In Alberta, separatism is on the ballot in a rural byelection on Monday
OTTAWA — Cameron Davies, the leader of the separatist Republican Party of Alberta and the party's candidate for Monday's Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection, admits that his party's name and MAGA red branding are causing some confusion at the doors.
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'It certainly has come up in conversation,' Davies told the National Post on Thursday.
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'People want to know more about it, what it means and that's just an opportunity to explain why the word 'republican' and why a constitutional republic is something we want to look at.'
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Davies' Republican party isn't formally aligned with the more well-known one south of the border — notably swapping out the latter's elephant for a more local buffalo as its logo — but it does aspire to make Alberta an independent republic governed similarly in principle to the U.S.
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'The form of government Canada has doesn't work for Alberta, and the form of government we have here in Alberta doesn't work for Alberta,' said Davies.
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Davies, an ex-UCP organizer, is one of two separatist candidates who'll be on the ballot in Monday's byelection in the south-central Alberta riding, where the governing United Conservative Party won more votes than anywhere else in the province in 2023's provincial election.
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The other is employee benefits specialist Bill Tufts, running under the banner of the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition.
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Under normal circumstances, the byelection would be a tap-in for first-time UCP candidate Tara Sawyer. But these are anything but normal circumstances, with support for Alberta separatism spiking on the heels of the federal Liberals fourth straight election win.
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What's more, Davies and Tufts have a fortuitous piece of Alberta election lore to point to.
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Western Concept candidate Gordon Kesler notched a surprise 1982 byelection win in predecessor riding Olds-Didsbury, briefly becoming the first and only separatist to hold a seat in Alberta's legislature.
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Kesler is still active in the area's politics and is backing Davis in the byelection.
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Ex-Alberta MLA Derek Fildebrandt, whose now-defunct riding of Strathmore-Brooks crossed into the riding's east end, says he expects the Republicans to place a strong second, possibly even pushing the UCP below a majority vote share.
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'Based on my gut, nothing hard,' said Fildebrandt.
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