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CTV News
a day ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Separatist Alberta Republican Party cries foul after byelection debate is cancelled
Cameron Davies, leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, is pro-separation from Canada and is pictured with his truck in Red Deer, Alta., Wednesday, May 7, CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh EDMONTON — The separatist Republican Party of Alberta is crying foul over a cancelled debate in a central Alberta byelection, suggesting the governing United Conservative Party is dodging democracy. The local Olds and District Chamber of Commerce said it had invited candidates from both those parties and the NDP, but only Republican Party of Alberta leader Cameron Davies committed in time, so the chamber was forced to call it off. Davies said it's up to the UCP to explain to voters why they don't want to debate. 'When you have nothing to offer Albertans at the ballot box, maybe that's their idea - avoid accountability and dodge democracy,' said Davies. He added he is still hoping a forum can be arranged before voters go to the polls on June 23, and that he's heard interest from two organizations to do so. Davies said the biggest issue he's hearing on the doorsteps is Alberta's place in Canada, and voters' discomfort with Premier Danielle Smith's party giving Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney a chance to bring the province a better deal. '(The UCP) should be up front and honest about where they stand, and I think avoiding whether or not they're in favour of independence - that's not going to satisfy Albertans that want to see Alberta end this toxic, abusive relationship with Ottawa,' said Davies. 'It doesn't take a petition for a provincial government to hold a referendum. The whole notion of a petition is nothing more than passing the buck and the UCP is trying to sit on the fence, instead of saying, 'Let's let Albertans have a say,'' he said. Smith has repeatedly said she wants to see Alberta remain in Canada, but recently passed legislation to lower the threshold for citizens to spark a referendum on seceding from Canada. The UCP said they're holding a town hall in Three Hills with their candidate, Tara Sawyer, and Smith on the same night the chamber wanted to hold their debate. 'We offered other dates, but they weren't able to move it, which we understand,' spokesman Dave Prisco said in an email. 'We held another town hall last week in Olds with hundreds of people in attendance, free to ask questions on any topic. We'll keep meeting with people, listening, and earning their support throughout the campaign,' he said. Doug Rieberger, president of the Olds and District Chamber of Commerce, said with Sawyer unavailable, and the chamber not getting a response from the NDP until after its deadline, they made the decision to cancel their event. 'Due to the short timeline of the campaign and availability of facilities, the chamber will be unable to reschedule,' said Rieberger. Bev Toews, the NDP's candidate in the riding, said in a statement it's a shame that the UCP refuses to debate. 'As always, they take this riding for granted. They assume people will blindly vote for them,' said Toews. 'I am the only candidate in this race that loves Canada and wants to fight to save it. The UCP candidate is too scared to say even that. 'I'll debate with her any time, anywhere.' Smith appointed Sawyer, a farmer and former chair of the Grain Growers of Canada, to run for the UCP without a competitive nomination process, citing the need to pick a candidate quickly. Davies, a longtime conservative activist and organizer, has become a key figure in Alberta's renewed separatist movement following the latest federal election. He said there are 'several' UCP MLAs who are in favour of Alberta independence but they're being silenced within their own party. 'There's speculation that's why they chose to avoid having their own internal nomination process,' said Davies. 'They made a very clear and conscious decision to have an Ottawa-first candidate hand-picked for the riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.' The seat became vacant last month when Nathan Cooper, the former legislature Speaker and a longtime United Conservative member in the legislature, resigned to become Alberta's representative in Washington, D.C. It's one of three vacant ridings, along with Edmonton-Strathcona and Edmonton-Ellerslie, that will have a byelection on the same day in less than three weeks. But in the rural riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, western separatist sentiment has bubbled to the surface before. In 1982, Gordon Kesler won what was Olds-Didsbury with 42 per cent of the vote in a byelection under the Western Canada Concept banner. Davies said there are differences now, including that his party has much less runway ahead of that vote than the Western Canada Concept did more than decades ago. 'We've been around for all of two months now,' said Davies. 'This is why the (UCP) wanted the byelection so quickly, because they did see we're getting momentum.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025. Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
The Guardian
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
How Trump has turbocharged a Canadian province's quest for independence
For Canadians, there's nothing new about a province contemplating secession. Two referendums on Quebec's potential independence – in 1980 and 1995 – brought the country uncomfortably close to the precipice. Today, it's not Quebec but the oil-rich western province of Alberta that is chafing under the constraints of Canadian confederation. US president Donald Trump's tariffs and comments about turning Canada into the 51st state have set in motion a chain of political events that will probably result in a referendum on Albertan independence sometime in 2026. Conservative political leaders in Alberta have traditionally stoked resentment of the federal government in Ottawa without crossing the line to advocate separation. The grievances are largely economic and in recent years have focused on environmental policies. The Conservative-led Alberta provincial government has portrayed these policies as hostile to the oil and gas industry, and consequently an attack on the province's affluence and identity. The current Alberta premier, Danielle Smith, has opened the door to a referendum by lowering the threshold for a citizen initiative to hold a referendum to a mere 10% of the votes cast in the most recent election. In practice this means that gathering just 177,000 signatures would be enough to put the measure before voters next year. Although Smith claims to want a united Canada, her actions have empowered separatists, who have busily begun collecting names of those willing to sign the petition. Separatism had previously been relegated to the fringes of Alberta's politics. Every provincial election features a few small separatist parties running candidates and winning few votes. In fact, the idea of separation garners more public support than the parties advocating for it. This support tends to follow national Liberal party wins. Until recently, the high-water mark had been about 30% support after the 2019 federal election, when the re-election of tJustin Trudeau's Liberals sparked the Wexit movement, but it then ebbed as the pandemic disrupted politics. If, as had been expected, the Conservatives had won the 2025 federal election, the Alberta separatist movement would have remained on the fringe. Instead, Trump's musings about Canada becoming the 51st state upended Canadian politics, allowing the Mark Carney-led Liberal party a miraculous political recovery. Predictably, after a Liberal win in the national general election, support for separation has once again increased in Alberta, this time to 36%, according to a recent Angus Reid poll. The separatist impulse in Alberta is closely tied to partisan politics. For all but four of the past 50 years, the province has been governed by a conservative party. In federal elections, around two-thirds of Alberta voters support the federal conservative party. (Provincial and federal conservative parties consider themselves part of the same movement, but are not formally affiliated.) The separatist movement occupies the far right of the political spectrum and its supporters are overwhelmingly conservative. Recent polling shows that many Albertans who would consider separation would change their view if the national-level Conservative party formed a federal government, or even if the federal government were to agree to some of Alberta's demands for building pipelines and dropping environmental regulations. In this regard, separatist sentiment looks more like an expression of frustration with Canadian politics than a movement that truly aspires to form a new sovereign state. However, Trump's comments about the country's future have altered the terrain for this vote. Proponents of independence no longer have to make the case that Alberta could 'go it alone' as a country. Instead, they allude to Trump's invitation to statehood. Recognising the potential of the moment, one of the fringe parties advocating for Alberta's independence has renamed itself in preparation for its desired future: the former Buffalo party of Alberta is now the Republican party of Alberta, ready to don a red baseball cap and make America great by adding Alberta to its union. These sympathies aren't restricted to fringe parties either. Many in the Alberta provincial conservative base identify with Trump's Maga movement. The imagined grievances that animate Maga are reflected in some of the party's policy agenda. In recent months, it has placed strict limits on the development of renewable energy, amended the Human Rights Act to protect freedom not to vaccinate, and limited transgender rights and medical treatment. Trump's expansionist desires do more than answer the practical questions of how Alberta would govern itself. They may also offer meaningful support to the independence campaign. Just as Russia intervened to bolster support for Brexit, we can expect some US interests to lend support to the Alberta secessionists. Even with these interventions, a majority vote to support independence is unlikely. A solid majority of Albertans have no desire to contemplate separation from Canada. A conversation about the practicalities of secession would probably dissuade many voters from casting a ballot to leave. Even if a majority of voters supported it, there is no clear path to statehood. First, all of the province is treaty land, meaning its status is granted by agreements signed between the federal government of Canada and the Indigenous peoples of the territory now called Alberta in the late 1800s. Indigenous leaders from the three treaty organisations assert that Alberta cannot unilaterally extinguish their agreements with the Canadian state by voting to secede. And also, after the close outcome in the 1995 Quebec secession referendum, the federal parliament passed the Clarity Act, which gives it authority to determine in advance whether a referendum question is clear and establish the threshold for a clear outcome. If these tests are passed, then the province seeking to leave enters into a constitutional negotiation with the federal government. With majority support for remaining within Canada, significant objections by Indigenous communities and a high threshold imposed by the Clarity Act, the impending vote on separation is unlikely to result in a quick exit from Canada. Why, then, would the provincial government pave the way for a referendum? Perhaps as a means of improving the province's negotiating stance. Perhaps to allow an activist fringe to blow off steam. Whatever the reason, the referendum poses significant risks for the province. It is likely to exacerbate political tensions, pitting separatists against federalists. It is likely to drive investment in sectors other than oil and gas out of the province, making economic diversification more difficult. It also draws the Trump administration's attention to the province, inviting unpredictable interventions. Premier Smith and the proponents of Albertan separation have drawn a dubious lesson from Quebec's sovereignty referendums. They believe that Quebec's credible threat of separation has empowered it within the Canadian federation, and they seek to emulate its 'win'. This view ignores what decades of separatist foment have cost Quebec, from an exodus of head offices from the province to a politics focused primarily on the question of secession. By opening the door to a referendum on separation, Alberta's government has invited similar uncertainty and conflict that could dominate its politics for years. Lisa Young is professor of political science at the University of Calgary
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Conservative Canadian province is looking to secede
A conservative Canadian province plans to secede from its liberal-learning neighbors, and some residents are even open to becoming the 51st American state. Alberta, a western province known for its oil and gas resources, has just about had it with the overwhelmingly liberal country - especially since a new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, took office. The area, often referred to as 'Canada's Texas' because of its political views and oil industry, is home to a small batch of conservatives who have recently gained momentum amidst Trump's controversial call for the US to take over Canada. Despite Carney being from Alberta, he plans to continue on the same path as his predecessor Justin Trudeau and not allow the US leader to take control of the country or allow provinces to separate. But now that the liberal movement continues in Canada, many of Alberta's about five million residents feel that they are different enough from the rest of the country to branch off on their own. 'If there was a referendum on it, I would not hesitate to say separation,' Bob Gablehaus, a local resident and retired government worker, told The New York Times. 'I don't like the way the liberals treat Western Canada. I think it's unfair,' he added. Gablehaus is not the only one who believes the province could be better off leaving the rest of the county behind as approximately 30 percent of Albertans were in favor of independence if the liberals won a fourth time in office, according to polling numbers before the election. When Trudeau was in office, many Alberta residents disliked his climate-focused agenda because they said it limited the province's ability to make money through the export of its minerals and fossil fuel. Danielle Smith (pictured), also known as Alberta's 'MAGA-style conservative leader,' is not in favor of Alberta seceding, but plans on negotiating the province's relationship with Ottawa's federal government to untangle the area's oil industry. Despite not being in favor of it, Smith said her conditions will most likely lead to a vote about where Alberta stands in the country. Now that there has also been a change in Canada's leadership, Smith said it is the perfect opportunity for her to talk to the federal government about her ideas. Without waiting a full 24 hours to present her conditions to Carney, she introduced a new bill that would make it easier for citizens to launch a referendum. 'The federal government has taken hostile actions against Alberta and against the Constitution and against our right to develop our resources,' Smith told the outlet. The new rules she's presented will drastically slash the amount of signatures needed from 600,000 to 177,000, and will also give petitioners an additional month to get people to sign. 'The world looks at us like we've lost our minds,' she told Albertans this month. 'We have the most abundant and accessible natural resources of any country on earth, and yet we land lock them, sell what we do produce to a single customer to the south of us, while enabling polluting dictatorships to eat our lunch. 'For Albertans, these attacks on our province by our own federal government have become unbearable,' she continued. Some groups have already collected thousands of signatures, including Dennis Modry, the founder of a volunteer organization leading a referendum campaign known as the Alberta Prosperity Project. 'It's a very serious turning point,' the retired surgeon said, adding that he has so far gathered about 240,000 signatures. Similarly, Sean Fuller, a tattoo artist located in Leduc, Alberta, said many people feel like they 'are Ottawa's piggy bank.' 'Ottawa needs a wake-up call from Alberta. Most of us feel like we are Ottawa's piggy bank and we don't get anything in return for that,' Fuller explained. 'Maybe, if there is enough political noise over here, maybe Carney's new government will have to pay attention.' One resident, Paulette McCulloch, has even been selling 'Alberta, U.S.A' merchandise, including baseball caps and mugs, to spread her support for the province to break free. 'We're being abused badly,' the 83-year-old said. 'We've got to do something about it.' While many are for Alberta seceding, the push for a referendum on the topic is infuriating Indigenous people who live there. Several First Nations leaders have rejected Smith's proposal, accusing her of violating their rights and sparking a nation unity crisis, the New York Times reported. Carney has long made it clear how he feels about separatism as he has tried to steer his country into a better place, especially with the ongoing trade war brought on by Trump. 'Canada is stronger when we work together. As an Albertan, I firmly believe that you can always ask a question, but I know what I would respond,' he said following his first official visit to the White House this month. Others have opted to give Carney a chance and see if he will truly better the country. Doug Hayden is one of those people, as he credited Carney and his liberal team for ending an unfavored carbon tax on consumers that was introduced by Trudeau's administration. 'He changed relatively quickly. These two parties probably have more in common than they have differences,' Hayden said.
Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
The oil-rich Canadian cowboys who want their own kind of Brexit
Many of the Albertans who have concluded the province must secede from Canada contemplate the potential breakup of their country with regret, if not outright grief. Not so Ron Robertson. The retired police detective and leader of the Independence Party looks forward to the day Alberta, an energy powerhouse often compared to Texas, is unshackled from the rest of the nation. His quixotic vision, sketched out to The Times over lunch at a Thai restaurant in a small prairie town, is not as outlandish as it once seemed. Discontent with Canada's political elite has long festered in the western provinces, where residents complain of neglect from the establishment back east, but the oilmen, cowboys and cattle ranchers in Alberta's secessionist movement have been invigorated by
National Post
15-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
'This is about the economy': What motivates Alberta separatists
With dedicated groups of Albertans pushing for the western province to secede from Canada, new polling shows that most of those living in the province reject this idea, while just over one-third support some form of independence from Canada. Article content Article content The Postmedia-Leger poll also found that 44 per cent of Albertans identify as 'primarily Canadian,' while only 21 per cent identify as primarily Albertan. A further 32 per cent say they identify as both equally. Article content Article content Sixty per cent of those who oppose separation say they identify as primarily Canadian; even among those who wish to see an independent Alberta, 23 per cent say they identify as primarily Canadian, while 45 per cent say they are primarily Albertan. Article content Article content When it comes to a future scenario involving an independent Alberta, the most popular idea, which received the support of 35 per cent of Albertans, would be an independent western bloc, from Manitoba to the Pacific Ocean. Thirty per cent support just Alberta and Saskatchewan breaking away and forming their own country, while 29 per cent would support Alberta going it alone. Article content Just 17 per cent of Albertans are interested in joining the United States. Article content 'I don't really see this as something that's been really steamrolling and gaining a ton of momentum. I think it's … probably been festering for a bit,' said Andrew Enns, Leger's executive vice-president, central Canada. 'Probably the re-election of the Liberals didn't help to diminish anything. But I wouldn't suggest also that it's actually added a bunch of fuel to the fire.' Article content Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been a frequent critic of the federal government's approach to Alberta. When she met with Prime Minister Mark Carney prior to the election, she made a list of nine demands, many of them involving the energy sector, that she said she expected to see met within six months, or there could be an 'unprecedented national unity crisis.' Article content The majority of Albertans (53 per cent) support Smith's approach on those demands, while 34 per cent disagree. Eighty-three per cent of those who support separation also support Smith's approach, compared to 34 per cent of those who do not support separation. Article content Article content 'What she's doing is not completely offside with her voters and the electorate. I mean, her job is to represent Alberta and Albertans, and not necessarily do things that are going to make (Ontario) Premier (Doug) Ford happy,' said Enns. Article content The single largest individual motivation is economic, largely to do with resource management and taxation. Almost one third (30 per cent) of Albertans give economic factors as their primary reason, compared to eight per cent who identify political reasons — such as political underrepresentation — as their main motivation and five per cent who give cultural reasons, such as regional identity or values.
