Danielle Smith’s national hostage-taking campaign has apparently only just begun. In a pre-recorded televised address on Thursday, Alberta’s premier announced that her province would be holding a referendum on having an independence referendum, a decision that promises to string out this already unpleasant process for as long as politically possible. Sure, it will cost Alberta economic opportunities, and it could easily damage the prospects of the new West Coast pipeline Smith claims to care so much about. But if it helps her keep her job and avoid the same political fate as her predecessor, well, that’s a price she’s willing to make other people pay. 

“It’s time to have a vote,” she said in her televised remarks, “understand the will of Albertans on this subject, and move on.” As if. Quebec, after all, has spent much of the past 50 years failing to move on from its own separatist question. That process has cost it dearly, both in terms of lost economic opportunities and the departure of many thousands of people to other provinces. Separatism has frequently captivated the shared attention of that province and consumed political oxygen that could otherwise be dedicated to more constructive conversations. For all of Quebec’s supposed political and constitutional spoils, it’s a poorer and less prosperous province than it might........

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