An independent Alberta would keep the federal assets located in the province, such as military bases.
Claimed by: Commonly stated by Alberta independence advocates
Unverifiable: Not enough reliable public information to reach a verdict. How we rate.
Summary
Who ends up with federal assets like military bases, and how liabilities are split, would be a matter of negotiation, not an automatic transfer. The Clarity Act explicitly lists the division of assets and liabilities as something that would have to be settled in secession talks, and constitutional experts note items like the military assets in Alberta would be hard, contested negotiating points. The physical bases at places like Edmonton, Cold Lake and Suffield sit on Alberta soil, but they are federal military property, not provincial assets, so nothing guarantees Alberta would simply keep them. Even if it did acquire them, Alberta would still have to recruit, train, equip and fund its own forces to use them, and reviewers of separatist defence plans find the proposed budgets far short of what a credible military would cost. The outcome depends on talks that have not happened, which is why the claim cannot be verified either way.
Evidence
The Clarity Act lists the division of assets and liabilities among the matters that would have to be negotiated in any secession, with nothing guaranteed to a departing Alberta beyond what it bargains for.
A constitutional law expert notes that what happens to military assets in Alberta would be among many difficult issues to negotiate.
Reviewers of separatist defence costings find the proposed capital and operating budgets far too low to field and sustain a credible military, even using existing infrastructure.