When Canadians look at Alberta's Separatist Movement, I certainly find it helpful to look at this from the view of democratic principles. And I agree with Patrick Lennox and Margaret Moore's piece from the Walrus. But, I'd rather look at politicians from a self-interested point of view, focused on the acquisition and then the maintenance of power. From this view, Danielle Smith is a deeply flawed politician, personally and professionally mired in a Corrupt Care scandal that continues to unfold in public view.

If the Corrupt Care allegations are any indicator, Smith's network of people both maintain and serve this system of gateways, essentially directing the flow of money to the right people to hold open the right doors. By this very same view, the separatist movement can similarly be assessed. Canadians are aware of the strong likelihood that the Alberta Separatist Movement receives support from US and Russian Information Operations. Canada is also aware that members of the Alberta Prosperity Project met with US officials, and sought a $500 B line of credit.

While the Walrus' Jessica Davis, in "The Russian Money Behind Alberta’s Separatist Movement", rightly points out that Alberta Separation is big business, the greater point remains: Alberta Separatists are trying to create and impose a new network of gatekeepers for their own advantage.

https://thewalrus.ca/the-russian-money-behind-albertas-separatist-movement

https://archive.is/fYhnS

For example, Jeffrey Rath, a prominent member of Alberta Prosperity Project and Stay Free Alberta, was embroiled in controversy in the summer of 2026 over his alleged mishandling of Tallcree First Nation funds that began in 2017. Tallcree received a $57.6 M settlement from the Canadian Federal Government, and Jeffrey Rath was retained to hold these funds in trust. By 2026, Tallcree continues to dispute the legal fees charged by Rath.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/jeff-rath-tallcree-first-nation-court-9.7270118

Similarly, Rath faces litigation from Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/sturgeon-lake-cree-nation-jeff-rath-alberta-fees-9.7273671

But, by fall of 2026, Global's Ashleigh Stewart and Charles Rusnell's piece, "Alberta separatist leader Rath faces $109M debt claim from US investors", revealed to Canadians that an American litigation funder, Diriba Investments LLC, sought $100 M in alleged debt.

https://globalnews.ca/news/12049115/alberta-separatist-leader-rath-faces-109m-debt-claim-from-us-investors/

But behind the scenes, his firm was pursuing cases bankrolled in part by litigation funding — an arrangement that has allegedly left the firm, and potentially the proceeds of some of Rath’s biggest cases, indebted to U.S. investors.

Litigation funding is a large and controversial industry, primarily in the U.S. It allows outside investors to pay a lawyer’s costs to pursue legal cases in exchange for a share of the compensation if the case is won.

In a 2018 agreement, Diriba and Western Springs Investments LP, another funder incorporated in Delaware, signed on to finance some of RathPC’s legal work. In return, the firm granted the funders security over a negotiated portion of its resulting fees and other compensation. Western Springs appointed Diriba to act as agent for both funders.

While Political Scientists will be quick to point out that having a mixed-motive does not make it the only motive, I suggest that at least some in the Alberta Separatist Movement have either motivations of profit or are trying to mitigate or remedy overexposed positions by trading one network of gatekeepers for the American flag. I also want to further insist that this power gatekeeping view is not mutually exclusive with the principles of democracy. I'd also suggest that power gatekeepers do not have to act against democracy either.

I would argue that Premier Danielle Smith's alleged interests, along with Jeffrey Rath's interests, and others, collectively incentivized a series of attacks on Alberta's democratic institutions, such as Elections Alberta, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, Alberta Health Services Privacy Office, and others, weakening Alberta's democracy.

I'll include some highlights from the Walrus' Patrick Lennox and Margaret Moore piece as well:

Some might nonetheless find the idea of a referendum romantic: a rare opportunity to capture the public will on a question of great importance. Under the right conditions, direct democracy might live up to that promise. But the ten-question exercise in national sabotage set in motion by the ostensibly federalist United Conservative Party government, set for October 19, hardly qualifies.

To understand why, it helps to break the referendum process into three distinct phases, following the framework developed in Stephen Tierney’s book, Constitutional Referendums, which is still the most exhaustive book on referendums to date. Each phase can be evaluated on its own democratic merits—and, taken together, they reveal just how far Alberta’s process falls short.

...

Alberta’s UCP was not formed as a separatist party, nor were they elected in either 2019 or 2023 on a platform advocating for a referendum on secession, or on any other matter. Does it therefore have a democratic mandate to subject Albertans—and Canadians—to a divisive vote? No, it does not.

...

The problem, then, is not simply the wording of the final question but the architecture of the ballot itself. A mechanism ostensibly intended to reveal popular will also establishes the frame through which that will is expressed. Therein lies the duplicity of what Smith has wrought: any vote whose design helps steer what voters think has little democratic merit.

...

The UCP has done less than nothing to protect Albertans and Canadians from such serious and sophisticated forms of manipulation. Rather than vigilantly defend the public sphere, and the cognitive sovereignty of its citizens, the government has taken deliberate legislative steps to weaken Elections Alberta and its capacity to investigate malfeasance. Moreover, it has gone ahead with the vote while the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Elections Alberta, and the privacy commissioner continue to investigate what may be the largest breach of voter data in Canadian history—one that potentially exposed Alberta’s voters list to well-financed actors on the global far right.