Alberta byelection called for Aug. 18, giving Poilievre path back to House of Commons

Ottawa Citizen

9 hours ago

Smith said on Thursday that she's 'never seen such a high level of separatist sentiment,' and warned about the results of a provincial byelection in Olds_Didsbury_Three Hills last week, where a separatist candidate got just shy of 18 per cent of the vote.
The premier also said the problem 'is really in Ottawa's hands' and challenged the Carney government to scrap the proposed emissions cap and repeal the West Coast tanker ban.
The town of Trochu is within both Battle River-Crowfoot and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, meaning residents are now set to cast their third set of ballots in five months.
Barry Kletke has been mayor of Trochu for 21 years. Speaking as a resident, not as the mayor, he said he worried that the separatist candidate might make headway in the provincial race.
He said he would be happy to have Poilievre as the area's MP for one term but hopes the Conservative leader doesn't 'get caught down the rabbit hole of separation.'
'I think he's going to wear the 'proud to be Canadian' hat, and I hope that's the message,' he said.
Kletke said Smith's tendency to talk about the threat of separation is 'going to come back and bite us in the butt one of these days.'
Brown said the results of her most recent poll suggest a third of Albertans believe their province would be better off if it left Canada, and 29 per cent of respondents said they would vote to separate in a referendum.
'It's not a majority but it's not an insignificant fringe,' she said.
As a result, she said, even if Poilievre wants to avoid talking about it, 'separatists will want to bait him into that conversation and his opponents will want to bait him in that conversation too.'
Kory Teneycke, the co-founder and CEO of Rubicon Strategy and a conservative strategist, agreed Poilievre is about to be dragged into a debate that is 'entirely unhelpful for the federal Conservative party.'
Poilievre has said he opposes separation. On May 13, he told reporters Albertans have 'a lot of legitimate grievances.'
'Albertans want to be part of a united Canada but they deserve to be treated with respect, and they deserve to be honoured for the immense contribution to this country, and I will be a unifier,' Poilievre said at a press conference on Parliament Hill.
Teneycke said Poilievre should be openly opposing a referendum and saying that 'this is bad for Alberta and this is bad for Canada to even be having this conversation.'
It's not yet clear if candidates from any separatist parties will run against Poilievre in the byelection.
What is clear is that the conversation won't be limited to the campaign. If Poilievre wins, he will become an MP from Alberta _ and he will have to keep talking about the issue.
'That's a dangerous territory for a Conservative leader to be operating in,' Teneycke said.