 |
| Big Rocks (photo by V.A. McMillan) |
Blog Title: Rebut – Alberta's Military Viability: A Practical Assessment
15 February 2026
Yesterday, a copy of Alberta's Military Viability: A Practical Assessment (by Alberta Secession – Why @cnm5000) posted on “X” was shared with me. I am not on “X” so I do not have a link to share to the source article. However, I believe a found a copy on Substack (Here). Further, I was asked to review the article and offer an assessment as well as suggestions for the creation of an effective military force for an independent Alberta nation, should that reality come to be.
Challenge accepted.
The article was well written and with the best intentions. Nation building is complex and has many interconnected pieces that MUST work together for success to follow. For the purpose of this assessment and following suggestions I will be looking only at the “military” piece of this puzzle. Shall we begin...
First let me share the points of the article I agree with in principle and then I will identify the assumptions I noticed, before I offer my analysis of the defence challenges of Alberta and potential solutions. The points I agree with, in no particular order:
Alberta's defence needs will NOT need to duplicate nor replicate the Canadian Forces
The Swiss Civil Defence model is a good starting point for developing in Alberta
There is no naval requirement at this time
Mandatory service is a worthy starting point for national defence
Building a defence force for Alberta will need to be tailored to Alberta's needs
Interoperability with Allies is required for joint success
This list may lack meaningfulness to readers unfamiliar with the original article. I suggest tracking down the article and reviewing it. (It is located HERE.)
Next let me share the points from the article that I assess to be assumptions, and not necessarily a solid foundation for building a military force upon. As such, these assumptions need to be verified before acted upon as if they were facts. These assumptions are:
The separation of Alberta from Canada will be amicable
Canada will willing surrender military assets to Alberta
Alberta could be served realistically with a military force of 2000 Reg Force & 8000 Reserves
Alberta faces no conventional military threats
Alberta would not need military assets – fighter aircraft, radar bases, heavy lift aircraft, vessels
Alberta would have military partnerships/alliances with Canada & the USA
Mutual defence agreements would come without costs to sovereignty
Individual soldier skills at arms & continuous skills development is equal to effectiveness
No need for heavy armour divisions in Alberta, or artillery
Matching Canada's total military capacity would be beyond Alberta to achieve
In my previous blog posts (1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5) I have explored solving the military needs of a unified Canada at the program level and at the branch level. Focusing on only Alberta will be where we go from here.
Threat assessment:
Geographical considerations.
Alberta has no ports, so direct naval threats do not exists in the classic tradition. Could a sub launched ballistic missile or a ship launched cruise missile reach Alberta from the Pacific, Arctic Ocean, or Hudson's Bay? Maybe. Similarly, could an aircraft launched from an aircraft carrier reach Alberta? Maybe. So, while a naval launching platform may assist a hostile act against Albertan territory, the threat received would be aerial in nature. However, goods being transported to market could be directly impacted by naval aggression while on the high seas.
Land routes into Alberta. Highways and railways from the west consist of six highways (#3, #1, #16, #43, #49, & #64), two rail routes, and numerous industrial roads, especially north of Grande Prairie. There are two highways from the north, of which only highway #35 makes a land route deep into Alberta. From the east there are nine highways (#28, #45, #16, #14, #17, #13, #12, #9, #1), and few secondary roads, and plenty of agricultural range roads south of highway #16 to the US Border. From the south there are only five official crossing points (#41 Wildhorse, #4 Coutts, #62 Del Bonita, #2 Carway, #6 Chief Mountain), some minor agricultural roads between Wildhorse and Coutts. In Waterton National park there are a few footpaths/trails that cross the border and one lake route.
Air routes into Alberta currently arrive into either Edmonton International Airport or Calgary International Airport. There are a plethora of regional airports and even more smaller community or rural airports and minor airstrips. Plus military air facilities, see Military Considerations.
The Rocky Mountains (The Rockies) are a range of mountains that separate the province of British Columbia from Alberta that run in the south from the US Border north and slightly west to just north and west of Grande Prairie. Mount Robson is the highest point of the Canadian Rockies at 12, 972' / 3954m and is west of Jasper, Alberta just north of highway #16. The Rockies influence weather to the areas east of the range. High winds and Chinooks are notable hazards.
Numerous river systems descend from the mountainous western edge of Alberta. Bridging these rivers is a defenders advantage and weakness. These river systems flow east, south, or north, draining into the Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean via Hudson's Bay, or into the Atlantic Ocean via the Caribbean Sea. Seasonal flooding of these river systems present an annual challenge to communities co-located with the rivers.
The Prairies are an area of open rolling country that extends from the base of The Foothills across to Saskatchewan in the east and down into Montana to the south. This open terrain is tank country, not unlike the Steppes of Russia. Two dozen Main Battle Tanks is not even close to enough armour to hold this ground from a motivated adversary. Similarly, tanks in the open need to be protected by artillery, aircraft in the skies, and ground troops. This is classic Cold War defence tactics. If you cannot control the ground, you do not own it – militarily speaking.
Military Considerations.
Currently, the Canadian Forces have four Reg Force military establishments in Alberta. CFB Edmonton, CFB Wainwright, CFB Suffield, and CFB Cold Lake. This is supplemented by numerous Reserve Force armouries and “ships” for the Reserve Navy. The current status of the Canadian Forces is demoralized, under staffed, under funded, under equipped, and suffering a leadership crisis of monumental proportions. There are not less than 100 too many General rank officers, compared to the number of serving Officers and Other Ranks. This imbalance favouring the most senior officers contributes to instability and retention issues faced at the pointy end of the spear. When senior officer are more concerned with career advancement over the welfare of their troops, and troops fear being stabbed in the back by their superiors, your force, no matter how well trained, cross-trained, and exercised, will not be COMBAT READY. Add on the betrayal of a federal government that has broken so many promises for new equipment and basic tools for the job, that the troops cannot trust that even their pay cheques will be deposited on time. Available military equipment includes a collection of aging aircraft, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, trucks, and worn-out weapons systems from rifles, pistols, to machine guns.
Population Considerations.
Alberta's population has been changing composition in the last couple of decades. This is influenced by the available employment opportunities that have traditionally been available. Alberta has a much younger population than some other Canadian provinces due to this. So, Alberta has different challenges than other provinces as it is a generator of economic wealth. The population has access to institutions of higher learning and currently access to stable infrastructure support of learning or earning pursuits. In recent years, like centres of higher learning across the Western World, these institutions are showing signs of having been infiltrated and subverted to methods of cultural indoctrination favoured by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. These subversions were predicted decades ago by Yuri Bezmenov, and we are seeing the outcomes today. This is resulting in a divided population, even in Alberta. The increase in the followers of Marx/Lenin, socialist, and the current perverted form of liberalism all combine to undermine the will of Albertans to be a unified people.
So, how do we defend Alberta?
This will be a simple solution with missing components. Governance, legal systems, enforcement systems, border control systems will go un-addressed, and focused cooperative industrial outputs not included. Focusing on the military components, these would be key points to include:
Logistics
Divide Alberta into Three Geographic Divisions – Northern Div, Central Div, and Southern Div. Include special operations divisions – Mountain Warfare Zone Rockies & Open Warfare Zone Prairies.
All Divisions will require primary, secondary, and tertiary transportation corridors; air fields; supply depots; bases/camps; training areas; and armouries. Additionally, the required vehicles, weapons, ammunition, uniforms, and feeding assets will be required for all Divisions.
Multi-tiered Staffing Model for the Alberta Defence Force (ADF) [Top Down]
Minister of Defence – this role is responsible for providing funding to the ADF, that is predictable and consistent year after year.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS)– the senior ADF member responsible for providing the financial needs of the ADF to the Minister of Defence.
Branch Commanders & Operational Theatre Commanders – are responsible for ensuring the operational needs for their troops will be met with adequate planning, gear purchasing, and resources needed to achieve their specific missions. The output products from this level are the formal budgets submitted to the CDS. Branches to include – Land (Army/Armour/Artillery), Air (Air Force), and Naval (Marines). Operational to include Domestic Operations, Foreign Operations, and Special Operations.
For small nations to defend themselves they MUST operate their defence forces as integrated and interoperable as possible. This means that no matter what level of operational duty a member is currently employed in, they can be advanced to the next higher operational level and perform their required duties or function, seamlessly. So, the Branch & Theatre can be broken down into Five levels or tiers: Top Tier (Special Forces), Tier Two (Regular Forces), Tier Three (Primary Reserves), Tier Four (Militia), and Tier Five (Home Guard).
Top Tier – Units to include the most highly trained operators in their field of study – land warfare, air warfare, naval warfare, and intelligence/espionage. The total staffing to range from 250 to 2500, combined strength.
Tier Two. Land – full-time professional soldiers. Army/Infantry, Armour, Artillery, Combat Engineers, and Battlefield Logistics.
Air – full-time professional aviators. Air Transport, Combat Air, Ground Support, and Air operations Support.
Naval – Lacking the need for a navy, but requiring interoperability with Allies, the creation of Marine units to function in naval operations would be recommended. These units would conduct classic Marine functions – Air Operations from a Naval Platform, Land Operations from a Naval Platform, Security functions at Naval facilities, and Underwater Operations – Combat Diver, UDT, Rescue Ops.
Tier Two will be staffed to a strength of 15,000 Land, 5000 Air, & 2500 Marine.
Tier Three. Will be Reserve Force personnel trained for the same taskings as Tier Two, however they will only be required to parade weekends and one evening a week. This pool of personnel will be operationally ready to fill vacancies in Tier Two units on short notice and augment Tier Two units during normal operational commitments to share operational experience into Tier Three units. Staffing will include 30,000 Land, 10,000 Air, & 5000 Marine.
Tier Four. The Militia Regiments will be dispersed to every community with at least 5000 citizens in population. These Reserve troops will mainly be trained in taskings common to Land units or common support roles across all branches of service. Each Militia Regiment will be staffed by members in a common region. Individual communities may support from Platoon to Company sized detachments of the Regiment. Weekly training at the community level, with combined Regiment training at least twice a year – Winter Ops & Summer Ops Training Concentrations. Militia will be expected to serve domestically, however opportunity will be provided to allow Militia members to compete for positions augmenting Tier Two missions. There will be a capacity for Militia Regiments to support up to 150,000.
Tier Five. The Home Guard will be the final layer of the tiered defence plan. Tier Five members will be expected to defend the Homeland and not expected to be deployed away from Home. Members will come from Veterans who previously served, Veterans wounded in action who do not qualify for service at a higher readiness tier, Loyal Patriots who are willing but have medical conditions that prevent service at a higher tier, and those too young or too old to serve in other tiers. The Home Guard is paid an annual honorarium and will support their local Militia Regiment. There will be capacity for at least 500,000 Home Guards.
To make this five tiered system viable, voluntary, and combat effective, it may be necessary to interconnect functions, responsibilities, and benefits. This could include connecting firearms laws to serving in the Alberta Defence Force, such that serving active members are authorized to own specific types of firearms. Or civil defence functions like search & rescue or emergency/disaster management could be included inside the Alberta Defence Force umbrella. Similarly, a sixth tier could be added for Border Security Operations.
Specific equipment suggestions could be made, however that can be debated in a future post. Suffice to say that to build a unified Alberta Defence Force you will need:
Strong Leadership
Common Purpose/Shared Vision for the Future
Mission Focused Members
The WILL to Serve
Branch specific uniforms that are sharp and defining, with high standards of dress & deportment
Proportional Ranks for each level of command and Tier
Service based on HONOUR, COURAGE, & INTEGRITY
Service will be honoured by the government, no one left behind after service
Honest remuneration for service – maybe tie politician pay to wages of service members
Provided the tools to do their jobs & create Alberta industry to support providing these tools from within the borders of Alberta (no profiteering, genuine support symbiosis)
This topic requires further discussion to work out the nuances of each tier and the interconnectedness with other functions of a sovereign nation. Suffice to say, a plan in hand would be best recommended for a new country to have ready. Once a nation is born, things will move rapidly both inside the borders and with out.
Until next time...provide feedback and solutions!
Mountainman.
Links of Interest
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/future-cf-structure-from-partisan.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/06/canada-first-model-land-assets.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/07/canada-first-model-for-national-defence.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/canada-first-model-for-national-defence.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2022/02/canada-first-model-reforming-federal.html
https://mtnmanblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/canada-first-model-canadian-wildfire.html
