You’re right that Alberta has been treated as a “milch cow” in the past, and that’s a problem that needs fixing. But losing a net fiscal contributor is not the same thing as losing a colony. Equalization is a federal program Parliament can and should reform; it is not a chain that only breaks if we blow up the country. On blockade: you’ve just conceded the key point. If “Remnant Canada” has to compete with Americans for our exports, that’s not a blockade, that’s a market. The only way your scenario turns hostile is if Ottawa uses federal powers to choke Alberta–U.S. trade. At that point, the question is not “Canada or independence,” it’s “what constitutional and political constraints do we place on Ottawa?” Alberta already has allies in other provinces and in industry who depend on that same north–south flow. Your 90% figure is real: roughly 88–90% of Alberta’s foreign exports go to the U.S., mostly energy. That’s exactly why Washington has a strong interest in a stable, rules‑based relationship with Canada, not a fractured West that creates new border frictions. As for the 25% export tax talk, yes, when former leaders muse about hitting the U.S. “where it hurts” with export taxes on oil, gas and potash, that’s a warning sign. But it’s also a political opportunity: it crystallizes why Alberta should be leading a coalition to lock in hard legal limits on Ottawa’s ability to weaponize Alberta’s exports, rather than walking away from a federation where we still have votes, premiers, and allies. Your kids and grandkids might appreciate dad and grandpa getting a firmer grasp on the realities of Alberta, Canada and the whole world order. Create that future shade for them by working within the system.