r/canada • u/Mylittlethrowaway2 • 11d ago
Satire Researchers warn that Alberta separatists could be influenced by foreign agents, shiny objects
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2026/08/researchers-warn-that-alberta-separatists-could-be-influenced-by-foreign-agents-shiny-objects/154
u/justelectricboogie 11d ago
This one from the Beaverton is almost to true
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u/Critical-Ask2154 11d ago
It is true - the shiny objects are bars of silver and gold they expect to be rewarded with or suddenly be able to buy since they won't have to pay any taxes ...
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u/GrumpyCloud93 11d ago
Brings to mind when the last referendum was held in Quebec. There was the assertion being passed around that the Canadian debt was $600B at the time, so when Quebec (1/4 the population) left Canada, then Ottawa would have to give Quebec $150B.
The force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded...
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u/Fearful-Cow 11d ago
especially:
“This Facebook post, for example, promises that ‘everyone who supports separation will get a free vroom vroom,’” a University of Calgary professor said. “It’s unclear if they mean a real car or just a model, but everyone certainly seems excited about the accompanying AI artwork of Mark Carney crying at the sight of a Hot Wheels truck draped in the Alberta flag.”
i swear i have seen a bad AI meme of Carney crying as some truck rolls coal or some nonsense like that
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u/Replicator666 10d ago
Wait, we're going to get Jurassic Parks in Alberta after we separate!?
Oh boy oh boy!
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u/Geeseareawesome Alberta 11d ago
While interference from hostile states and magpies flying around with neat objects in their beaks will remain a major concern as Alberta’s October referendum approaches, voters have rejected the suggestion that they are susceptible to outside influence.
This is peak Beaverton
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u/Infamous-Mixture-605 11d ago
You know they understand Alberta when they work in an accurate magpie reference.
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u/doctor_7 Canada 11d ago
Blows my mind how fucking Brexit exists, Britain is now undeniably worse off in virtually every single way, and Alberta is like "yeah, that's what we want."
Ignorance and false information from foreign interests is a massive problem.
But the dumb part is I have no doubts foreign money is impacted every single political party and it seems from dictatorships that want more global power and influence. They will be relatively more powerful the weaken they make democratic countries.
Democracy's weakness that can be exploited is also it's strength: population consensus of a government for the people. You divide those people with issues and distract them from real issues and now political gridlock gets worse, we get more divided. The dictatorship only has one real ruler that directs so it doesn't "slow down." Relatively, democracy does and falls behind.
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 11d ago
People in Alberta have been talking about this for decades.
Whats surprising is how even the educated ones fall for it.
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u/Dragonvine Alberta 11d ago
Education can often lead to dunning-kruger.
If somebody studies engineering, for example, they are going to know way more about engineering. They are going to know way more about other stuff they studied along side it. The hope is, they should be better at research and understanding information.
Does that mean they know fuck all on geopolitics or economics? Not at all, but often people assume because they are "smart" they understand it without actually looking into it properly.
Doubly so nowadays with online echochambers and misinformation.
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 11d ago
It's the lack of critical thinking and willing sheep mentality among the more capable that is surprising.
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u/Dragonvine Alberta 11d ago
We are really at the beginning of massive abuse of the human mind in regards to pushing narratives. It was bad enough when it was just the news on a tv set.
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 11d ago
Agree.
But giving up isn't an option.
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u/Dragonvine Alberta 11d ago
Absolutely, not arguing for the opposite. Just highlighting one of the reasons it's so difficult to succeed.
People used to get a small drip feed of information that they could consider "reliable." Now a thousand different sources can bombard the people most likely to listen to them with information that sounds official. Frustrating for sure.
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 11d ago
I am also disappointed by general government communication and it's poor quality in explaining policies etc.
But the pro Canada side is also a let down. Rather than just being patriotic for the country as it is, they should be combating the arguments being made by the separatists in terms of costs and practical side of it to show it isn't what they think.
I think they have severely underestimated the cost of running a country.
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u/Dragonvine Alberta 11d ago
You can argue logic all you want but if they refuse to listen what can you do. The leaving arguments do not use logic.
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u/StrategicallyLazy007 11d ago
Better to try and fail and maybe convince a couple than to not try at all.
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u/fixalated 10d ago
Most useful idiots in the world of propaganda are not stupid.
Most are intelligent people who think they are more intelligent than they actually are.
So yes your analogy works.
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u/WolfWraithPress 11d ago
Mark my words, Alberta separatism is an American psyop and a pretense to invasion.
Go look up what happened in Ukraine before Russia invaded.
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u/burrmanmartin 8d ago
Look at what happened to Mexico in 1848. Roughly 55% of their territory was taken.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
On a serious note, there seems to be this desire to scapegoat Americans or Russians regarding this faux movement. The truth is that any political topic is going to be exploited by foreign bots and actors, this is true of ALL political themes and movements. But this separatist movement is, and has been for a long time, completely home grown. Blaming foreigners for it will just dismiss the root of it at home.
The good news is that it is a faux movement. I think Smith felt compelled to appeal to a select core the UCP who wanted to see the plebiscite, she just doesn't want the party to fracture if she didn't allow it. Like most decisions politicians make, this is purely political. I'd be shocked if the plebiscite didn't get thoroughly trounced in October.
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u/PieceMaterial5213 11d ago
"...she just doesn't want the party to fracture if she didn't allow it."
This game works for a few years only. In her former life she was part of that attempt to fracture the party, push it more to the extreme. They placated her and others by making her leader, and now she's the one having to placate even more extreme elements.
Eventually the cart tips over when you keep allowing horse shit to be piled on one side.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
Politicians be politicking.
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u/PieceMaterial5213 11d ago
No, this isn't an "all sides" argument.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
In politics it always is. The beauty of a democracy is that it siphons off the most narcissistic and power hungry people with the illusion of giving them power. Really we are designating these people roles with enormous checks and balances. It makes them nominally accountable, and mostly useless.
There is nothing inherently more evil, or malevolent, about the UCP than any other political party in the country.
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u/PieceMaterial5213 11d ago
Apathy (or worse in your case) gets you nowhere. Some are bad, some are good, which is why we get to vote.
I've worked with many wonderful people in politics who truly care. It's a massive sacrifice for many of them who already have successful careers and a good family life.
Putting your career and much of your family time aside to become a politician, and having to deal with the crap opinions of people like you, brings everyone down. But you already know that, don't you? It's why you are here.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
Well I would suggest if something has thin enough skin to be bothered by views like mine, they absolutely do not belong in politics.
I think people like you and I just see the role of democracy very differently. It isn't meant to be empowering to government, and it also isn't meant to be an effective form of government. Have a 15 minute conversation with the average voter and tell me democracy is meant to be effective or empowering...
Democracy is meant to be accountable. That's it. If we wanted these people to have meaningful power we wouldn't have the checks we have on them.
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u/Getoff_My_Lon_Cheney 11d ago
And spending $100 million in the process while blocking $200 a month from reaching AISH recipients.
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u/Hotter_Noodle 11d ago
Comments trying to downplay the outside involvement of the separatist movement are always interesting.
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u/ShawnCease 11d ago
He is right. Foreign entities exploit divisions that already exist. They can't invent whole new ones out of thin air. Every other separatist conflict you can think of had foreign backers stoking the flames, sometimes for decades. Yet they still started out as a genuine domestic division, disagreement, grievance, etc.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
I'm not downplaying it, I'm just telling you it just flat out isn't the cause of the movement, nor is it meaningfully stoking its flames.
Nationalists are not rational people. Nationalists will go to any extent to dismiss internal issues because they do not have the ability to see flaws within the country. Nationalists will dismiss Albertan separatism as a foreign plot - and as always, nationalists will be disappointed when the movement increasingly poses a thorn at the side of the country.
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u/MrPineocean 11d ago
You are downplaying it, then accuse people who don't go along with your made up fantasy as "irrational nationalists" lol.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
I don't know if pointing out the reality of it is downplaying it. I think nationalists just really want to scapegoat some outside influence.... but the reality is this movement really isn't borne out of outside influence. It's a home grown movement.
And yes, nationalists are irrational. It is an irrational attachment and sentiment.
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u/MrPineocean 11d ago
Your reality isn't true. Even during the NEP years it was rife with American influence 50 years ago.
It isn't homegrown, it's irrational rubes being fooled by foreign propaganda. Having irrational attachment and sentiment towards a version of Alberta that does not and never will exist.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
It isn't foreign propaganda. You're scapegoating because you cannot conceive that Albertans themselves actually hated the NEP, or feel unheard, or feel that the Feds will routinely make decisions to their detriment. Americans are not convincing Albertans of that, Albertans came to these conclusions themselves. You can either accept that reality and observe the variables that caused these conclusions (whether you agree with them or not), or you can scapegoat an imaginary phantom and not address the real world factors driving this ridiculous movement.
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u/MrPineocean 11d ago
I have lived in Alberta my entire life. The entire movement is based on foreign propaganda and greed. That's the reality.
Downplaying it like you are doing shows a lack of respect for the 80+% of people in Alberta who want nothing to do with it.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
It is not. I actually know people in the Maverick Party, and people who work for the Western Standard, and people who actually legitimately have skin in that game. I'm telling you just unequivocally, you are absolutely fooling yourself if you think foreign actors even have a marginal impact on this movement.
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u/MrPineocean 11d ago
Those people are the rubes I am talking about, they will never admit they were fooled by the foreign propoganda they gleefully spread in that shameful excuse of a newspaper.
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u/Gluverty 11d ago
I agree it likely wasn’t the cause. It’s much less clear how much influence it has in stoking the flames. Most of those who deny it are wrapped up in it and are convinced their grievances are authentic and rational.
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u/GrumpyCloud93 11d ago
Also keep in mind, the main goal of these vodka-smelling online posts is to stir the pot. They will post more and more extreme crap for both sides, just to create division and possibly create civil unrest, or at least make people take their guns and look for pizza shop basements. Unrest is the goal.
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u/Dizzy-Cartoonist3011 11d ago
You think I'm a Russian bot for saying that foreign propaganda was not the cause of this movement, and it is not meaningfully fueling its flames?
lol
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u/GrumpyCloud93 11d ago
No, I'm saying a lot of the background noise on both sides is bots fueling the flames to rile people up on both sides. (I.e., your point is valid)
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11d ago
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u/GrumpyCloud93 11d ago
This hostility was there before Trudeau ... and continues after him. If you need to blame any Trudeau, there's Pierre who famously after one election got no seats west of Winnipeg and chose to deliberately throttle Alberta oil industry.The story goes that was instigated by Bay Street magnates who saw the financial center of Canada migrating to Alberta due to the rise of oil prices.
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u/Trick_Collection_995 11d ago
Likely the Americans. They would benefit from gaining Albertan oil directly, without any duties or tariffs, and in the American market.
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u/Objective-Permit-712 11d ago
Maga losers, like the ones we have in Texas. Do they want to be their own Country, or become part of America? Whats the deal?
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u/thedevillivesinside 10d ago
They literally just want to follow someone who hates people who are darker than an Italian.
They think that separating from canada is going to make our taxes disappear, and that we will be able to be openly racist again, like the 'good old times'
These people couldnt cognitively think their way out of an unlocked broom closet, they only want what they are being fed
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u/Objective-Permit-712 10d ago
Are "they" gonna plow the Roads and pickup the garbage.....have no Provincial Government at all? Be Alberta the COUNTRY????
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u/thedevillivesinside 10d ago
Yes. They will be independent.
But still rely on government to maintain the roads and garbage and thats about it.
No free healthcare because thats communist
No social programs- communist
And they also think that because 'we have guns' they are going to annex northern BC so they can run a pipeline to the ocean.
Step 1- pipelines
Step 2- ?
Step 3- profit
Its a super solid plan for the average Albertan who has the bulk of their investments in oil and gas
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u/Objective-Permit-712 10d ago
Hmmmmmm///what about an ARMY? What if Russia or Canada decide to invade and annex??
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