Alberta's Weird War

Cover art by Jim Starlin(Weird War Tales, 1971 DC #89

Look, I grew up in the Alberta of the 70s and 80s—the land of Peter Lougheed and the boom-bust cycle of the National Energy Program. We were raised on a specific kind of "rugged individualist" diet. Back then, "Weird War" was just something you’d find in the spinner rack at a Mac’s while your dad filled up the GMC with 40-cent-a-liter gas.

But seeing Alberta today? It hits different. It feels like we’ve traded the old-school, sensible "Alberta Advantage" for a tribal "Us vs Them" that’s part Planet of the Apes, part 1930s Europe, and part Mar-a-Lago.

The "Good Old Days" vs. The Weird War

Growing up here, you were taught that the government was there to build hospitals, pave the roads, and then get out of your way. Now, it feels like the UCP has turned the province into a bunker.

The Propaganda Machine: Back in the 80s, the "enemy" was Ottawa (Pierre Trudeau, specifically). Today, the rhetoric has shifted from "Fair Deal" to something much darker. When Smith starts talking about "sovereignty" while cozying up to the fascist far-right shift in the US, it feels less like Lougheed’s Alberta and more like a "Primate Platoon" marching toward a cliff.

The Erasure of the True North: As a kid in the 80s, you’d see Indigenous culture as something "ceremonial" in the background of the Calgary Stampede. We were wrong then, but at least there was a pretense of respect. Seeing the 2026 government actively dismantle UNDRIP protections feels like a regression—a literal "Weird War" on the people who were here before the first oil well was ever drilled.

The Southern Shadow

For an Alberta guy, the US was always the "cool cousin" we traded with. But now? The border feels like it’s dissolving in the worst way.

Seeing our provincial leaders mirror the "America First" playbook—the attacks on the press, the "Proof of Citizenship" voting laws, the demonization of the vulnerable—it feels like we're being recruited into a fight that isn't ours.

It’s not nuanced. It’s not "conservative" in the traditional sense of preserving institutions. It’s radical. It’s the sound of a jackboot (or an ape fist) hitting the table.

The "Indigenous Rights" Casualty

These guys have had the worst time of any of Canada's people, the most "Weird War" thing about Alberta in 2026 is the Alberta-Canada MOU. The government is basically telling First Nations, "We’re taking the resources, and if you don't like it, we've got a legislative platoon ready to steamroll you." It’s a betrayal of the Treaties that said "We're not a bunch of barbarians". The racism is on display in Alberta now, an ugly history of ugly people, many of us were never properly taught about in the 80s, but should damn sure understand now.