"Should Alberta ditch Canada?" asks a billboard on display in Calgary. Though it might seem preposterous, the idea of separating from the rest of Canada seems to be more palatable to Albertans today than it is to Quebecers.

As Alberta Fights Back, a political-action committee advocating a referendum on Albertan secession, promotes the idea of leaving confederation, the idea is falling upon sympathetic ears, particularly in the province's beleaguered oil and gas industry.

In an Angus Reid poll conducted earlier in February, 50% of Albertans considered their province separating from Canada to be "a possibility." By contrast, an Angus Reid poll conducted shortly after Quebec's provincial election last year found that a full 82% of Quebecers had no desire to leave confederation.

And while onetime-separatist politicians in Quebec, like Premier François Legault, have renounced the sovereignty movement and say they are content with this province remaining in Canada, the mood seems to be inverted on the Rocky Mountains.

Former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney, who now leads the opposition United Conservative Party in Alberta, said last fall that a "significant and growing minority of Albertans" are interested in the idea of seceding.

With files from CTV Calgary.