An independent Alberta could just switch to the US dollar.
Claimed by: Proposed in Alberta independence currency plans
Needs context: Accurate as written, but a key piece of context changes how it reads. How we rate.
Summary
A country can adopt the US dollar without anyone's permission, so in that narrow sense the claim is true. What it leaves out is the cost. Using another country's currency means giving up monetary policy entirely: Alberta would have no central bank, no lender of last resort in a banking crisis, and no ability to set its own interest rates or cushion a downturn in oil prices. It would effectively import US monetary policy, which is set for the US economy rather than Alberta's. Economists who have reviewed separatist currency proposals say they understate these tradeoffs, which is why full dollarization is usually adopted only by small economies with few other options.
Evidence
Economic analysis of the leading separatist plan argues a separate Alberta would be poorer and that its proposed currency arrangements lack the institutions of a credible monetary system.
The same analysis details why a new or borrowed currency would start without the institutional credibility and tools that anchor a stable modern economy.