Albertans will go to the polls on Oct. 19 to vote on various referenda, including one that asks whether we want to hold another referendum on separating from Canada. So, we are in for at least five months of polarization over a slippery question that will not even appease the sovereigntists whom Premier Danielle Smith wants to keep as part of her United Conservative Party.

I have been privileged to live in four of Canada’s 10 provinces, each with its own unique feel. “Feel” is not the same as culture, but the cultures of those provinces are also somewhat different. Unfortunately, one feature of Alberta culture is resentment. Most Albertans do not resent the rest of Canada, but resentment has become a defining feature of our politics.

There are grounds for that resentment, but those grounds cannot obscure the reality that Alberta is Canada’s wealthiest province. However, resentment cannot be the foundation of a culture, only of an anti-culture. It offers neither respect for the province’s past nor vision for a better future. It is a cramped sense of having been unfairly denied something one believes they deserve. When resentment becomes the raison d’etre of a people, that people can only shrivel up into something smaller. Think of Scrooge before his Christmas Eve enlightenment.

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Conversely, a people of vision are those who think of those who are materially deprived. Wealth carries responsibility, a responsibility to share with the least of our brothers and sisters. Not only those who live within our borders, but also those who live across our nation and even further afield. Our identity comes through our relationships. We strive to be bigger than ourselves.

When I moved to Alberta in 1978, Peter Lougheed was the premier. Lougheed gained a national reputation as a truculent defender of Alberta’s rights, especially its legal right to benefit from petroleum revenue. However, Lougheed was a man of vision, and his government established a human rights commission, financially supported projects in developing nations, and instituted reforms that strengthened the welfare state. It also set up the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund to save current petroleum revenue for the future needs of Albertans and others.

Lougheed’s Progressive Conservatives racked up massive victories in every election because they gave heed to both present needs and future hopes. Alberta was seen as a land of opportunity in significant part because of Lougheed’s broad vision.

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The world and Alberta have changed significantly since Lougheed stepped down as premier in 1985. The rich have become much richer, and the poor are increasingly forgotten. The grasping, closed hand of keeping what is mine is replacing the open hand of generosity. The world is a more dangerous place.

However, that did not have to happen. There was no inevitability to it. The common good did not have to become an afterthought.

Brexit charted the path Alberta may follow, if it chooses. David Cameron, the British prime minister, called a referendum on whether to remain in the European Union to appease his extreme supporters. The Leave campaign developed momentum, hostility toward immigrants grew and, by the smallest of margins, the British people voted to leave the union. The result was economic hardship and political instability.

The United Kingdom is an island nation. A separate Alberta, however, would join the ranks of landlocked countries, dependent on Canadian goodwill to engage in international trade. Goodwill may be in short supply if Alberta chooses to take its money and run. In an era of global trade, landlocked nations are not prospering.

Further, the culture of grievance will not disappear in a separate Alberta. A people focused on protecting their own turf will not suddenly gain a generous vision once they retreat onto their own island. Internecine feuds will spring up, and the people will disintegrate into a society of every person for himself or herself.

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It is no coincidence that the October separation referendum will be on the same ballot as one to give Alberta more control over immigration. We will have the opportunity to block others from moving to our province.

The bedrock principle of Catholic social teaching is the universal destination of all goods. That is, God created humanity so that all will share equitably in the bounty of the earth. It is a principle that Albertans – indeed, all Canadians – need to learn. Without it, we will perish. With it, we will be motivated by gratitude and generosity. We will do great things for ourselves and for others.