Canada Doesn’t Need Secessionist: We Are Fractured—But That Doesn’t Mean We Should Shatter

Image Credit, Manfred Richter

Canada is bruised. Parts of this country are strained to the breaking point. The cost of living is spiraling. Healthcare systems are overrun. Housing has become a luxury, not a right. Infrastructure is aging faster than it’s being renewed. Climate disasters are hitting harder and more often. And on top of all of this, trust in federal leadership is wearing thin. These are real problems—painful ones. But let’s be clear: pain is not a reason to give up. Discontent is not a reason to divide. Just because Canada is fractured doesn’t mean we need to shatter it altogether.

Still, some provincial leaders seem to believe otherwise. Quebec tried—twice—to leave. And both times, the people said no. Not because they were in denial about their issues, but because they understood that the problems they faced couldn’t be solved by isolation. Now, Alberta under Premier Danielle Smith is once again floating the idea of “sovereignty.” Another province suggesting that secession is somehow the solution to a country that isn’t functioning the way it should. But let’s be honest: this isn’t a solution. It’s a political illusion, a desperate escape hatch that avoids the harder task of governing responsibly and collaboratively.

It’s easy to understand the frustrations fueling these movements. In Alberta, there’s a legitimate case to be made that the federal government has failed to respect the province’s economic core: energy. Policies that have felt dismissive or even punitive toward Alberta’s oil and gas sector have pushed the province to the edge. People feel unheard, undervalued, and stuck. But frustration should not be mistaken for justification. Alberta’s problems are Canada’s problems—and Canada doesn’t fix its challenges by breaking itself apart.

In Quebec, long-standing cultural tensions and identity politics continue to dominate the conversation. But here’s the thing: Quebec is not alone in feeling different, in struggling with federal decisions, or in wanting greater autonomy. That’s a feeling every province has had at one point or another. The problem is when that feeling is weaponized into separatism. And unfortunately, too many premiers are tone-deaf to how exhausting this cycle has become. They mistake the people’s exhaustion with dysfunction for an appetite for destruction.

Let’s stop pretending secession is a courageous path forward. It’s not. It’s a detour that leads nowhere. And it dodges the real issue: bad governance exists at every level. If Quebec is pushing policies that alienate half its own population—like language laws that stifle diversity and fuel resentment—then that’s a provincial problem, not a national one. If Alberta is struggling under the weight of a poor relationship with Ottawa, that’s an issue that calls for negotiation and reform, not withdrawal.

No premier should be so self-indulgent to believe that because they’ve had a rough time working with the federal government, the only solution is to leave the country. That’s not bold. That’s escapist. We expect more from our leaders than ultimatums. We expect solutions, vision, and commitment to the hard work of fixing what’s broken—not just in their own provinces, but in the country as a whole.

What makes it worse is the hypocrisy. The same premiers who cry foul about federal overreach often fail to address the inequalities within their own borders. Indigenous communities continue to face neglect, underfunding, and broken promises. Regional disparities exist not just between provinces, but within them. Urban and rural divides are deepening. Education, housing, healthcare—these aren’t abstract federal issues. They are lived realities that provinces have a direct hand in managing. And far too often, those same premiers pointing fingers at Ottawa are ignoring their own backyards.

Then there’s the matter of Indigenous treaties and sovereignty. If a province wants to break from the federation, what happens to the historic and legal obligations owed to Indigenous peoples? These agreements are with the Crown, not provincial governments. Are First Nations expected to be dragged along without consent? That would be a grave injustice. And the assumption that provinces can secede without fully accounting for Indigenous rights is not only reckless—it’s colonial in its thinking.

Let’s also not ignore the logistical and economic absurdities of secession. Who pays the debts? Who owns the assets? Who provides the passports, the defense, the international agreements? A breakaway Alberta or Quebec wouldn’t be born into independence—it would be born into chaos. Trade would suffer. Investment would flee. Families would be split between jurisdictions. And the country’s standing on the world stage would be diminished.

We are already in a fragile place. Breaking this country into pieces won’t fix that. It will make everything worse. Imagine trying to renegotiate every system and service we take for granted: healthcare transfers, pension plans, climate cooperation, interprovincial trade, national defense. That’s not sovereignty. That’s self-sabotage.

Canada is not functioning as well as it should. But the answer is not to walk away—it’s to do the hard work of building something better. We need premiers who understand that national unity is not a barrier to progress. It is the foundation upon which progress stands. The reason we have the ability to fight for better education, better health care, and climate resilience is because we are stronger together. That’s not a slogan—it’s a reality. And it’s one we forget at our own peril.

Premiers who talk about secession are, at best, out of touch. They are listening to the loudest voices in the room and mistaking them for a mandate. But the quiet majority across this country—Albertans, Quebecers, and everyone in between—are not clamoring for separation. They are begging for things to get better. They are asking for housing that doesn’t break the bank. For health care that doesn’t leave them in waiting rooms for hours. For action on climate change that doesn’t destroy livelihoods in the process. For a country that works—for everyone.

Secession doesn’t solve any of that. It doesn’t reduce inequality. It doesn’t bring reconciliation. It doesn’t fix hospitals, or schools, or roads. It creates new borders, new fights, and new uncertainties. It pulls attention away from the real issues—and that’s the tragedy. Because if premiers devoted half as much energy to actually fixing their provinces as they do to drafting sovereignty bills and complaining about Ottawa, we might actually see meaningful change.

Canada is a patchwork of tensions and contradictions—but that’s always been part of its identity. We are not a perfect union. But we are a union for a reason. Because despite the frictions, we are better together. That doesn’t mean we stop criticizing the federal government when it fails. That doesn’t mean we stop demanding reform. But it does mean we stop entertaining this fantasy that independence is the cure for everything.

There’s work to be done. And it starts with leaders who understand that their job is to govern, not grandstand. To unite, not divide. To fix what’s broken—not to break the very thing that gives us hope.

This country doesn’t need to be broken up. It needs to be made better. And that’s still possible—if we stop wasting time with talk of leaving, and start doing the work of leading.