ANALYSIS | Alberta's pro-Canada side is splintered, siloed and struggling to raise cash. Does it matter? | CBC News

With a month to go, separatists have way more money and are dominating the online conversation

Over the last year, a steady drumbeat of polling has found again and again that most Albertans oppose separation — but based on fundraising and online chatter, you might not know that.

In a month, Albertans will head to the polls to vote on the future of the province, and the separatists occupy an outsize share of the spotlight, having raised three times the money and dominating the online conversation by as much as eight to one.

“I think the federalist side in this referendum campaign has hit a point of real unease,” says Avnish Nanda, the spokesperson for Our Alberta Advantage, which launched a new campaign to get out the vote this week. Called 5x for Canada, it features a series of tongue-in-cheek videos designed to equip people to get their friends to cast a ballot. (Slogan: Votemaxxing for Canada.)

Cross Country Checkup is asking: What questions do you have about Alberta's separatist movement and the upcoming referendum vote? Leave your question here and we may read it or call you back for Sunday's show.

Polling might cap support for independence at about a quarter of the province, but if a bigger proportion of separatists show up, the math gets dicey, he pointed out.

The Forever Canadian campaign's Unity Bus during a stop in Fort McMurray, Alta., on Aug. 13, 2026. (Vincent McDermott/CBC)

There’s a team of academics and former politicians working as a “pop-up think-tank” under the name Lead Not Leave, and Conservatives for Canada, the campaign launched by the federal party to target their own supporters. Polling suggests right-leaning voters are more likely to have separatist sympathies.

During Quebec’s referendum, each side was required to more or less co-operate under a national committee. In comparison, Alberta’s rules prevent collaboration. Campaign finance rules say groups — third party advertisers, specifically — can’t work together lest they risk running afoul of spending limits.

That means groups can’t share resources, co-ordinate events or vet each other’s public communications, he said.

“I think the notion that everyone should be part of one team on either side of the debate is based on an old way of political communications,” he said.

'It’s awkward': Why Alberta's separation debate tends to live mostly online