Separatists say Alberta's culture is rooted in traditional values. Many say those values don't define them

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said earlier this month that if Alberta were to separate from Canada, it would first have to define itself as a nation with a distinct culture.

"I am not certain that oil and gas qualifies to define a culture," Blanchet quipped at a media conference. 

Alberta separatists are trying to make the case that Alberta, like Quebec, does have a culture that's distinct from the rest of Canada — one rooted in traditional conservative values. But recent polling, and many people living in Alberta, paint a more complicated picture.

Many Albertans feel the separatists' definition of Alberta culture leaves them out of the conversation, and one researcher says that could be driving people away from the movement. 

Republican Party of Alberta leader Cameron Davies, who calls himself an Alberta nationalist, says Albertans prize family values and freedom from government intervention.

He says Alberta's culture is driven by risk-taking, entrepreneurial spirit and resilience, dating back to its early settlers.

He says Alberta conservatives are distinct from Eastern Canada, but acknowledges they have "a lot in common" with neighbouring Saskatchewan. 

"I would challenge you that a Doug Ford conservative is not a conservative from Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. We have very little in common," Davies told CBC News. 

Davies also takes many cultural positions similar to U.S. Republicans, such as eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies and taking education about sexual and gender diversity out of schools, and says he believes a "vast majority" of Albertans share these views. 

The Alberta Prosperity Project, the group driving a petition to force a separation referendum, has a section on its website outlining similar "cultural and identity factors" for leaving Canada. The party lists bilingualism among its cultural grievances, as well as, "The Federal Government's support of wokeness, cancel culture, critical race theory, the rewriting of history, and the tearing down of historical monuments."

But plenty of Albertans don't fall in line with those values. 

Rowan Morris, a transgender man living in Alberta's oil capital Fort McMurray, knows all about the risk-taking, entrepreneurial Alberta spirit, and mythos around building a better life through hard work and sacrifice. 

His parents moved their family to Fort McMurray from Nova Scotia when he was 14, and his dad took a job in the oilfield. He says that "sacrifice for good" is something that's inherently Albertan. 

"That also applies to newcomers to Canada. Also applies to Indigenous folks on this territory. It also applies to queer and trans people," he said. "What I see in Fort McMurray is people who move here have no friends or family, and build a community for themselves."