Reminiscent of the old Quebec fictions of having your cake and eating it too, sovereignty-association, etc. When the Brits let Farage et al mislead them into Brexit, not only did they pay a huge price in lost trade, they lost their EU citizenship as well.
The claim that Albertans would โlose their Canadian citizenshipโ or โlose their Canadian passportsโ if Alberta became independent is one of the laziest fear tactics in this entire debate.
It is not based in settled law.
It is not how citizenship works.
And it is completely out of step with the direction Canada itself is moving.
Canada is literally expanding citizenship by descent, restoring citizenship to โLost Canadians,โ and allowing Canadian citizenship to be passed down through families abroad under broader rules.
So apparently Canadian citizenship can be carried, restored, inherited, and passed down across the worldโฆ
But the second you live in Calgary, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, or Medicine Hat, suddenly Ottawa is going to mass-strip you of it?
Come on.
Canadian citizens live all over the planet. Many hold dual citizenship. Many were born abroad. Many have never lived full-time in Canada. Many inherited citizenship through parents or grandparents.
But we are supposed to believe that people born and raised in Alberta, who have paid Canadian taxes, served in the Canadian military, worked in Canadian industries, built Canadian communities, and carried Canadian passports their entire lives would simply have their citizenship erased overnight?
That is not a legal argument.
That is a scare tactic.
The same people pushing this line are not explaining the law. They are trying to frighten Albertans into silence.
Citizenship is not a light switch Ottawa casually flips off because a province chooses self-determination.
And even if Alberta became independent, the practical and political reality is obvious: there would have to be negotiated arrangements around citizenship, passports, residency, travel, pensions, trade, borders, and everything else.
That is how modern democratic transitions work.
The โyouโll lose your passportโ line is designed to make Albertans panic before they think.
Because once people actually think about it, the argument falls apart.