Alberta Fact Check: The arsonist as firefighter: Trudeau's Canada Day message meets Alberta reality

Subhead:Many Albertans believe Justin Trudeau deepened divisions and fuelled Western alienation during his time in office.# On Canada Day, former prime minister Justin Trudeau brushed aside concerns about separatism, telling CBC he doesn't worry "as long as Canadians don't forget who we are," describing Canada as a country where people help one another in times of crisis. Q: Do you worry about separatist sentiments? Trudeau: I don't worry as long as Canadians don't forget who we are. And who we are as a people is people who are open to each other and they're for our neighbours. We help anytime there's a disaster, anytime there's a challenge, we... pic.twitter.com/kxblO6EOZF — Scott Robertson (@sarobertson_) July 1, 2026 For many Albertans, that's a difficult message to accept from a politician they believe spent years deepening divisions and fuelling Western alienation. During the pandemic, Trudeau referred to some unvaccinated Canadians as a "fringe minority" holding "unacceptable views" and questioned whether Canadians should tolerate people who "don't believe in science" and are "often misogynists and racists." His government imposed vaccine mandates that prevented unvaccinated Canadians from boarding planes and trains and required federal workers to be vaccinated. You believe anything this silver spooned Laurentian elite says? Compare the bs he spewed in your post with his true colours. pic.twitter.com/UtAxrBUHSe — HuckH (@NormonH3) July 1, 2026 To many Canadians, particularly in Alberta, those comments and policies created the impression that there were acceptable Canadians and unacceptable Canadians. Amazon-embed:B0GR6MJGHS