Alberta separation movement knocked by business groups, analyst

Deborah Yedlin gets that some folks in Alberta are not thrilled with yet another federal Liberal government, but she says the separation movement the premier is flirting with could seriously hurt the province and the country.

"When there is uncertainty, money sits on the sidelines or companies leave or labour leaves," Yedlin, the Calgary Chamber president and CEO, told the Calgary Eyeopener in a Thursday interview.

"What does that do? Your tax base shrinks. You don't have that corporate tax base or personal income taxes. It's not where anybody wants to go."

Yedlin is in Ottawa making Alberta's economic case to a new federal cabinet.

She likes what she sees so far.

"This is a different government, a different cabinet with a different focus," she said.

"Individuals who were not supportive of the energy sector are not going to have the same voice that they may have had in previous iterations in government. That view is going to be directed differently and pragmatically."

But the anger of some Albertans is understandable, says the president of the Business Council of Alberta.

"I think it's important not to dismiss the concerns and frustrations of Alberta," Adam Legge told CBC News in an interview.

He said his members, on balance, don't support leaving Canada.

"Obviously, the separatist option is the nuclear one, on the very end of the scale, that I hope we never achieve because we believe Alberta's place is in the federation, is in Canada."

A political scientist says, however, sometimes Alberta can make that hard.

"Some of the demands [Alberta Premier] Danielle Smith has made of the federal government are beyond the federal government's capacity to provide," said Lori Williams of Mount Royal University.

"If you want to build pipelines, you need the support of not just leaders but of the people they represent. Taking a demanding, entitled approach to negotiations is less likely to generate the support needed for Alberta to get things like pipelines built. We have to work with other parts of Canada as well as the federal government."