I always find it so interesting how little the topic of Californian independence comes up online. You would think there would at least be a decent amount of organic content around that, never mind external interference.
Separatism is born of a sense of ethnoracial exceptionalism:
1) we're a genealogically different ethnic group from the rest of the country
2) we're better than the major ethnic group of the rest of the country
Both bits are absolutely essential. I can't recall a single instance of a separatist movement based on purely political differences gaining serious ground, Alberta included.
Why just ethnic? It can also be religious, ideological, or based on some economic interest. The US revolution was a mix of tax revolt and ideology. The British were the same ethnic group as most of the leaders of the revolution.
Most (serious) separatist movements that appear religiously/ideologically motivated on the surface have a lesser known but critical ethnoracial exceptionalism myth that underpins them (e.g. Kashmir).
Again, I don't consider de-colonization movements to be separatism. A rough criteria would be that you must be physically contiguous to the state that you're trying to separate from.
Also heed my second criteria: a people who perceive themselves to be inferior to the majority group will never, ever develop ambitions of separatism. It usually goes like: "we're better than these other guys but they keep us under their thumbs, hence we want our own country."
It would be kind of a stretch to argue this as the reasons for separation of the US from the UK - I can see some of it, but I think the argument is a stretch.
1) we're a genealogically different ethnic group from the rest of the country
2) we're better than the major ethnic group of the rest of the country
Both bits are absolutely essential. I can't recall a single instance of a separatist movement based on purely political differences gaining serious ground, Alberta included.