Ten referendum questions can look like a checklist, but we think Alberta is being asked to do something bigger: accept a story about who we are, what went wrong, who belongs, and who should pay the price when life gets tight. We start by naming what we love about Alberta, then challenge the “self-made” myth that so often shows up in Alberta politics. If prosperity can create amnesia, what gets erased from our memory when we say “we built this” and stop there?

From affordability and housing to crowded classrooms and strained emergency rooms, we take the pressures seriously without letting pressure become an all-purpose explanation. With MLA Diana Batten and co-host Ricardo De Menezes, we turn the lens back on provincial choices, including the move toward dual practice in healthcare and the broader drift toward two-tier access. Rapid growth and the “Alberta Is Calling” moment raise a blunt question: if we invite people in without building capacity, do we eventually start sorting which people get full access to the common good?

We also dig into the referendum’s immigration language, “Albertans First,” and the difference between formally race-neutral categories and how they operate in a society where immigrants are often racialized. Then we tackle equalization payments with clear facts, separating legitimate grievances from viral myths, and we use faith as a moral test of our instincts about fairness, resentment, and responsibility.

If you care about Alberta’s future, listen, share this with a neighbor, and subscribe so you don’t miss the rest of the referendum series. What kind of Alberta do you want us to build together?

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