Separatist spokesperson Jeffrey Rath appeared to threaten to launch nomination challenges against any UCP MLAs who opposed Alberta separatism.
It is probably not surprising that one UCP MLA is already planning to resign and a growing number of UCP cabinet ministers are rumoured to be considering not seeking re-election in 2027 (which is also leading to rumours of a spring cabinet shuffle).
The key takeaway from this is that the separatism debate won’t end with a referendum.
Jen Gerson penned an excellent op-ed in the Globe & Mail arguing that the biggest privacy breach of personal information in Alberta’s history presents Smith with a perfect opportunity to sever her party’s separatist wing (92 per cent of Alberta separatists are UCP supporters). Gerson is right that it is an opening for Smith but it might be politically impossible without tearing the UCP apart — something Smith won’t want to do.
Gerson argued forcefully on Ryan Jespersen’s Real Talk that Smith is making her political problem our provincial problem.
Many of the UCP’s most enthusiastic political activists, the ones who show up to constituency meetings and policy conventions, have also spent the past three months collecting signatures for the Stay Free Alberta citizen initiative to force a referendum on Alberta’s independence from Canada.
Many of those same activists cut their political teeth organizing opposition to COVID-19 public health measures and vaccinations, and embrace and promote the deep well of online conspiracy theories associated with that movement.
