Nearly a quarter of a million people have joined the group Votewexit on Facebook, as a result of the federal election outcome (Photo: VoteWexit Facebook)

By Liam Verster

Politics

Local MLA hearing plenty of frustration from constituents following Monday’s election

Oct 24, 2019 | 5:30 AM

Following the Liberal’s minority government win on Monday, social media has exploded with a call for Alberta’s separation from Canada.

#Wexit was trending on Twitter and over 223,000 people have joined the Facebook group Vote Wexit.

Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard, says her inbox has been flooded by people voicing their frustration with the results of the election and calling for separation from the country.

Allard says the job of the Prime Minister is to manage the country, and she says right now, the country is in crisis, and Albertans are fed up

“We’re tired of sending money back East, and they’re happy to take our revenue, but they’re not happy to take our pipelines, or give us energy corridors to develop our resources and our industries. It’s just so inequitable, and I think this election was finally the breaking point for a lot of people.”

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She says while many people are frustrated and right now believe leaving the country is a good idea, it may be more detrimental then helpful.

“It sounds good, it feels good, you know you’re taking your anger and your rage and you’re putting it somewhere, I get that. But it’s not that simple, and quite frankly, my concern is the bigger picture. What does that look like? How long does that take? What kind of political instability does that create? How much more capital flees the province? Because anytime there’s instability, investors go somewhere where there isn’t [instability].”

She goes on to say that while leaving the country isn’t in Alberta’s best interest, people do need a space to express their anger and frustration.

“First and foremost, I think that people have to vent that anger a little bit, and so that’s what my office is trying to do, just let people come in and vent their frustration a little bit.”

“We get it. I think that has to happen. I also think then that we have to take that rage, and turn it into reason. What’s reasonable? What are our next steps? How can we move forward meaningfully and move forward meaningfully?”

She adds that land locking the province through separation could make it even more difficult to distribute the resources.

Allard says Trudeau still plans to go ahead with the Trans Mountain expansion project, which is good news for Albertans, but in the meantime, people are still scared of the future and the risks of losing their jobs and their livelihoods.

Allard says the Federal Government needs to hear what the people of Alberta are worried and angry about, and use it to create policies and paths that benefit Alberta and work for Canada as a whole.