Would you support B.C. separating from Canada?

Poll: BC separatism

Photo: Province of BC/Flickr

The new group, The B.C. Prosperity Project, has established itself on Vancouver Island and is talking about B.C. separating from the rest of Canada with a separate Alberta and a separate Saskatchewan.

In 2017, Cory Pahl was a candidate for the Cascadia Party of British Columbia, whose official goals included the creation of a provincial assembly that would assert the sovereign rights of "British Columbians, Canadians and Cascadians."

Cascadia, the concept of commonality between British Columbia and U.S. states in the Pacific Northwest, has roots dating back to the 19th century and beyond. It has sometimes been expressed as a desire for nationhood — although Pahl said the party never campaigned for the creation of a Cascadian nation, with British Columbia as part of it.

While he acknowledged the "separatism kind of discussion" surrounding the idea of Cascadia, he wanted nothing to do with a new expression of B.C. separatism, fuelled by anti-Ottawa sentiments, alienation from mainstream politics, and a sense of allegiance with similar movements in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Pahl said the Cascadian movement "came from a very different perspective."

"The goal of the party was really just to bring awareness of the unique challenges facing B.C. and the Pacific Northwest from an environmental and industrial development standpoint," Pahl said in an interview from Qualicum Beach, B.C., on Vancouver Island.

"It's alarming to see the separatism that's kind of happening now, and it's in a very different spirit than any discussion than we ever had around Cascadia or a potential separation from Canada."

The new movement, the B.C. Prosperity Project, has taken root not far from Pahl, on Vancouver Island.

The group's name echoes that of the Alberta Prosperity Project, whose separatist members were recently accused of treason by B.C. Premier David Eby for having met members of the U.S. administration of Donald Trump. But it's not clear if there is an official connection. The B.C. group's organizer, Peter Letourneux, declined an extensive interview.

He said in a brief exchange on social media he was "aware of the negative posture of the legacy media," but said the movement was growing fast, and people should "hang on."

The group held its inaugural, in-person organizational meeting in Campbell River, B.C., on Feb. 2.

Its Facebook page has more than 14,000 followers. Letourneux says on the page that "Alberta and Saskatchewan will soon enough become independent of Canada," thus leaving B.C. as the only "western province left to feed Ottawa and pay for Quebec."

British Columbia, he says, will be left in a "difficult position," because it will be "subservient" to a federal government thousands of kilometres away.

"We are far better to join (Alberta) and (Saskatchewan) in establishing a new country free from the chains of Ottawa and many hundreds of special interest groups and lobbyists."

The group's meeting drew protesters, including former NDP legislature member Michelle Babchuk. She said in a social media post shared by Eby that Campbell River will not be "ground zero" for "anti-Canadian separatism."

Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at UBC, said alienation from the rest of the country is a" fundamental part" of B.C.'s identity, making it "a province unto itself in many ways."

Prest questioned whether B.C. separatism would enjoy much support, calling the concept of a B.C.-Alberta-Saskatchewan breakaway nation a "blue-sky" exercise. He predicted in the event that Alberta broke off from Canada, it would be quickly absorbed by the United States.

"But honestly, if we look at political ideologies and expressions of values … B.C. as a province has much more in common with the rest of Canada than it would with separate Prairie provinces," he said.

He said B.C. separatism oriented toward Western Canada was a shift away from the Cascadia concept, not a recurrence.

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