Tag: Alberta Prosperity Project

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Alberta Politics

An Alberta referendum deep dive on Craft Politics

More than 6,000 Albertans rallied for their province to remain in a united Canada at a October 16 rally at the Edmonton Expo Centre (source: Dave Cournoyer)
More than 6,000 Albertans rallied for their province to remain in a united Canada at a October 16 rally at the Edmonton Expo Centre (source: Dave Cournoyer)

Alberta voted to stay. What now?

I joined Joseph Lavoie on Craft Politics for a deep dive discussion about Alberta’s referendum and how the results could impact Alberta politics and Premier Danielle Smith’s future as leader of the United Conservative Party.

We also discussed how the results of the Alberta separation question and the nine immigration and constitutional questions are a sign of a growing urban-rural divide in Alberta politics (and how the recent NDP win in Calgary-Shaw could reflect urban Albertans unhappiness with the UCP government’s referendum agenda).

Thank you to Joseph for inviting me on the podcast. Be sure to subscribe to Craft Politics on your podcast listening app of choice or watch their interviews on YouTube.

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Alberta Politics

Alberta separatists say they are just getting started

Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)
Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)

Albertans clearly rejected leaving Canada in yesterday’s vote, but the leaders of Alberta’s various separatist factions made it clear on Monday that even in defeat this referendum represents a victory for their movement.

“The percentage vote is irrelevant because we have already won,” wrote the Alberta Prosperity Project’s Jeffrey Rath on X. “Regardless of the outcome tomorrow we have already won the first series of battles in the war for Alberta Independence.”

The controversial lawyer and co-leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project who spread conspiracy theories online about the CFB Wainwright disaster last weekend, also wrote that “[o]n Tuesday we move on to the next phase of our project. We dedicate ourselves and all of our volunteers to the replacement of the Federalist Smith as leader of the Alberta UCP. We will confirm that the UCP is Alberta’s leading Independence Party.”

Read the full story on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Albertans overwhelmingly vote to stay in Canada, separatists say they are just getting started

A large crowd of pro-Canada supporters gathered at the Alberta Legislature on October 18 (source: Dave Cournoyer)
A large crowd of pro-Canada supporters gathered at the Alberta Legislature on October 18 (source: Dave Cournoyer)

Support for remaining in Canada is everywhere in Alberta

Here we are. After five months of Alberta politics feeling like a weird fever dream, Albertans have cast their ballots and we have the results of Alberta’s non-binding separation referendum. Well, some results.

As of this morning, with 4,250 of 5,586 polling stations reporting, 75.9% of Albertans voted to remain in Canada, and 24.1% voted to commence the legal process to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.

Results for the nine other referendum questions are much more sparse at this point in the count. Though the results are closer, it looks like eight of the nine are set to pass. The question about allowing the provincial government to opt out of federal programs but still receive the federal funding is heading for defeat at this point in the count.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Captain Forever Canadian Thomas Lukaszuk

Forever Canadian leader Thomas Lukaszuk (source: Forever Canadian / Facebook)
Forever Canadian leader Thomas Lukaszuk (source: Forever Canadian / Facebook)

Former PC cabinet minister put himself out there and led the pro-Canada crew from the beginning

Prime Minister Mark Carney was the big draw at the rally and has comfortably stepped into the Alberta referendum campaign as Captain Canada. The Prime Minister drew the biggest cheers from the energetic crowd of Edmontonians but it was Forever Canadian founder Thomas Lukaszuk who walked on the stage as one of the biggest stars of this referendum campaign.

The former four-term Progressive Conservative MLA from Edmonton-Castle Downs and provincial cabinet minister, known for his flamboyant hair and flashy and confrontational style in the Legislature, took a very public stand against separatism early in this latest round of the Alberta independence debate. Lukaszuk put himself out there when no other conservative politician, current or former, wanted to touch the issue with a 10-metre pole.

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Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith deflects, encourages Albertans to vote “yes to the rest”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to the Canada Strong and Free Conference in Ottawa on May 8, 2026 (source: Canada Strong and Free Network / Facebook)
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to the Canada Strong and Free Conference in Ottawa on May 8, 2026 (source: Canada Strong and Free Network / Facebook)

Ahead of what could be an awkward meeting with Mark Carney today in Red Deer, Premier Danielle Smith attempted to downplay the Prime Minister’s comments in her own response posted on social media.

Despite Smith’s attempts to position herself as a pro-Canadian force in the upcoming referendums, she has found herself in a very uncomfortable position after deciding to appease the separatist activists entrenched in the UCP by calling the referendum in the first place.

Polling shows that her vague positioning has led large numbers of separatists to believe she is federalist and large numbers of federalists to believe she is a separatist.

This perception has probably been made stronger by the UCP government’s $4 million advertising campaign that promotes confused and unfocused messaging about Alberta being strong and sovereign within Canada but not actually taking a strong position either way.

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Alberta Politics

Mark Carney is No to the Nine

A Public Interest Alberta volunteer campaigning in Calgary ahead of the October 19 referendum (source: Brad Lafortune)
A Public Interest Alberta volunteer campaigning in Calgary ahead of the October 19 referendum (source: Brad Lafortune)

Danielle Smith deflects with yes to the rest and Mitch Sylvestre tells separatists to decline the nine

Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Alberta campaigning for the province to remain in Canada ahead of the October 19 referendum — and he is No to the Nine.

The importance of Alberta remaining in Canada was Carney’s main focus when he spoke to a crowd of more than 7,000 in Calgary last night, but he made his first foray into the nine other referendum questions restricting services for immigrants and pushing constitutional changes at an event organized by Public Interest Alberta’s Together — No! campaign in Calgary yesterday.

“…we make ourselves stronger as a country, stronger as Albertans. Why? So we can live our lives as we want,” Carney said in a video shared by Politico Canada reporter Mickey Djuric, before he encouraged the crowd to vote “no to the nine.”

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

UCP President Rob Smith rebukes calls to purge party’s separatist wing

Premier Danielle Smith and separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre at a UCP fundraising dinner in Bonnyville in May 2025 (source: Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul UCP / Facebook)
Premier Danielle Smith and separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre at a UCP fundraising dinner in Bonnyville in May 2025 (source: Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul UCP / Facebook)

United Conservative Party president Rob Smith took to Facebook to rebuke calls to purge the governing party of its separatist wing if Albertans overwhelmingly vote to remain in Canada on October 19.

Smith’s comments were aimed at former party leader Jason Kenney, who said earlier this week that the UCP should reaffirm its federalist position and separatists should leave to form their own party.

“There’s no doubt that those folks have infiltrated (the party),” Kenney said at an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce luncheon. “They’re welcome to participate in democracy, but if their primary goal is separation, then they have to do it in a separatist party,” he said.

“You’re either for Canada, national unity, or you’re not, and if you’re still a citizen, you’re welcome to be involved in democracy. Go and do that in a separatist party,” Kenney said.

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Alberta Politics

Avnish Nanda: Let’s crush Alberta separatism together; vote remain and no to the nine.

The Province of Alberta was created on September 1, 1905, a year remembered on the Centennial Flame monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (photo: Dave Cournoyer)
The Province of Alberta was created on September 1, 1905, a year remembered on the Centennial Flame monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. (photo: Dave Cournoyer)

Falling for the trap — voting yes —only strengthens the resolve of separatists.

Over the past eight months, Our Alberta Advantage has spoken to hundreds of thousands of Albertans about the risk this fall’s referendum poses to the province. Tens of thousands of those conversations have been in person — in community halls, temple basements, and the living rooms and kitchen tables of Albertans who belong to the array of cultural communities that weave the rich and diverse social tapestry that is Alberta.

Our Alberta Advantage was the first third party advertiser registered with Elections Alberta for the referendum. It formed shortly after Premier Danielle Smith announced that she would put to Albertans a series of immigration and constitutional questions. At the time, as a lawyer in my day job, I had acted for a federalist organization opposed to Premier Smith’s bulldozing of legislative safeguards to appease the separatists and clear a path to a binding independence referendum. After watching Premier Smith’s televised address outlining the referendum questions, I knew that the initiative was part of her broader agenda to maintain support of the separatist faction that is at the core of her political (re)ascendence.

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Alberta Politics

Chris Henderson: How to Talk to the Temporary Strategic Alberta Separatist in Your Life

A long highway somewhere in southern Alberta, probably near Foremost. (photo credit: Dave Cournoyer)
ScreenshotA long highway somewhere in southern Alberta, probably near Foremost. (photo credit: Dave Cournoyer)

Five practical messages to explain this isn’t a game worth the risk of playing.

From time to time I open up the Daveberta newsletter to guest writers who have perspectives and thoughts they would like to share that might interest readers of this Substack. My friend Chris Henderson wrote today’s guest article about how to talk about Alberta’s October 19 referendum with the temporary separatist and separation curious people in your life.

Here’s Chris Henderson.

With Alberta’s weird-as-hell 10-question referendum only weeks away, most people seem to have made up their minds about separation.

But one group sits in a paradoxical spot: people who don’t want Alberta to leave Canada, but are considering a strategic Option 2 vote to “send Ottawa a message,” believing it strengthens our hand down the road. Most of us know at least one—in the family, at work, or in the group chat. These are the only moveable voters in this debate, and if you’re voting against separation (which, spoiler alert: I already did, and I voted “No” on the other nine questions), they’re worth having a conversation with.

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Alberta Politics

Republican Party connections to Alberta’s separation referendum

Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)
Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)

Another bombshell story dropped by Carrie Tait and the Globe & Mail

Globe and Mail Alberta correspondent Carrie Tait has been on a roll, with her name sharing the bylines of some of the biggest breaking stories in Alberta politics in the last few years.

Along with her Globe and Mail colleagues Grant Robertson and Nathan Vanderklippe, Tait dropped a bombshell story this past weekend about Alberta separatists going to Washington D.C. to offer fresh water and oil in exchange for American financial support for an independent Alberta Republic and Republican operatives providing tactical assistance to separatist organizers in Alberta.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Rewind: Danielle Smith’s Alberta Sovereignty Act is all about creating a political crisis

Danielle Smith and Rob Anderson in 2010 (source: Dave Cournoyer)
Danielle Smith and Rob Anderson in 2010 (source: Dave Cournoyer)

So much about what is happening in Alberta right now can be traced back to the Free Alberta Strategy

I’m working on a few new columns and a book review that I am hoping to publish soon, so I thought I’d share a piece I wrote that I keep coming back to as I write about what’s happening in Alberta politics today. In fact, it’s the very first column I published on Substack when I shifted Daveberta to this platform in September 2022.

So much about what is happening in Alberta right now, days ahead of the October 19 separation referendum, can be traced back to the Free Alberta Strategy that Danielle Smith promoted before and during her campaign for the United Conservative Party leadership in 2022.

Here’s my column from September 29, 2022.

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Alberta Politics

The UCP loss in Calgary-Shaw and the thin end of the separatist wedge

Premier Danielle Smith joined former Reform Party leader Preston Manning and former BC Premier Gordon Campbell on a zoom call-based Alberta and the West Assembly conference last weekend.
Premier Danielle Smith joined former Reform Party leader Preston Manning and former BC Premier Gordon Campbell on a zoom call-based Alberta and the West Assembly conference last weekend.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has had a rough few weeks.

Ten days ago, Smith’s United Conservative Party lost the by-election in Calgary-Shaw, a south Calgary riding that had been a stronghold for her party in the last two elections. The surprise win by NDP candidate Kyle Campbell has been widely interpreted as a backlash against Smith’s referendums on October 19, including a vote on Alberta’s separation from Canada.

Smith quickly blamed the loss on vote splitting with the Progressive Tory Party candidate who earned 6 percent of the vote, but that doesn’t explain the 22.2 point drop in UCP support in the riding since the 2019 election. The Progressive Tories may have been a dynamic in the race but they weren’t the reason why the UCP lost the Calgary-Shaw by-election.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Alberta separatists gather to save a “Province in Peril”

Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)
Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)

Around 800 Alberta separation supporters gathered at the Legislature on Saturday for a three-hour long rally organized by the Alberta Prosperity Project.

Dubbed by the organizers as a rally to save “a province in peril,” event speakers included the APP’s Mitch Sylvestre and Jeffrey Rath, and other guests who spoke about the dangers of COVID-19 vaccines and other issues popular in separatist circles.

Many separation supporters at the rally were bussed to Edmonton from smaller communities and rural areas across the province.

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Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith heading to Music City USA

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism Muhammad Yaseen at the province’s Alberta Day event in Calgary on August 30, 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism Muhammad Yaseen at the province’s Alberta Day event in Calgary on August 30, 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Premier going to Tennessee as Alberta separation referendum only 49 days away

Premier Danielle Smith is soon flying to Nashville, Tennessee to meet with the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, Head of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, and the CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation.

These meetings with local officials in Nashville are somewhat comical because of how low-level they are for a provincial premier’s international trip. Imagine the Governor of Tennessee travelling to Alberta to meet with the CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce but not arranging a meeting with the Premier.

It would be strange, right?

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Tracking who’s who in the Alberta separation referendum debate

An appropriate Alberta-themed decal on a hotel elevator in Ottawa (Source: Dave Cournoyer)
An appropriate Alberta-themed decal on a hotel elevator in Ottawa (Source: Dave Cournoyer)

A list of pro-Canada and Alberta independence supporters in the October 19, 2026 referendum

Albertans are being asked to vote on ten referendum questions on October 19, 2026 and, unsurprisingly, the one question attracting the most attention is about Alberta’s separation from Canada.

I am a proud Canadian and proud Albertan and will be voting for Alberta to remain in Canada in this referendum.

One of my key goals since launching Daveberta more than two decades ago has been to help Albertans better understand the politics of their province. So, in the months ahead, I will be writing a lot about the referendum questions and maintaining a running list of groups, politicians, and individuals who are campaigning or taken positions in the Alberta separation referendum debate.

Similar to my nomination candidate tracking list, I will be updating this page as I receive new names, so please click on the title link and bookmark it to keep up to date.

If there are any names or website links that should be added or removed from this list, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I am striving to do my best to keep this list as accurate as possible during a very noisy political debate.

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