Alberta, Canada Would Be Better Off As America's 51st State, Author Claims

Cenovus Foster Creek SAGD Oil Sands — IN PHOTO: A view of oil production pipes at the Cenovus Foster Creek SAGD oil sands operations near Cold Lake, Alberta, July 9, 2012. Cenovus' oil production grew 14 percent while their 2012 first quarter cash flow was up 30 percent over last year, according to the company's news release. Reuters/Todd Korol

Amidst the oil price fluctuations in the global market, most oil-rich countries manage to capitalise the trend to their favour and shift economic outlook to a reachable growth rate. To some, the news of oil price decrease causes panic. To a few, it is a welcome challenge. Alberta Canada is an oil-giant province economic and political analysts are curious about.

In the book “The Accidental Power,” U.S. forecaster and geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan wrote that Alberta will be far richer and powerful if it chooses to disintegrate from Canada, and join the United States of America. He said the province is endowed with features that makes America a rich and successful country.

"Alberta as a U.S. state would not simply be rich — the richest in the Union, in fact — but would have a vibrantly well-financed and diverse economy that would put its former (and a lot of its new-found) countrymen to shame,” Zeihan wrote in his book, which was released in November.

Known for its abundant energy reserves, Alberta’s economy is primarily founded on exporting oil with the United States of America as its largest market. It ranks second in having the largest revenues a province could earn in Western World.

“Its wealth is now so high compared to its fellow provinces that as of 2012, it became the only Canadian province that is a net contributor to the national budget with a net pay-in of over $16 billion.”

Zeihan cited several reasons which Alberta country may soon find compelling to separate from Canada, with demographics as the most interesting to note. The population of Quebec and Ontario is continually ageing, which, according to the author, could cause far worse than a disproportionate share of the compact’s cost as it will be loaded into the Albertan’s national tax bill.

In a stark comparison, Alberta’s population is becoming younger as more young people flock to the province due to its oil deposits, and that in turn result in having a highly-skilled and better paid labour pool. The Accidental Superpower threatens that as the financial and demographic gap between Alberta and the rest of Canada grows, the highly skilled labourers will be forced to contribute an even higher amount of taxes to Ottawa to fund the increasingly older, lower-income earner and less-skilled Canadians elsewhere in Canada.

If it decides to integrate with the latter, Alberta will be free from all tax and currency fluctuations burden. When that happens, it is likely that Saskatchewan, its richest province will follow suit.