What, exactly, are Alberta separatists mad about? [Video]

Threats of Alberta separation go back decades, and have reached new heights since the April election of Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney. 

The separatist Alberta Prosperity Project is gunning for 600,000 signatures on a petition that would force a provincial referendum on the issue, while the Republican Party of Alberta — led by longtime conservative operative Cameron Davies — is ramping up its separation push.

“What we’re looking at is the broken and dysfunctional system that has been in place since Alberta joined Confederation,” Davies, who recently resigned from membership in the governing United Conservative Party, told CBC News.

He says the system was designed to consolidate power in the East, and the West was “viewed as nothing more than a resource colony” for Ottawa.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also focused much of her recent public messaging on sovereignty and opposition to Ottawa, making nods to the separatist movement …