Tag: Alberta Separation Referendum

Manufactured rage-baiting erodes trust in government

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 20, 2026

But the threat is on the radar of some municipal elected officials in Edmonton.

The City of Edmonton’s 2025 Corporate Strategic Risks analysis identified misinformation and disinformation and the adverse impact of artificial intelligence as “risks that can shift public opinion and erode trust in authority.”

Edmonton City Councillor Michael Janz referred to the volume of online misinformation and disinformation on social media as “manufactured rage-baiting” when asked about it after last fall’s municipal elections in Edmonton.

“I think this actually represents a bigger question of how much of what we saw was manufactured rage-baiting,” Janz told Edmonton Journal reporter Eric Bowling in October 2025. “I think we have a real problem with misinformation being spread through social media posts.”

Social media platforms and the echo-chambers their algorithms create not only amplify controversial and divisive topics but they can distort and corrupt the information environment.

The Online News Act is causing more harm then help

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 20, 2026

I have seen little evidence that federal and provincial elected officials understand this threat or take it seriously. It would probably require more heavy government regulation of the corporations that own the social media platforms and AI generators.

The failure of the Online News Act probably means the federal government has lost the ability to meaningfully regulate the tech giants that own the major social media platforms.

It seems clear that the federal government’s attempts to pressure social media companies like Meta to compensate mainstream media companies for the right to share links on their platforms has failed. Meta’s retaliatory banning of links to news websites on Facebook and Instagram has caused more harm than help in Canada.

A flood of AI-generated disinformation in Alberta politics

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 19, 2026

Misinformation and disinformation isn’t new, but the speed it can travel and audience it can reach has exploded through social media platforms.

There is a flood of misinformation and disinformation about Alberta’s separation from Canada, commonly found in the form of social media influencers and Artificial Intelligence-generated videos, images and charts, pouring into social media feeds. It’s unclear who runs many of these anonymous social media accounts that publish this AI-generated content or where in the world they are posting from.

It has never been easier for malicious actors at home and aboard to interfere and attempt to destabilize our politics and society — and the deeply divisive issue of separation and the increasingly troubling divided opinions about immigration — are easy targets.

Fighting misinformation and disinformation needs to be a national priority in Canada

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 18, 2026

An AI-generated image of Premier Danielle Smith and US President Donald Trump celebrating an “Independent Republic of Alberta” shared by the anonymous pro-separation “Rise of Alberta” Instagram account (source: riseofalberta / Instagram)

Alberta is barrelling towards a separation referendum and there’s no sign our leaders are taking the threat seriously

Albertans will soon be faced with a series of referendum questions ranging from limiting the access immigrants have to health care and education, abolishing the Canadian Senate, allowing the provincial government to appoint federal court judges, and the big one — separation from Canada.

These questions, which are expected to be put to Alberta voters on October 19, 2026, are already accompanied by a storm of misinformation and disinformation that is dominating many peoples main sources of information — their social media feeds.

Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is shared without harmful intent. Disinformation is deliberately shared false information that is intended to deceive.

With the referendum questions in mind, I shared concerns in a recent episode of the Daveberta Podcast that it feels like there is a real lack of urgency from our elected leaders about the level of misinformation and disinformation being spread and targeting Albertans from at home and abroad on social media.

Three out of the gate: Dale Aalbers, Erin Averbukh, and Ray Donnelly running for UCP nominations

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 13, 2026

Dale Aalbers is seeking the UCP nomination in Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright (source: Dale Aalbers / Facebook)

Dale Aalbers, son of Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers, running for UCP nomination in Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright

The Alberta NDP were the first out of the gate preparing their slate for the next election when five candidates were nominated last week, and it looks like the United Conservative Party is not far behind.

At least three prospective candidates have announced their plans to seek UCP nominations to run in the next provincial election.

In Session: Jeromy Farkas pushes back against Danielle Smith’s provincial property tax hikes — compares it to equalization

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 9, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas in December 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

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The Daveberta Podcast is back In Session

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t recorded an episode of the Daveberta Podcast in a while — so if you were missing listening to it, please know that I was missing recording it.

Starting today and over the next few weeks I’m going to record a series of short episodes in which I will share a few key things that I’m watching in Alberta politics in the week ahead and some other things that have caught my attention.

I decided to test this podcast series — which I’m calling Daveberta In Session — during the spring session of the Alberta Legislature. I’m planning to do this for eight or nine weeks until mid May when the Assembly breaks for the summer months — and then we’ll see where we go from there.

In this week’s episode, I discuss:

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas’ threat to hold a municipal referendum on provincial property tax increases that he compared to equalization.
NDP MLA Heather Sweet’s private members’ bill to improve whistleblower laws for health care workers.
the storm of misinformation and disinformation that is barrelling towards us as Albertans are faced with ten or eleven referendum questions on October 19, 2026.

Listen to this episode of the podcast on the Daveberta Substack.

Alberta Politics

Alberta’s Separation Referendum — Who’s Going to Stand Up for Canada?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 14, 2026

An Alberta politics deep dive on Craft Politics (originally published on the Daveberta Substack)

I recently joined Joseph Lavoie and Andrew Percy on Craft Politics for a deep dive discussion about Alberta separatism and how it’s shaping Alberta politics in 2026.

We had a broad-ranging discussion about Alberta politics, the current separatist movement’s roots in the COVID-19 pandemic and how its supporters became key players inside the United Conservative Party, and who might lead the pro-Canada campaign in a possible separation referendum later this year.

Alberta Politics

Who’s going to stand up for Canada in Alberta’s separation referendum?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 6, 2026

Alberta separatist leaders Dr. Dennis Modry (left) and Mitch Sylvestre (right) with Premier Danielle Smith (centre) at the UCP fundraising dinner in Bonnyville in May 2025 (source: Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul UCP / Facebook)

The time to stand up for a Strong Alberta within a Strong Canada is now.

It’s still unclear who will lead the pro-Canada side in a referendum campaign that could happen as early as fall of this year. This is likely because a lot of prominent supporters of federalism in Alberta have had a hard time believing Albertans would vote in favour of separation or that a referendum will even be held in the first place.

Polls show support for Alberta leaving Canada sits at around 28 per cent and drops to 15 per cent when people are faced with the possible consequences, but this is not the time for Albertans who also count themselves as proud Canadians to be complacent.

In another time, the Premier of Alberta would be a strong voice against separatism, but Danielle Smith is now leading a party with an activist base deeply engaged in the separatist movement and she is not interested in upsetting that base of supporters.

Coming soon: A referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 5, 2026

If Albertans aren’t sent to the polls to vote in a provincial election in 2026 they will almost certainly be asked to vote in a province-wide referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada.

Former Progressive Conservative MLA Thomas Lukaszuk was the first to spear-head a successful citizen initiative petition when his Forever Canadian campaign collected more than 456,000 signatures by asking Albertans if they wanted their province to remain in Canada.

The wildly successful Forever Canadian petition campaign is being countered by the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project’s flipped citizen initiative question asking Albertans if they want to leave Canada.

Donald Trump is increasingly unstable, authoritarian, and expansionist

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date January 25, 2026

Increasing political and economic instability in the United States and President Trump’s threats to expand American military and political control over the western hemisphere could have dramatic effects on Canada. The breaking of the United States’ long-standing close relationship with democratic Europe and Trump’s continued threats to annex the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland and make Canada the 51st State could define world politics in 2026.

Just this week Trump posted a doctored photo on social media of him sitting in front of a map with the US flag superimposed over Canada, Greenland and Venezuela. The use of military force to remove Maduro and Trump’s freewheeling use of trade tariffs against countries who’s leaders he feels have personally insulted him suggests that Albertans and Canadians should take him very seriously.

Trump’s rambling, erratic behaviour and his embrace of authoritarianism is deeply troubling and will have a big impact on Albertans and our fellow Canadians across the country.

Lower international price of oil will hit Alberta’s 2026 budget hard

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date January 25, 2026

Oil production in our province is at a record high but, as Albertans have learned time and time again, we have absolutely no control over the international price of oil that makes or breaks our local economy.

Forecasts for oil prices are not encouraging for 2026. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has projected that the price of West Texas Intermediate oil could average around $50 to $52 per barrel and, with a glut of oil on the international market, Goldman Sachs expects WTI to average $53 per barrel in 2026.

This is trouble for the Government of Alberta, which relies heavily on revenues from oil and gas royalties to fund the daily operations of public services like heath care and education. The Alberta government’s 2025 budget projected WTI at $68 per barrel but as of the second quarter update in November the average price was $61.50 per barrel. Each $1 change in the price of WTI has an estimated $750-million impact on provincial government revenue.

Will Danielle Smith call an early election in Alberta?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date January 22, 2026

Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services Matt Jones and Premier Danielle Smith at a government press conference in December 2025 (source: Alberta Newsroom / Flickr)

After months of speculation, Premier Danielle Smith said during her 2025 year-end interviews that she isn’t planning to call an early election in 2026, but anyone who pays attention to politics knows: circumstances change.

The next provincial general election is scheduled to happen in October 2027 but there continues to be wide speculation that an early election could be called — and there are plenty of reasons to believe why.

Smith’s UCP remains ahead of Naheed Nenshi’s Alberta NDP in the polls and the governing party continues to raise large amounts of donations. And there is little doubt that Smith remains one of the most effective and shrewd political communicators in Alberta and in Canada’s conservative movement.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Abi Johnson, Abigail Johnson, Alberta Election 2026, Alberta Election 2027, Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission, Alberta Electoral Map, Alberta Health Services, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Athana Mentzelopoulos, Avi Lewis, Battle River-Crowfoot, Ben Shapiro, Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Bow MLA Recall Campaign, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Canada as the 51st State, Canada Election Substack, Coal Mining, Coal Mining Referendum, Corb Lund, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Dawn Farrell, Demetrios Nicolaides, Dodgy Contracts Scandal, Donald Trump, Doug Wylie, Edmonton Riverbend by-election, Edmonton-Riverbend, Edmonton-Strathcona, Federal NDP leadership race 2026, Forever Canadian, Grant Hunter, Greenland, Heather McPherson, Major Projects Office, Mark Carney, Matt Jeneroux, Matt Jones, Mickey Amery, Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, Mitch Sylvestre, MLA Recall in Alberta, Naheed Nenshi, Nathan Cooper, Nicholas Maduro, Pierre Poilievre, Rebecca Schulz, Recall Act, Rob Ashton, Taber-Warner, Tanille Johnston, Thomas Lukaszuk, Tony McQuail, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Alberta separatism the biggest and most dangerous distraction of the year

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 21, 2025

The biggest distraction of the year is the fight over Alberta staying in Canada.

Premier Danielle Smith is walking a narrow line between Albertans who want a better deal with Ottawa and those who just want Alberta to outright leave Canada (or join the United States), though she has actively tipped the scales in favour of the separatists in her party.

The UCP has twice amended the Citizen Initiative Act this year. First to lower the number of signatures required to trigger a province-wide referendum and second to block the Chief Elections Officer from referring initiative questions to the courts to determine their constitutionality.

Alberta has long had a fringe separatist movement that has usually lived on the margins of the far-right, but today’s separatists are a deeply intrenched and active force inside Smith’s UCP. They showed their strength at the recent UCP AGM when Smith was booed after trumpeting her government’s memorandum of understanding about pipelines and the electrical grid with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government in Ottawa.

Danielle Smith’s wild ride. What to make of Alberta politics in 2025?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 20, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the Canada Strong & Free Networking Conference (formerly known as the Manning Centre) (source: Danielle Smith / Instagram)

As 2025 comes to an end, it’s hard to describe the past twelve months in Alberta politics, but Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi summed it up well in the opposition’s year-end press conference by describing it a “wild ride.”

It has been a chaotic 12 months in Alberta politics. Even for someone who pays very close attention to provincial politics, the pace of the past year was so fast and frantic that it has been hard to keep track. The recently ended fall session of the Legislature might have been one of the most chaotic in recent memory.

It’s clear that Premier Danielle Smith’s governing United Conservative Party is using a “flood the zone” strategy but there were many times when it looked like the government was just flying by the seat of its pants and no one was really in control of the political agenda.

And if it’s hard for political watchers to keep track, that means it’s probably almost impossible for normal Albertans to figure out what’s going on — and that’s the point. The strategy keeps the opposition off balance and doesn’t give them time to respond before the next big announcement or political controversy steals the attention of shrinking newsrooms and a fast paced social media eco-system.

Anyone familiar with the chaos of American politics will recognize this strategy because it’s employed almost hourly by President Donald Trump.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Adriana LaGrange, Airdrie-Cochrane, Alanna Smith, Alberta Coal Policy, Alberta Health Services, Alberta NDP, Alberta Party, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Ben Shapiro, Best of Alberta Politics 2025, Cameron Davies, Canada Election Substack, Carrie Tait, Corb Lund, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Donald Trump, Edmonton-Castle Downs, Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Whitemud, Flood the Zone, Forever Canadian, Janis Irwin, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Jordan Peterson, Matt Jones, Mickey Amery, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Peter Guthrie, Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, Rakhi Pancholi, Real Talk, Republican Party of Alberta, Ryan Jespersen, Thomas Lukaszuk, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

4 ways Danielle Smith’s UCP could react to the Forever Canadian citizen initiative

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 2, 2025

Has Thomas Lukaszuk’s pro-Canada petition boxed in Danielle Smith on Alberta separatism?

If there is one big takeaway from last weekend’s United Conservative Party annual general meeting it’s that the separatist movement in Alberta is deeply intrenched in the governing party.

From jeers and cheers to at least half the board candidates endorsed by the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project getting elected, the weekend gathering was a showcase of how influential Alberta’s most prominent separatists are in Premier Danielle Smith‘s UCP.

Alberta Belongs in Canada