Latest news with #OldsDidsburyThreeHills
National Post
06-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
The life of a conservative male on a Canadian campus: 'We are not the demons that you see us as'
Article content Chui's take is slightly different; 'I seldom encounter someone who has been corrupted by the 'manosphere',' he says with a grin, 'and when I do encounter them, it's more a fad than anything. After a few months, after a season, it's over; they're back to normal.' Article content As for the radical right coming for our sons, Chui acknowledges the growth in young men's affiliation with the conservative movement but sees this as pragmatic, rather than ideological. Young people who can't make ends meet, he says, 'are choosing to put their faith in a party that historically runs on economic integrity, runs on fiscal responsibility.' Article content It's all part of a cycle, he suggests; there was a spike in young men's support for conservatives in the Mulroney era, and again with the rise of the Reform Party. 'It is a cycle that keeps on happening over and over, and I don't believe social issues have any play within it. Amongst my friends, social issues are not at the forefront of our minds.' Article content At 6-foot-3, Chui towers over me, cutting an imposing figure in his wide leg jeans and suede jacket. His experience as a Christian street preacher may have shaped him into the most patient 20-year-old I've ever encountered. Article content 'Don't fret too much,' is Chui's primary message (as a mother worried about boys, I'm somewhat comforted); however, his experience door-knocking — most recently, in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency on behalf of United Conservative Party MLA Tara Sawyer — sends me reeling. Article content 'At the doors,' Chui shares, 'when I do encounter a conservative and the question comes up, 'would you like a lawn sign?', it is often, more times than not, a 'no.' And almost every single time, it is due to the fact they don't want their neighbours to know they are conservative because of the weight that carries.' Article content 'You're talking about rural Alberta?' I ask, incredulously. Article content 'You would expect to have almost every single house welcoming a lawn sign with open arms,' Chui answers, 'but that's far from the truth. Article content Article content 'A lot of the people you encounter at these doors are centrists, and they cast ballots with their pocketbooks,' he explains. 'They want fiscal responsibility and that takes precedence over social issues… things like trans rights, things like homosexual rights, social safety nets.' Article content They feel disenfranchised and are looking for change, he concludes, 'but when you take up that lawn sign, what does that say to your neighbour? That you're a 'racist'.' Article content Somewhat dumbstruck, I wade into the murky waters of DEI quotas and cancel culture. 'Would you like to see wokeness dialled back at your school?' I ask. Article content 'It's almost like the 'he who shall not be named', Voldemort question, among my circles at least,' Chui quips. 'It's not even spoken about. We almost pretend they (DEI quotas) don't exist and just carry on.' Article content With its rainbow flags, rainbow crosswalk and posters everywhere, 'DEI is very, very fundamentally rooted into the Mount Royal (University) culture,' Mitch answers. While it may be a great idea, at his school, he says it's unrealistic to think about shutting down the whole DEI ideology. 'What we need to do, to lean into that direction,' he offers, 'is foster a sense it's OK to have different opinions.'
CBC
27-06-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Premier Smith says Albertans' desire for leaving Canada has never been higher
Social Sharing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the public desire in her province to quit Canada has never been higher. Speaking Thursday to reporters in Calgary, Smith said Albertans feel deeply frustrated and angry with Ottawa. She cited a separatist candidate who garnered almost 18 per cent of the vote in a byelection in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding earlier this week. "I've never seen such a high level of separatist sentiment," she said. Smith said the byelection result was record-breaking in terms of separatist support, but a 1982 byelection in the same Alberta riding saw a separatist candidate win with more than 40 per cent of the vote. She said the fact that her United Conservative Party candidate won Monday's byelection means the public wants her to work with Prime Minister Mark Carney's government. Asked what her government could do to quell separatist desire, Smith said it was Ottawa's responsibility — as it was following that 1982 byelection. "A couple of years later, after (then-prime minister) Brian Mulroney got rid of the National Energy Program, the sentiment evaporated," she said. "This is really in Ottawa's hands." The present-day equivalent to that program — which introduced price controls and hiked the federal share of tax revenue from oil production — is several laws that Smith said stifle energy production and investment in Alberta. In recent months, she has called for Carney to abolish several federal policies and programs, including a proposed emissions cap, net-zero electricity grid regulations and the West Coast tanker ban. "If Ottawa wants to work with me to cause that [separatist] sentiment to subside, then we need to materially address the nine bad laws that have created that negative investment climate," she said. "If they make the changes that we're requesting, then I suspect they can take the air out of that movement." Speaking alongside Smith was federal Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland. Asked what she thought of Smith's assessment, Freeland said she hopes Albertans will see recently passed legislation to speed up the approval process of major projects as a sign that Canada has reached a "turning point." "I think we are on a really good path recognizing we need to be united," Freeland said. "We need to find ways to build Canada. "With that approach of positive intent — a shared recognition of the challenges Canada is facing, Alberta is facing — I really think that we are at the beginning of a new chapter where we're going to get a lot more done a lot faster." Smith said Ottawa's legislation, which passed in the Senate Thursday, gave her hope that change was happening. Earlier this week, Smith announced a 15-member panel that would tour the province this summer to gather ideas on how Alberta can fight federal overreach. It's an endeavour that former premier Jason Kenney did in 2019. Smith has said her panel is using Kenney's as a jumping-off point. Smith's panel will discuss creating a provincial pension plan, police force and tax collection agency. The panel is also polling Albertans on creating its own immigration permit system that would cut off non-approved immigrants from accessing provincially funded services like health care and education.
National Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Colby Cosh: The flaccid state of Alberta's separation movement
On Monday, the Alberta provincial riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills gave us a clear, unmistakeable snapshot of the elusive Alberta-separatist Sasquatch — and it turns out he's about the size of a Yorkshire terrier. In 1982, Olds-Didsbury, as it then was, became the only Alberta riding ever to elect a separatist legislator, the still-living and still-radical Gordon Kesler. In 2025, Kesler's latter-day successor, Conservative MLA and Assembly Speaker Nathan Cooper, resigned to take a job as Alberta's official agent in Washington. Article content Article content This forced a byelection and gave the allegedly resurgent Alberta separatist movement an electrifying opportunity to repeat history. Could the new-christened Republican Party of Alberta (RPA) duplicate the separatist coup of 1982 on the same conservative ground? Article content Article content Article content The party sent its leader, the self-exiled UCP operative Cameron Davies, to contest the byelection. Davies, who had Kesler's endorsement, told the Post's Rahim Mohamed that he would be content with 20 per cent of the vote, given that the 'Republicans' only adopted their new brand in February. Speculation that the RPA might vault into second place was widespread, and, after all, the New Democrats have finished as low as sixth in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills this century (namely, in 2004's election, in which the Separation Party of Alberta finished fourth). Well, for better or worse, it seems it's not 1982, or at least not early 1982, anymore. According to unofficial returns, Davies and the Republicans drew a not unimpressive 2,705 votes, but New Democratic candidate Bev Toews pulled in 3,061, and the UCP's Tara Sawyer, an ex-chairperson of the Grain Growers of Canada, scooped up 9,363. With a 'Wildrose Loyalty' die-hard candidate in the mix, Davies came up short of his hopes with a vote share under 18 per cent. Article content Article content No doubt the Alberta Republicans will argue that this is a floor, not a ceiling, but the Olds-Didsbury area is their heartland, and byelections are ideal moments for protest voting if there's any appetite for it. Two other byelections were held last night in Edmonton ridings, and the Republican candidates didn't reach two per cent of the total there. Article content There was a fuss last month when Danielle Smith's UCP government made changes to the statutory cutoff for 'citizen initiative' petitions that allow proposals for legislation to be put to a province-wide referendum. Smith explicitly promised that Alberta separatists would be given their day if they could reach the new, lowered cutoff for signatures. Article content But they still need 177,000 Albertans to sign a petition asking for a referendum, and the underwhelming RPA performance in Olds hints that they might have trouble hitting even that mark. Premier Smith, whose numbers in the polls have enjoyed a resurgence lately, might actually have preferred the dimensions of that Sasquatch to turn out a little more threatening to Eastern Canada when exposed to the byelection flash. Article content
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
United Conservative Party wins Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection
The unofficial results are in and the United Conservative Party received 61 per cent of the byelection vote in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding. The Alberta NDP finished with 20 per cent, the Republican Party of Alberta had 18 per cent and the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition took about one per cent. Official results will be announced July 3. Many political analysts were curious if the Republican Party of Alberta would receive more votes, as they focused on Alberta secession during a time when discontent with Ottawa is high. 'The results of this byelection in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills could not be more disastrous for the Republican Party of Alberta. To have come in third behind the NDP is not something that even their most ardent supporters could ever have imagined,' said Matthew Solberg with New West Public Affairs. 'I would expect them to go off into the wilderness at this point.' Cameron Davies, Republican Party of Alberta candidate and leader, sees the 2,705 votes as laying a foundation for future support. 'It took a step of courage for people to step away from their traditional voting habits and patterns and say the status quo isn't working,' said Davies. 'My message to them is that we are still here and fighting, and we aren't going away any time soon. This is just the beginning.' The unofficial results are in and the United Conservative Party received 61 per cent of the byelection vote in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding. The unofficial results are in and the United Conservative Party received 61 per cent of the byelection vote in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding. On Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith said she hopes to quell the separatist movement and conservative vote splitting with a stronger relationship with Ottawa. 'The sentiment that you're seeing was created in Ottawa by 10 years of terrible policy. I think it can also be dialed down by Ottawa by undoing 10 years of terrible policy and allowing us to get back to investing and allowing us to be able to chart our own course as a province in our areas of jurisdiction,' said Smith. 'I think that the jury is very much still out on the future of that movement, but I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to address these concerns so that sentiment subsides.'
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Unofficial results in from Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection
Calgary Watch The results are in from the byelection for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, and they took some by surprise, putting a party or two's future in question.
