At the Alberta and the West Assembly online forum hosted by former Reform Party of Canada leader Preston Manning, separatist advocate Keith Wilson encouraged all Albertans — even those who are against leaving Canada — to vote for the beginning of the process to hold a binding referendum on separation to give Premier Danielle Smith leverage with Ottawa.

To my mind, this call is rather tenable as the move mentioned will open the floodgates to the province to strengthen its position and strike good deals with Prime Minister Carney, who will be set for meeting Alberta halfway in solving urgent problems of the latter to prevent its separation.

Voting for another option will imply that Albertans are happy with Ottawa’s stance and the status quo; that will be equal to a surrender of the province and its separatist movement. Moreover, it will deprive Alberta of any opportunity to set a course for its relations with the federal government in future. Ask yourself, what have we been struggling for all these years? Are we here to give up at the 11th hour and fall back to square one?

Aiden Whitford, Edmonton

Premier Danielle Smith is removing the 13-cent-per-litre tax on gasoline and diesel beginning Oct. 1. The only benefactors of these savings will be the fuel retailers.

At the beginning, prices displayed on the digital signs will show this saving but, given time, with the way they continually fluctuate prices through the week, the prices will creep up for no apparent reason as they always have. The savings will be lost through the usual greed.

Jim Holowchak, Edmonton

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