Alberta separation becoming the focus of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection

CTV News

2 days ago

A Canada flag, left, and an Alberta flag flap in the breeze with Mt. Kidd in the background in Kananaskis, Alta., Monday, June 2, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)
The Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection is quickly turning into a mini referendum on Alberta secession.
The riding saw its MLA, former speaker Nathan Cooper, step down earlier this year to take a provincial job in Washington. That's meant the conservative stronghold will be one of three Alberta areas electing a new representative on June 23.
The UCP has held the south-central seat since the party's inception. Before that, it bounced between the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives.
But the recent federal election and tension between rural Alberta and Ottawa have another right-leaning party convinced the byelection is there for the taking.
Cameron Davies is running for the newly created Republican Party of Alberta, which he also leads.
Provincial separation is the party's main goal.
'Albertans are ready for change,' he told CTV News. 'Justin Trudeau, he read the book on how to be a socialist. But Mark Carney is the gentleman who wrote the book. So, any politician who goes out there and tells you they have high hopes for Mark Carney, I think, needs to take a closer look at who he is.'
The Republican Party of Alberta
Davies and his party believe that Ottawa's treatment of western Canada has alienated voters and edged them out of important decisions. They want to leave confederation.
And while he alleges some within the governing UCP are separatists, Davies doesn't think the party is 'conservative enough' for the province.
'The UCP has, over the last several years, attempted to pander to downtown Edmonton and downtown Calgary,' he said.
'(Albertans) are ready for an alternative: a truly conservative option that doesn't apologize for our values.'
Asked what those values are, Davies began with a message: 'I can look you in the eye and tell you there's only two genders,' he said. 'Let's start there.'
The Republican Party of Alberta does seem to be focused on popular conservative ideas from south of the border: at various points in the interview, Davies brought up parental choice, property rights and 'family values.'
'I believe that the longer we wait for the conservatives to figure out if they are in fact conservatives, the more and more disappointed we will be,' he said.
And some of his messaging is obviously resonating.
An afternoon of door knocking in Three Hills showed there's an appetite in this area for what the Republicans are pitching.
Despite Canadian flags lining multiple lawns, residents were happy to engage in conversation with the party leader and ask him questions about leaving the country.
Davies promised it's not just here.
He claimed the party's other two byelection candidates are making inroads, passing out hundreds of signs in city centres like Edmonton.
Post federal election, the party alleges to have 24,000 members. They want to double that and pass Davies' former Wildrose party in sign-ups before the party's autumn AGM.
'And regardless of the outcome (in this byelection), our objective is to make sure that our message is heard,' he said.
The Alberta NDP
Bev Toews is running for the Alberta NDP.
She has worked at an Olds high school for years and calls herself a 'community volunteer.'
Toews is the first Alberta NDP candidate in this riding to be local: a badge she wears with pride.
'This talk of separatism is very concerning to me, and so I thought it was really important that somebody had a voice and talked about health care, education, affordability and being a strong Alberta in a strong Canada,' she told CTV News.
In 2023, her party brought in only 18.8 per cent of the vote.
The UCP's Cooper exceeded 75 per cent.
At the time, another separatist group, the Alberta Independence Party, garnered 1,140 votes: 4.7 per cent of the ballots.
The new NDPer says she understands some of the federal frustration in the riding — and believes her party having more voices in Edmonton can help.
'Certainly, there are things we can make better, and there are things that Ottawa can do better for Alberta,' Toews said.
'But I think we have more possibility of making a positive change working together than being all on our own.'
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills is largely comprised of born-in-Alberta residents and agricultural workers who lean to the political right.
They've never given the NDP more than 4,600 votes.
Toews understands it'll be an uphill campaign — but expressed some excitement Wednesday that there is more choice for constituents.
'And if they're not happy, this is an excellent opportunity for them to send a very strong message to (Premier) Danielle Smith and the UCP,' she said.
The United Conservative Party
Tara Sawyer is the United Conservative candidate.
CTV News reached out to Sawyer and the UCP multiple times to set up an interview but never received a response.
Earlier this week, Sawyer refused to give a planned all-candidates forum any availability in the lead-up to June 23's vote, meaning the forum was cancelled.
Expert insight
A Mount Royal University political scientist believes the byelection could be a close one between the UCP and Republican Party of Alberta.
'It's an area that is likely to be more sympathetic to the kinds of things that the Republican Party stands for than in other parts of Alberta,' political scientist Lori Williams said.
'So, it will be very interesting.'
As for the separation talk, Williams says she'll be watching closely to get a sense of just how real the rural secession appetite really is. It's been talked about for decades, but she's still not entirely convinced separation will be a decider when the voting pencils are picked up.
That's because the logistics of the move would be extremely complicated and costly.
'More fairness within confederation is a message that resonates frankly across the province to some degree; it's just whether that extends to the point of independence,' Williams said.
'That may make (Davies) more of a hard sell. If it were just about entitlement, corruption and a failure to represent within the United Conservative Party, I think that Cam Davies could have a significant impact on this election.'
'It will be a test: both of the Republican Party, but also of the United Conservative Party and to what extent other conservatives are more appealing than the UCP in Alberta.'