Canadians gathered across the country to celebrate Canada Day, which commemorates the birth of the nation 159 years ago. But behind the festivities, two challenges are testing the country’s unity.

In the western province of Alberta, a restive separatist movement has gained momentum, and in a few months, Albertans will vote in a referendum on provincial sovereignty.

In Quebec, the Parti Soberanist Quebecois is currently leading the polls for the upcoming provincial elections. The party has pledged to hold a third independence referendum by 2030 if it wins.

“It’s a year of pressure on Canadian national unity,” said André Lecours, a political science professor at the University of Ottawa.

Premier Mark Carney finds himself at the center of those tensions, trying to balance the provinces’ competing interests while keeping the country together.

“Canada is worth fighting for,” he said last month, vowing to campaign for a united country in the coming months.

On Wednesday, Carney was scheduled to travel to Edmonton, his hometown, on a symbolic visit to mark the country’s birthday, but the visit was canceled due to weather issues.

In a Canada Day statement, he said “there will always be forces that want to divide us.”

“They forget the fundamental idea of ​​this country: that unity is not uniformity, that our differences are strengths to be cultivated rather than risks to be managed, and that our values ​​serve as an unbreakable foundation.”

Historian JDM Stewart says Canada’s vast geography and strong regional identities pose unique challenges.

“Because it’s so big and so regional, it creates tensions that have been with us from the beginning, and we still struggle with them today,” he says.

Quebec, a largely French-speaking province, fiercely protects its identity and culture as a distinct society, and has held two referendums – in 1980 and 1995 – on whether to seek independence.

Opinion polls suggest that support for independence is around 30%, virtually unchanged in recent years.

Still, the Parti Quebecois has enjoyed an early surge ahead of the Oct. 5 provincial election. Its leader has presented a more than 500-page plan for an independent Quebec and has promised to hold a third referendum.

Alberta faces a different debate.

Following a citizen-led initiative, Albertans will vote on October 19 to decide whether they want to remain part of Canada or hold a binding vote on separation at a later date.

Polls indicate that support for the Brexit camp is between 25% and 30%

Many supporters of the movement argue that the energy-rich province has long been ignored by decision-makers in Ottawa, the national capital, and that federal environmental policies have hampered Alberta’s ability to build oil pipelines and develop its natural resources.

But Professor Lecours argues that this separatist impulse is different from the Western alienation that has long been felt in the region, calling the current impulse a “consequence” of right-wing populism.

“It’s no coincidence that all of these organizations in Alberta emerged during the pandemic,” he said.

He also noted that the move “occurs in the complete absence of any elected representative who clearly and openly supports independence.”

Carney, who was governor of the Bank of England during Brexit, when the United Kingdom was debating leaving the EU, said he had witnessed the dangers of secessionist movements.

He said what’s happening in Alberta “reminds us a lot.”

“I saw firsthand what is being sold in these referendums. That everything is going to be easy. That you can keep your passport, that you can keep your currency. That you can stay in the country and leave it at the same time.”

He said such arguments risk undermining Canada’s future “just at a time when we are seen as one of the most trustworthy and desirable countries to do business in, and we shouldn’t mess that up.”