Alberta separatism, thought to be dead for decades, again pokes its head above the parapet. The Flintstone Federation is on the rise.

In letters to the editor, online comments and talk shows, many people are making the point that if no pipelines can be built because Montreal objects, or Burnaby objects, or premiers demand highwayman payoffs, what’s the point of Canada anyway — especially when Alberta’s crippled economy still sends cash down the equalization pipeline, and nobody seems to demonstrate against that one.

At the same time people say those things, of course, Alberta has a desperate need for federal stimulus money and expansion of employment insurance. Very few people will complain if the province gets them. These things aren’t always logical.

But the old western separation pitch can be incredibly powerful and damaging during a crisis seen as abetted by Ottawa, either by action or the lack of it.

There are already echoes of the fury over the first Trudeau’s National Energy Program in 1980. Interim federal Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose alluded to that feeling Monday, and she was right; it’s out there, and growing.

A Facebook page called The Republic of Western Canada has 13,200 members. Founded last fall, its goal is to create “a place where our votes count, our values are respected, our laws are the only laws of the land.”

If no pipelines can be built because Montreal objects, or Burnaby objects, or premiers demand highwayman payoffs, what’s the point of Canada anyway?

Right at the top of the comment list Monday, one member said, “It would be nice if the Quebec sponges would return the money we have donated to their pathetic welfare state.”

A fellow from Quebec didn’t mind that kind of talk. He said many Quebec separatists “are supporting your project of creating a country as it would mean we will get ours as well.”

There’s a reason why Premier Rachel Notley keeps pleading for a “drama-free” conversation about pipelines. Theatrics over regional splits can quickly spill off the stage and start a brawl in the audience.

The first round saw Wildrose Leader Brian Jean blasting sewage-dumping Montreal, and Mayor Denis Coderre responding that Wildrosers think the Flintstones is a documentary.

For those who believe this kind of dispute always stays comical, or harmless, let me recall another near-brawl in the audience.

On Nov. 20, 1980, only weeks after Trudeau Sr. introduced the National Energy Program, 2,800 people attended a separatist rally for Western Canada Concept at Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium.

That giant audience was furious, ravenous and dangerous. Nick Taylor, the provincial Liberal leader of the day — later a senator — had the courage to mount the stage and debate Doug Christie, the firebrand separatist leader whose battle cry was, “Free the West!”

Now 88, Taylor remembers what happened next.

“I basically said they were being selfish,” says Taylor, who supported the NEP’s goals. “They didn’t like that. People started rushing at the stage and spitting at me. I had to be escorted out by some of Christie’s minions.”

Today, Taylor says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should approve the Energy East pipeline, although he figures it could take the courage Trudeau’s father needed to face down the terrorist FLQ.

Separatism faded within two years, partly because Christie was widely seen as an anti-Semitic crank, but mostly because Progressive Conservative Premier Peter Lougheed fought Ottawa to a bitter draw, at one point even cutting oil shipments to the East by 15 per cent.

Today, Notley clearly intends to avoid conflict; her pitch is reconciliation at a time when people feel attacked. It’s a stand founded on principle, but precariously fuzzy for a sharp-edged moment.

Jean is certainly forceful in his Alberta advocacy. Many of the separatist-leaners could gravitate to Wildrose.

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Clearly, the best Alberta voice so far — strong and sensible at the same time — is Naheed Nenshi’s.

The Calgary mayor scolded Coderre for snidely noting there are more people in Montreal than all of Saskatchewan.

“Is that how we build a country?” Nenshi asked. “This is a guy who was a former federal cabinet minister. We’ve got to think about the nation.”

Somebody has to, when so many people would be glad to dismantle it.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Herald.

dbraid@calgaryherald.com