45 percent of Albertans support separation from Canada: poll

In a new poll that's troubling for Canadian confederation, almost half of decided Albertans say that they want independence.

45 percent of decided Albertans either said they strongly independence or would lean towards independence if a vote were to ever take place. On the other hand, 55 percent of Albertans would either vote no, or would lean towards voting no.

This poll was conducted by Northwest Research for the Western Standard, surveying over 1,000 Albertans on the issue. The margin of error was 3.02 percent.

If respondents who were undecided on this issue were factored in, then only 41 percent of those polls would support independence while 50 percent are opposed.

Western alienation and Albertan independence have been hot topics since Justin Trudeau's re-election as prime minister last year. The Trudeau government's hostility towards pipelines and the oil and gas sector are routinely suggested to be the derivation of this sentiment.

Alberta's economy has been devastated by the lockdown and the unprecedented drop in oil prices, leading many Albertans to question whether the federal government has appropriately supported their province over recent years.

Previous polls conducted on this issue have usually suggested that support for independence lingers in the high-thirties to low-forties, revealing a colossal swing in favour of separation.  

Like many independence movements, support for separation exists outside the metropolitan hubs and is at his healthiest in the more rural demographics. Edmonton, in particular, only had 33 percent of the populace supporting separation.