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False

An independent Alberta would control all the water in its rivers.

Claimed by: Implied by sovereignty arguments over natural resources

False: False as written according to the settled evidence. How we rate.

Most of Alberta's major rivers flow east into Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and Alberta has agreed to share that water. Under the 1969 Master Agreement on Apportionment, signed by Canada, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Alberta may consume at most half of the natural flow of each eastward-flowing transboundary river and must let the other half pass downstream. For three creeks near the United States border the share Alberta must pass on rises to 75 percent to meet international commitments under the Boundary Waters Treaty. Independence would not erase those obligations: downstream provinces and the United States would still expect their share, and water-sharing is one of the things a new country would have to negotiate, not something Alberta could simply seize.

Last reviewed: May 30, 2026