Bruce Anderson

just what would happen if this conversation about independence or separation became part of the discussion in financial markets around investment in the province became

a dynamic in terms of relationships with Indigenous groups and the challenges that would pose to the major projects that she and the federal government are interested in.

The fact that she's not really doing that, I think, is an abrogation of responsibility and one that she should be held to account for by Alberta voters.

I think Pierre Polyev is not anywhere near as active in using his voice.

The survey work that we did suggested that for that 13% of Albertans, typically younger urban and suburban people who are kind of on the fence about what would be the economic impact of separation.

Pauli Ebb and Harper are important voices for them.

They tend to be conservative voters, not as categorically conservative or as far right as those rural older grievance oriented separatist voters in Alberta.

They're on the fence and they do want to know what Pierre Polyev thinks about it.

And they do want to know what Daniel Smith thinks about it.

And they especially want to know what Stephen Harper thinks about this idea.

So all of those voices being Alberta voices should be more active in this conversation and should be heard from more.

The last couple of things for me.

You know, Alberta is typically the part of the country where we hear the most from knowledgeable people, especially in the business community who say investment is fragile.

Investment depends on political stability.

It depends on a line of sight to regulation and government and its role in the economy.

And we shouldn't mess that up.

And typically that's voiced as an expectation or a demand aimed at the federal government.

Federal government is making it too complicated, too difficult, too uncertain about how to in terms of how to attract investment.

But this is a giant question mark that is starting to become more noticeable to the investment community at a time when most of the business community seems to be saying, well, we want to draw more investment into Canada.

We want to increase our relationships with other jurisdictions.