What might hold back some of their population? The ample social welfare benefits Canada provides, including socialized medicine. But Canadian law does give them a fairly easy path to secession:
Constitutional Conservatism and Biblical Christianity in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina
This is a sticky wicket . Oh what will they do ? I see an independent Alberta as the best path.
Fred, the fellow in the video correctly points out that the socialists in Congress will not allow Alberta to become a U.S. state. Independence may be their only route if they secede, as you seem to suggest.