Alberta needs electoral reform, not separatist politics

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Sunny South News

Politics and good governance may be boring to most people, but I do hope they are paying attention to the undercurrent of rage and frustration brewing in Alberta.

From the “fascist pancakes” lady in front of Premier Smith at K-Days, to the Second Sons brazenly parading across the overpass at Aldersyde, to Ezra Levant and Tamara Lich bringing their ‘Campaign for Independence’ (separation from Canada) to Okotoks, we live in troubling times.

Albertans are being manipulated, friends and family are being torn apart, and rifts between neighbours are occurring due to their choice of flag or other signs in front of their homes.

In my opinion, at the heart of all this vitriol lies real justifiable anger in that most Albertans do not feel properly represented in the provincial legislature or the federal Parliament or Senate.

We have a growing democratic deficit.

Alberta’s separatist movement wasn’t caused by our voting system, but the ‘First Past The Post’ (FPTP) voting system helped create the conditions for it to flourish. As University of Alberta Law Professor Roderick Wood told the Canadian Press after the 2025 federal election, FPTP is creating results in Parliament that exacerbate western grievances:

“What first-past-the-post does is create a distortion,” said Wood. “It accentuates these regional difficulties.”

There is a solution and it’s proven to work in other countries around the world, where the citizens are consistently surveyed as being amongst the happiest on the planet. In fact, of the 26 OEDC countries with parliaments, 77 per cent of them have coalition governments that were elected via proportional representation.

Can you imagine…

Voting in a federal election in which the final results are not known until the very last vote across the Prairies and in B.C. is counted…

Voting for the party and person who best aligns with your values and principles…

Voter turnout increasing from 61 per cent in Alberta (2023 provincial election) to 84 per cent in Denmark (2026 general election) as an example, because people have renewed faith in their democratic institutions and more choices than an American-style two-party system that encourages corruption via gerrymandering.

(AB went from five political parties in 2015 down to three in 2019 and then just two in 2023).

Politics with proportional representation is less polarized. Decisions on everything, including the rules of democracy itself, have broader consensus, and a proposed change based solely on one party’s short-term self-interest simply isn’t going to fly.

It’s time for Albertans to start asking themselves – and their MLA, MP – if unaccountable majority governments, a polarized two-party system, and a heightened risk of more democratic erosion is the best they can hope for.

Given the magnitude of ‘nation-building’ decisions being made (potentially using taxpayer funds) and in light of the worsening climate crisis, it’s imperative that every Albertan is represented fairly and freely.

 Gordon Petersen
Okotoks