Poll shows Albertans support monarchy, despite growing separatist threat

OTTAWA — A new poll shows that Albertans support the continuation of Crown rule in the province, even as they’re increasingly skeptical about the province’s future in Canada. The poll, taken by Pollara Strategic Insights, finds that support for the monarchy is at a net plus-nine in Alberta, with 46 per cent of Albertans saying that Canada should remain a constitutional monarchy with the king as its head of state, and 37 per cent saying it should ditch the Crown. This put Alberta three points ahead of British Columbia and 42 points ahead of Quebec, where just 25 per cent of respondents said Canada should keep its ties to the monarchy. Dan Arnold, the chief strategy officer at Pollara, says he expects the question of the monarchy to loom larger as separatists get into the nitty gritty of what an independent Alberta would look like. “There’s a lot of hanging questions out there and this is another one that could potentially become a source of friction,” said Arnold. Debate has recently surfaced online about whether residents of an independent Alberta would have an option to keep Canadian passports and stay enrolled in the CPP, for example. Arnold noted that supporters of the governing United Conservative Party were a net plus-10 in favour of the continuation of Crown rule (48 per cent to 38 per cent). Recent polls show up to two-thirds of UCP voters would vote ‘yes’ in a referendum on Alberta independence. The Pollara poll, taken on the heels of King Charles III’s first visit to Canada as monarch this week, finds the king has a net favourability rating of plus-22 among Albertans — 46 per cent view him positively while 24 per cent view him negatively. The findings were drawn from on online sample of 500 Albertans contacted between May 16 and 20, with an estimated margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 per cent. Jeff Rath, a lawyer with the Alberta Prosperity Project, says there’s room for both monarchists and republicans in the Alberta separatist movement. “There are a lot of people in our movement who are either monarchists, or at the very least ambivalent to the continued role of the monarchy within the Commonwealth of Alberta,” Rath told the National Post in an interview. Rath, who’s worked extensively in treaty law, says the Crown could be a bridge to Alberta’s Indigenous population during the transition to independence. “If one of the conditions the First Nations put on independence is… instead of having a (civilian) head of state we talk to King Charles and have a Governor General, so that they can maintain that relationship with the Crown and their treaties, I personally wouldn’t have any issue with that,” said Rath. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has said that any referendum question on the province’s independence must respect the existing treaty rights of First Nations . Philippe Lagassé, an expert in Canadian constitutional law at Carleton University, says it won’t be easy for Alberta to go over Ottawa’s head and deal directly with the king. “The treaties are now understood to be with the Canadian Crown, not the British one… I suspect these treaties would come into play in a significant way were Alberta to try to secede,” said Lagassé. Cameron Davies, leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, says he disagrees with Rath and wants to cut all ties to Westminster. “The Republican Party of Alberta believes our future should be shaped here—by Albertans—not Ottawa, not Buckingham Palace,” wrote Davies in an email. “The monarchy represents a colonial legacy and an unelected institution rooted in hereditary privilege—values that have no place in a modern, democratic Alberta.” The poll’s findings were drawn from on online sample of 500 Albertans contacted between May 16 and 20, with an estimated margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 per cent National Post rmohamed@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.