An economist has cautioned that Alberta's departure from Canada would involve difficulties well beyond those the United Kingdom encountered with Brexit, according to The Globe and Mail. The comparison was reported by the Canadian newspaper on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
The Globe and Mail reports that the economist described Brexit as a "cakewalk" relative to what Alberta separation would entail. The remark places the potential breakup of Canada in starker terms than the lengthy and complicated process Britain went through in withdrawing from the European Union.
The warning arrives amid ongoing public discussion in Alberta about the province's place within Confederation. The Globe and Mail's coverage frames the economist's assessment as a caution about the scale of the undertaking, not a prediction about whether it will happen.
The material available does not include the economist's name, the venue where the comments were made, or the specific reasons offered for why separation would be more demanding than Brexit. Those details were not provided in the reporting summary.
What to watch next: whether other economists and political figures respond to the comparison, and how the debate over Alberta's future develops in the months ahead.
