The threat to Canada's sovereignty from US President Donald Trump has dominated the election, but the country also faces a challenge from within. Some western Canadians, fed up with a decade of Liberal rule, are openly calling for separation. Standing in front of a crowd of about 100 squeezed into a small event hall in the city of Lethbridge, Dennis Modry is asking locals about Alberta's future.

Who thinks Alberta should have a bigger role in Canada, he asks? A dozen or so raise their hands. Who thinks the province should push for a split from Canada and form its own nation?

About half the crowd raise their hands. "How many people would like Alberta to join the US?" Another show of support from half the crowd.

Mr Modry, a retired heart surgeon, is a co-leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a grassroots organisation pushing for an independence referendum. The possibility of a split has long been a talking point in this conservative-leaning province. But two factors have given it new momentum: Trump's comments about making Canada the 51st US state, and the subsequent boost that has given the Liberal Party in the polls ahead of Monday's federal election.

Mr Modry told the BBC the separatist movement has grown in recent months – driven in part, he believes, by the president's rhetoric. "We're not interested in that", he said. "We're interested in Alberta sovereignty."

Jeffrey Rath, however – a lawyer and rancher from Calgary who is another of the project's co-founders – was not as dismissive of Trump's 51st state suggestion. Although he agrees independence is the priority, he could see a future where Alberta joined with the US. "We have a lot more culturally in common with our neighbours to the south in Montana… [and] with our cousins in Texas, than we do anywhere else," he said.