Billboard promoting Canadian province as 51st U.S. state sparks backlash

A billboard ad in central Alberta promoting the province becoming the 51st U.S. state has sparked some backlash online.

The billboard, reportedly in Bowden, reads, "Tell Danielle! Let's Join the USA!" alongside an image of Premier Danielle Smith posing with U.S. President Donald Trump during her visit to the President’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

A website attached to the billboard requests donations for a campaign to "advertise and purchase strategic media partnerships in both Canada & the USA, all designed to facilitate a winning referendum on joining the USA."

The website also includes several claims that can be easily debunked.

For example, the website suggests Canadians "elect commoners to exercise the Office of the Queen," despite Queen Elizabeth II’s passing in 2022, and another claims that Prime Ministers act as kings and answer to a political group called "the Family Compact," which has been defunct since the mid-1800s — before Canada even became a country.

The website also links to a Facebook group called "Alberta, USA Statehood Movement," which features the same imagery as the Bowden billboard and has over 12,000 members.

One of the two administrators appears to be an American who resides in Mexico — we has reached out to the group administrators to confirm this.

While Albertans have slightly more capacity for entertaining the idea of joining the USA than the rest of Canada, polling suggests most oppose the idea. Albertans on social media quickly shut down the idea of Alberta joining the USA in response to the billboard.

"If these morons love the U.S. so much and want to live there, they can f*cking move there," one commenter wrote.

"I sent the sign owners a nasty note — I doubt it will change anything, but these traitors are so irritating," another wrote.

"That’s disgusting and anti-Canadian," one replied.

We reached out to the campaign owners regarding the reaction to the billboard and the false information on the campaign website. A spokesperson responded, stating they would not comment due to the "hostile bias" of the request.