MACLEOD: Danielle Smith’s $400 billion Alberta independence claim doesn’t add up

Western Standard

June 23, 2026

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MACLEOD: Danielle Smith’s $400 billion Alberta independence claim doesn’t add up

Premier Danielle Smith is entitled to oppose Alberta independence. She is entitled to argue that independence would be complicated, risky, disruptive, and politically difficult. But the claim that independence would require upwards of 400 billion in “infrastructure” costs is not a serious estimate of what it would take to make Alberta function as an independent country. It is a political number, not an operational one.

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