Government overreach the true motivation behind Alberta separatism, not Canada itself, Poilievre says

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Official response and confirmed impact

At a keynote speech in Edmonton, Poilievre made a classical conservative case for why the province’s deep resentments toward confederation are actually due to years of relentless government overreach rather than issues with the country itself.

“What Albertans are complaining about is not Canada,” he told a gathering of Conservative supporters.

“It is the government policies that are actually inconsistent with how Canada was meant to work in the first place.”

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At the root of the problem, Poilievre said, is that Ottawa has continued to expand its reach into areas of public life that it was never mandated to preside over, while trampling on the personal freedoms of citizens for political gain.

“Simply put, the last decade the federal government has done terribly at the things that are actually its job: immigration, crime, military spending, borders, while intruding into things that are not its job: regulating our resources, going after hunting rifles which are private property, just to name a few examples.”