain were simple affairs; get on plane, fly, get off, walk out to vacation. Now it's all special queues for UK travellers, proper customs, passports at the ready, whilst European travellers just breeze past.
You could get a job in Portugal, Belguim or Italy and just go there and start work. No complicated visas or red tape to wade through.
You could buy a house in The Netherlands and just move out there to live the rest of your life.
It was that straightforward.
Now that is all gone.
Imagine that, Albertans. You want to go see your brother in Manitoba? Better get your passport ready and your visa sorted out. You can have a promotion in your job, but it means moving to Ottowa. You'll need passport and visa, then all paperwork allowing you to actually work there and live there needs sorting out. That all takes time - and money. Maybe your healthcare and pension don't work in Ottowa.
We were promised the "sunlit uplands" of Brexit. We were promised a "Brexit dividend" once we were fully out of our EU membership. The UK was going to explode into a colossal trading behemoth, we would all feel the massive benefit of it both societally and economically. Britain would be Great again.
None of that has happened.
What has actually happened is that the UK has shrunk. It has become insular and fragmented. It's a more hostile place, especially for those who weren't born with white skin. Nationalism is on the rise here, the xenophobes and racists emboldened by the Brexit result.
The UK is poorer after Brexit. Even the Prime Minister has noticed after years of previous Prime Ministers telling us that it will be great, we just need to give it time. Well, we've given it time - ten years to be exact. A decade later, it's painfully obvious that it hasn't worked and the UK isn't better off after Brexit.
Let Brexit be a warning to Alberta. Separation will not bring wealth/control/sovereignty to Alberta. It won't get all the brown faces off the street, create millions of jobs, make everything cheaper or put more money in your pocket. You will be poorer and you will be weaker and Canada will be weaker.
Look at what you've got and then look at what the UK has lost. That will be you if you vote to leave.