Why Canada needs to start taking Alberta’s separatist movement seriously

In 1904, as part of Canada’s campaign to populate the prairies, then-premier of the Northwest Territories Sir Frederick Haultain proposed establishing a new western province called Buffalo, comprising all of modern day Alberta and Saskatchewan.

With its remarkably flat landscape and fertile soils, Buffalo had the potential to become an agricultural powerhouse, and Haultain envisioned “one big province that would be able to do things no other province could.”

Liberal prime minister...