It is unusual that Canada is more provincial rights oriented than we are states rights oriented. When the Canadian confederation was organized in 1867, it was in the shadow of the U.S. Civil War. The Canadian politicians favored a strong central government to prevent what had happened to their south. Most provinces are policed by the RCMP and not a provincial police force. Provincial premiers do not have an equivalent to the National Guard to deal with riots and natural disasters. Income taxes for the provinces are collected by the Canadian Federal government, except for Quebec. Criminal and civil law is uniform, unlike in our country, where state laws prevail and guide the courts unless superseded by Federal law. The Canadians were at that point not fully self governing with respect to foreign affairs; Canada remained part of the British Empire. Ottawa gradually gained independent control of foreign policy in a process that lasted over a century. Since 1776, America has had a clean break from the British Empire, ratified by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
Lee's surrender at Appomattox ended the concept of state secession. In the 20th Century, a series of Constitutional amendments, court decisions, and Congressional legislation greatly weakened the states' ability to have internal independence. Yet the states maintain their own courts, taxation authority, police, military (unless nationalized by the President), legal codes, and tax systems. The Canadian provinces lack these elements. If Alberta were somehow able to break away from Ottawa and became either an independent country or an American state, their leaders would have to start from scratch to build parallel institutions.