Alberta separatists' report on independence costs 'departs from current fiscal reality': prof

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeLocal NewsPolitics Alberta separatists' report on independence costs 'departs from current fiscal reality': prof Tombe said there are some large differences between the University of Calgary report released last week which put the cost of separation between $50 billion to $170 billion Author of the article: By Cindy Tran Published Sep 24, 2026 Last updated 48 minutes ago 4 minute read Join the conversation A Canadian Flag and the dome of the Alberta Legislature are visible in Edmonton, Wednesday July 1, 2026. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /Postmedia Article content An independence group has released a set of reports on the costs of potential separation, which it says could leave Alberta with billions left every year — a drastic difference to the University of Calgary’s report released last week. Article content The Alberta Transition Council states that it deliberately did not include any estimates about Alberta’s share of the federal debt or the federal spending on First Nations and Metis services which costs $3.1 billion to $3.8 billion a year in either of its reports. Article content Article content Article content “Including a speculative debt figure would therefore make the transition cost estimate less useful rather than more accurate,” the report said. Article content Headline News Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content Postmedia spoke with Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary, to break down the mass surplus outlined in the reports, setting the federal debt at zero dollars and its own budget estimations. Article content Article content ‘Departs from current fiscal reality’ Article content Dennis Kalma, Alberta Transition Council co-lead and principal author of both reports, said he did not want to speculate non-existent numbers saying what will happen in the economy is unknown. He said both reports, “Budget and Costing” and “Forward to Freedom: Can Alberta Afford Independence” should be read together. Article content “What we wanted to do is say this is sober, serious, supportable documentation that people can look at and say, yeah, this is about as bad as could be, and still looks pretty good,” Kalma said. Article content In…