Historical tensions over federal energy policy in Alberta date back to Pierre Trudeau's 1980 National Energy Program and continued under Justin Trudeau's national carbon tax and emissions limits

From the article‘This is not poker’: Alberta goes to polls in referendum that has exposed divisions, not least among separatistsAlso in Alberta independence referendum: Will separatists survive a loss?, ‘The Switzerland of North America’: Albertans vote on leaving Canada, How Alberta Separatism Went From Fringe Cause to Referendum