Separatism. Sovereignty. Statehood. Danielle Smith has repeatedly invoked the idea of Alberta independence during her time in office. But documents obtained by the Investigative Journalism Foundation suggest it is not an economic scenario the provincial government is seriously studying.

In his decades with the public service, Lennie Kaplan, former senior manager for the Fiscal and Economic Policy division of Alberta’s finance ministry, often took the long view, trying to anticipate how government policies or world events would affect the province’s economic plans.