Tag: Alberta Separatism

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Alberta Politics

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.

Follow the list on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Alberta separatism referendum will be impossible to ignore in Calgary-Shaw by-election

The NDP were quick to put United Conservative Party candidate Mike Derry on the spot on the issue of Alberta separatism, which voters will face in a province-wide referendum on October 19.

An NDP press release sent out the night of Derry’s nomination win questioned his support from Darrell Komick, the president of the UCP constituency association in the neighbouring Calgary-Lougheed who ran in the UCP board president election last year on a pro-independence platform, and campaign manager Craig Chandler, a well-known right-wing political organizer in Calgary.

Chandler recently ran City Councillor Mike Jamieson’s successful election campaign in Ward 12 and is believed to be involved in Erin Averbukh’s campaign for the UCP nomination in the Calgary-Acadia riding (Averbukh’s only competitor in that race at the moment is former Wildrose Independence Party leader Jeevan Mangat).

While polls show that a majority of UCP supporters would vote for Alberta’s separation from Canada, the majority of Alberta voters would vote to remain in Canada. The NDP will undoubtably try to use the by-election to put pressure on the UCP’s internal division on Alberta separatism.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

It’s Kyle Campbell vs. Mike Derry in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Campbell will face United Conservative Party candidate Mike Derry, who surprised many political watchers last week when he defeated City Councillor Dan McLean in the party’s nomination vote.

With 507 total ballots cast in the UCP membership vote in Calgary-Shaw, Derry earned 286 votes to McLean’s 221 votes. Fifty-three per cent of party members in the riding turned out to vote at the nomination meeting.

Read more on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Alberta NDP nominate Kyle Campbell as their candidate in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell in a campaign video released by the Alberta NDP (screenshot: Kyle Campbell / Facebook)
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell in a campaign video released by the Alberta NDP (screenshot: Kyle Campbell / Facebook)

Campbell will face UCP’s Mike Derry in race to replace Rebecca Schulz

The Alberta NDP have nominated Kyle Campbell to run as the opposition party’s candidate in the upcoming Calgary-Shaw by-election to choose a new MLA following Rebecca Schulz’s resignation last month.

The by-election in this southwest Calgary riding will be an uphill battle for the NDP but, whenever it’s called in the next five months, it will take place during one of the most unpredictable periods in Alberta politics in recent memory.

There is no shortage of issues of the NDP to focus on in this by-election and it looks like health care and affordability will be top of mind for Campbell as he hits the doors.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

How important is the Calgary-Shaw by-election?

A map of the Calgary-Shaw electoral district (source: Elections Alberta)
A map of the Calgary-Shaw electoral district (source: Elections Alberta)

It is very easy to overstate the importance of by-elections, but there is little doubt that the results of the by-election in Calgary-Shaw will be interpreted as a measurement of support for Premier Danielle Smith referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada and her government’s handling of health care and affordability issues.

It will also be an important test for NDP leader Naheed Nenshi, who served as Mayor of Calgary from 2010 to 2021 and won the party’s leadership in 2024 on his ability to increase the party’s support in Calgary.

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Alberta Politics

Sundre’s rodeo parade an early casualty of Alberta’s separation referendum

A photo from the Sundre Pro Rodeo in 2025 (source: Sundre Pro Rodeo / Facebook)
A photo from the Sundre Pro Rodeo in 2025 (source: Sundre Pro Rodeo / Facebook)

Social media algorithms and influencers put a big target on community volunteers

What happened in Sundre is a warning about how algorithms that decide what people see on social media platforms are promoting outrage and opportunistic influencers looking to score clicks are helping fuel that division. It means that local issues, like a decision made by a small town rodeo parade committee, can have a much broader reach and be a target for backlash from people (and AI-bots) from far and wide who might have no real connection or interest in the community.

Sparking anger over Alberta separatism has even become financially lucrative for some people outside the country and is almost certainly a target for foreign governments and groups who have an interest in destabilizing Canada.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Daveberta Podcast

Alberta’s role in Canada – why we need to tell better stories

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Federalists need emotional arguments about improving Canada and Alberta

Alberta’s separation referendum is only four months away, so longtime Daveberta Podcast contributor Adam Rozenhart joins Dave Cournoyer for part 2 of our discussion about Canada’s role in Alberta and Alberta’s role in Canada as neighbours and leaders in our country.

Where do Albertans fit in the sprawling success story we call Canada? What can we do to improve Alberta and Canada? How can we tell better stories about why Albertans are important players in making our country a better place? We start the discussion here.

Thanks for listening.

Listen to the full episode by becoming a paid subscriber

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Alberta Politics

Albertans give Danielle Smith a failing grade on separatism but would probably re-elect the UCP anyway

Danielle Smith speaking at the United Conservative Party Leaders Dinner in Calgary in 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)
Danielle Smith speaking at the United Conservative Party Leaders Dinner in Calgary in 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Only two Alberta premiers have finished a full term in office since the beginning of the 21st century.

Ralph Klein completed his third full-term as a Progressive Conservative premier from 2001 to 2004 and Rachel Notley led the New Democratic Party through the entirety of its historic one-term as government from 2015 to 2019 (Notley’s also defied historical expectations by leading her party to a near comeback in 2023).

Aside from Klein and Notley, the Premier’s Office has been a rotating door of short-term tenants who were forced out after election defeats, scandals, caucus and cabinet revolts, and raucous party memberships (the exception being Premier Dave Hancock, who served in the role for the six months between Alison Redford’s resignation and Jim Prentice’s win in the 2014 PC Party leadership race).

So the question on the minds of many political watchers today is whether the current occupant of the Premier’s Office, Danielle Smith, can survive a full-term in office to lead her party into the next election?

A month ago, I would have said absolutely and even today I would say probably, but Smith is now finding herself on increasingly shakier political ground after deciding to call a province-wide referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

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Daveberta Podcast

Podcast: Why Canada needs Alberta and Alberta needs Canada

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Part 1 in a Daveberta Podcast series about Alberta, Canada, and the stories we do and don’t tell each other

Longtime Daveberta Podcast contributor Adam Rozenhart joins Dave Cournoyer for a discussion about Canada’s role in Alberta and Alberta’s role in Canada as neighbours and leaders in our country.

This is part 1 of a podcast series about where Albertans fit in the sprawling success story we call Canada and how we can tell better stories about why Albertans are important players in making our country a better place.

Part 2 will be released in about a week.

Thanks for listening.

Become a paid subscriber to listen to the full episode.

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Alberta Politics

UCP electoral boundaries committee names former judge and UCP-donor as advisory panel chair

Retired judge Brian O’Ferrall, KC has been appointed as the chair of the independent advisory panel that will redo the work already done by the bipartisan Electoral Boundaries Commission last year.

The two NDP MLA’s on the committee, Calgary-Mountain View MLA Kathleen Ganley and Edmonton-Mill Woods MA Christina Gray, took issue with O’Ferrall’s financial support of the UCP since retiring as a judge:

“In a process that is already regarded by the public as illegitimate, this clear partisan leaning does nothing to restore legitimacy. Instead, it continues to show that this is about the UCP drawing a partisan map.”

According to Elections Alberta records, O’Ferrall donated $500 to the Calgary-Elbow UCP constituency association in 2022, $1,000.00 to the UCP in 2024 and $1,287.50 in 2025. Elections Canada records show that he donated $6,850 to the Conservative Party of Canada in 2023 and 2024.

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Alberta Politics

Kyle Campbell running for NDP nomination in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Somerset Residents Association President Kyle Campbell is the first candidate to enter the Alberta NDP nomination in Calgary-Shaw ahead of the expected by-election. The NDP have scheduled a nomination meeting on Friday, June 26 at 7:00 pm at the Cardel Rec South.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Campbell is the Director of Employee Benefits for Qopia Financial and previously worked as Senior Sales Consultant for RBC Insurance. He studied Global Supply Chain Management at Brigham Young University.

“I’m running to protect the essential services our province delivers. My life is deeply impacted by the province of Alberta: career opportunities, public education for my children, cancer care for myself, and more,” Campbell told Daveberta.

“I’m running to ensure that as my kids grow up that they are afforded the same quality of life, and quality of protection that I’ve benefited from,” Campbell said. “I’m keen to protect their rights as Albertans, and their privileges as Canadians.”

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Alberta Politics

Rebecca Schulz resigns, UCP and NDP set nomination dates for Calgary-Shaw by-election

Rebecca Schulz speaking at the United Conservative Party Leaders Dinner in Calgary in 2025 (source: Rebecca Schulz / Facebook)
Rebecca Schulz speaking at the United Conservative Party Leaders Dinner in Calgary in 2025 (source: Rebecca Schulz / Facebook)

A by-election in Calgary-Shaw is imminent following the resignation of United Conservative Party MLA Rebecca Schulz, who stepped down last month after representing the riding since 2019. Schulz served as Minister of Environment and Protected Areas until her resignation from cabinet last December.

The UCP nomination contest is now set for June 24 but the race got one candidate smaller this week after Stewart Jeanes was told by the UCP that he will not be allowed to run after his application was deemed incomplete.

Jeanes’ candidacy in the Calgary-Shaw nomination contest was recently endorsed by Mitch Sylvestre, the Alberta separatist leader and UCP constituency president from Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul who led the Stay Free Alberta petition drive to leave Canada.

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Alberta Politics

Livestream: Alberta Referendum Madness

Thank you to Jeremy Appel for inviting me to join his live stream over at The Orchard today where we discussed Alberta’s upcoming referenda, the politics of Alberta separatism and the United Conservative Party that led us to this point, and what might come next.

We also delved into a bit of history from Danielle Smith’s time as leader of the Wildrose Party and echos of the Social Credit era of Alberta politics.

Be sure to check out Jeremy’s new book, Dark Phoenix: The Rise, Fall, and Re-emergence of Danielle Smith, available on October 13, 2026 from Dundurn Press.

Watch the livestream on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith dug the separatist hole she’s now stuck in

UCP leader Danielle Smith on election night in Calgary (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)
UCP leader Danielle Smith on election night in Calgary (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Former conservative premiers Ralph Klein and Peter Lougheed told Alberta separatists to pound dirt

An Angus Reid survey released this week found that 56 per cent of Albertans believe Smith is handling the separatism issue poorly and 58 per cent believe she is calling the referendum to appease the separatists in her party. Sixty-nine per cent of Albertans surveyed believe the separatists will never accept a no vote result in the referendum.

Smith dug the political hole she now finds herself in. After years of bending over backward for the separatists in her party by amending laws, fuelling the flames of resentment, and appealing for them to the courts, she has found herself in a politically untenable situation. Simply claiming to be pro-Canada at the eleventh hour is hilariously unconvincing.

Read a lot more on the Daveberta Substack

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Alberta Politics

Yes, Alberta is actually having a separation referendum

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, US President-elect Donald Trump, and celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, US President Donald Trump, and celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

There’s a lot happening following Premier Smith’s announcement last week that she has decided to hold a province-wide referendum on October 19, 2026 about Alberta’s separation from Canada. Here are some of the latest updates:

  • “The party won’t be taking a position and I won’t be making mine public,” UCP President Rob Smith told CBC Radio this week when asked if he or the governing party would pick a side in the Alberta separation referendum. Most polls show a majority of UCP voters support Alberta separating from Canada.
  • Environics and Angus Reid have released fresh polling about Albertans response to Smith’s separation referendum.
    • The Angus Reid survey found that 56 per cent of Albertans believe Smith is handling the issue poorly and 58 per cent believe she is calling the referendum to appease the separatists in her party.
    • Sixty-nine per cent of Albertans surveyed believe the separatists will never accept a no vote result in the referendum.

Read a lot more on the Daveberta Substack

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