Today on On The Line, host Jen Gerson sits down with former Alberta premier Jason Kenney for a conversation about the rise of separatist sentiment in Alberta.

Kenney, a former federal Conservative cabinet minister, has found himself cast as an unlikely spokesperson for conservative federalists in the province as efforts continue to gather signatures for a referendum on separation. He reflects on the deeper roots of Alberta populism, including the merger of the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, and how those political currents have shaped the province’s modern identity.

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Gerson presses him on how things reached this point. Why have successive generations of Alberta leaders sought to tap into populist anger? And is there a risk that this time, the politics of western alienation have been pushed too far?

It’s a direct and unsparing conversation about grievance, identity, and whether Alberta’s long-running tensions with Ottawa are now entering a more dangerous phase.

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We hope you enjoy the episode — and don’t miss us next week. We’ll be back with more On The Line.

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On The Line: Jason Kenney on Alberta separatism