Tag: Danielle Smith

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

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 7, 2026

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.

Tags Alberta Anti-Immigration Referendum, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Alberta Separatists Rally, Canada Election Substack, Chris Henderson, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Dennis Modry, Donald Trump, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Mark Carney, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, United Conservative Party

Rahim Jaffer is back, again, this time running for the UCP

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 6, 2026

Fresh from his run for Mayor of Edmonton in 2025, former MP Rahim Jaffer is running for the UCP nomination in Edmonton-North West. Jaffer, now a local restaurant owner, represented the Edmonton Strathcona federal riding from 1997 to 2008 and placed fifth with 4.3% of the vote in last year’s mayoral election.

I reached out to Jaffer’s campaign with some questions about why he is jumping into provincial politics but had not heard back at the time this newsletter was published.

Other candidates interested in the UCP nomination are Amit Batra, Iurie Boaghie, and Parker Royer. A nomination vote is scheduled for October 24, 2026.

Republican Party connections to Alberta’s separation referendum

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 5, 2026

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

Alberta Politics

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

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 4, 2026

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.

Tags 1982 Olds-Didsbury by-election, Accurate News and Information Act, Alberta Anti-Immigration Referendum, Alberta Election 2023, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Alberta Sovereignty Act, Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act, Barry Cooper, Brian Jean, Canada Election Substack, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Derek From, Free Alberta Strategy, Gordon Kesler, Jason Kenney, John Bowen, Justin Trudeau, Leela Aheer, Peter Lougheed, Pierre Trudeau, Rachel Notley, Rajan Sawhney, Rob Anderson, Travis Toews, United Conservative Party, United Conservative Party Leadership Race 2022, Western Canada Concept, Western Separation, William Aberhart

Alberta Politics

Mark Carney’s broad approval dwarfs Danielle Smith and Naheed Nenshi

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 27, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Albertans at a Forever Canadian event in Banff in September 2026 (source: Mark Carney / Facebook)

There’s nothing like a Janet Brown poll to shake up Alberta politics

There’s a lot to unpack in the new Alberta politics poll by Janet Brown Opinion Research commissioned by CBC, but before I dive into what one of the province’s most well-respected pollsters has to say about support for Alberta’s political parties, separatism, and AI data centres it’s worth spending a moment reflecting on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s popularity in Alberta.

Carney’s popularity continues to dwarf Premier Danielle Smith and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and he might be the most popular Liberal Prime Minister in Alberta since Sir Wilfrid Laurier more than 100 years ago.

According to Brown’s poll, 52 percent of Albertans surveyed said they were very impressed with Carney and only 26 percent said they were not at all impressed. Only 30 percent of Albertans surveyed said they were very impressed with Danielle Smith and 51 percent said they were not at all impressed with her job as Premier.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

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

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 25, 2026

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

Alberta Politics

Canada is under attack, from within and from without. Saving an organ at the University of Alberta is one way to fight back.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 16, 2026

The Memorial Organ at Convocation Hall at the University of Alberta (photo provided by Andy Grabia)

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 Andy Grabia wrote today’s guest column about the decision by the University of Alberta administration to remove the historic Memorial Organ located in Convocation Hall and why the Alberta government should intervene to preserve this important war monument.

I have signed the open letter to Minister Andrew Boitchenko and Minister Myles McDougall calling on the government to use its legal authority under the Alberta Historical Resource Act to protect the Memorial Organ. Daveberta subscribers can sign the online petition here.

Visit the Daveberta Substack to read Andy Grabia’s column.

Tags Alberta Historical Resource Act, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Alberta War Memorials, Andrew Boitchenko, Andy Grabia, Bill Flanagan, Convocation Hall, Danielle Smith, Memorial Organ, Myles McDougall, Tanya Fir, United Conservative Party, University of Alberta

Alberta Politics

Wow! Just wow. NDP’s Kyle Campbell wins Calgary-Shaw by-election.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 14, 2026

Calgary-Shaw NDP MLA-elect Kyle Campbell and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi on September 14, 2026 (source: Naheed Nenshi / Facebook)

The Calgary-Shaw by-election was supposed to be a sleepy race and an easy win for the United Conservative Party but it ended up being a nail-biter with a surprise NDP win.

The Alberta NDP’s Kyle Campbell did what many political watchers believed would never happen by beating UCP candidate Mike Derry to win the by-election in the south Calgary riding that was a UCP stronghold under former cabinet minister Rebecca Schulz.

Tags Alberta Liberal Party, Alberta NDP, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Danielle Smith, John Roggeveen, Kyle Campbell, Kyle Joseph, Mike Derry, Naheed Nenshi, Peter Guthrie, Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, Rebecca Schulz, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

UCP’s Mike Derry the favourite to win the Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 12, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and Calgary-Shaw UCP by-election candidate Mike Derry (screenshot: Mike Derry / Facebook)

Provincial cabinet ministers have poured into Calgary-Shaw to support UCP candidate Mike Derry and Danielle Smith has campaigned with him numerous times since the by-election campaign started last month.

Derry is the favourite to win the by-election but the vote is also a test for Smith, who has led a government mired in controversy and a party deeply divided on whether Alberta should separate from Canada.

Smith’s absence from any visible pro-Canada campaigns ahead of her October 19 separation referendum has raised a lot of eyebrows, especially after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s full-throated support of Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian campaign in Banff this week.

Naheed Nenshi delivers NDP health care pitch days before Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 12, 2026

Calgary-Shaw NDP by-election candidate Kyle Campbell (centre) with NDP leader Naheed Nenshi (left) and Dr. Luanne Metz (right) announcing the party’s “Future of Health Care” policy (screenshot: Alberta NDP / YouTube)

NDP pitches stability and investment over the UCP’s restructuring and privatization

With only days left before the September 14th by-election in Calgary-Shaw, Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi joined candidate Kyle Campbell to deliver his party’s health care pitch to voters with a pledge of stability and investment in a public system that has undergone massive bureaucratic restructuring and increased privatization since 2023.

Nenshi pledged that within three years of forming government after the 2027 election, the NDP would shorten emergency department wait times, cut surgical, diagnostic, and specialist wait times by 30 per cent, make sure every Albertan has access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, and, a big one, re-form one single Ministry of Health.

Nenshi said the NDP would also launch a judiciary-led public inquiry into CorruptCare, a wide-ranging government corruption scandal that largely faded into the background over the summer.

Nolan Dyck defeats Robin Coward to win UCP nomination in Grande Prairie

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 8, 2026

UCP MLA Nolan Dyck (source: Nolan Dyck / Facebook)

First-term United Conservative Party MLA Nolan Dyck defeated local business owner and separation supporter Robin Coward in the party’s candidate nomination vote in the Grande Prairie riding. Dyck won with 524 votes to Coward’s 162 votes at the September 1, 2026 nomination meeting.

This marks the second big win by an incumbent UCP MLA over an openly separatist supporting candidate in a UCP nomination since the party opened the candidate selection process this summer. Former MLA Jordan Walker defeated separatist organizer and former Wexit Alberta interim leader Kathy Flett by 253 to 136 votes in Sherwood Park last month.

Tags Alberta Election 2027, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Danielle Smith, Grande Prairie, Grande Prairie-Wapiti, Jordan Walker, Karen Peters, Kathy Flett, Nolan Dyck, Robin Coward, Ron Wiebe, Sherwood Park, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith heading to Music City USA

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 31, 2026

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?

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Danielle Smith, Donald Trump, Doug Ford, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Madison Holmes, MayCee Holmes, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation, Nathan Cooper, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Alberta’s separation referendum and the law of unintended consequences

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 29, 2026

Jason Kenney accepting the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party in March 2017

Politics makes strange bedfellows. It’s amazing how much can change in 10 years.

I was recently reminded that it was only 10 years ago that Jason Kenney was campaigning for the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party. With everything that has happened in Alberta politics since then, it feels like it might as well have been 20 years ago.

The longtime Calgary MP and former federal cabinet minister set his sights on “uniting the right” after the PC Party’s 43-year long streak as govermment was ended in spectacular fashion by Rachel Notley’s Alberta NDP in the 2015 election.

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Alberta Separatists Rally, Brian Jean, Canada Election Substack, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Jason Kenney, Jim Prentice, Rachel Notley, Substack, United Conservative Party, Western Separation

Alberta Politics

Read Before You Vote in Alberta’s referendum on October 19

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 23, 2026

A new group calling itself Before You Vote has launched with the goal of informing Albertans about the risks of the separation, immigration and constitutional changes questions on the ballot on October 19.

Supporters of the group include Judith Dyck, Linda Hughes, Peggy Garritty, Marie Gordon, Sheila Grekol, Anne McLellan, Joanne Pawluk, and Doug Stollery.

**This group has been added to the “Who’s who in the Alberta separation referendum debate” list.**

Tags Alberta Anti-Immigration Referendum, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Anne McLellan, Before You Vote, Canada Election Substack, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Doug Stollery, Joanne Pawluk, Judith Dyck, Linda Hughes, Marie Gordon, Peggy Garritty, Sheila Grekol, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Nate Glubish faces rural Alberta backlash against AI Data Centres

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 22, 2026

Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish was met with jeers from the crowd at the government’s AI Data Centre town hall in Lacombe. The Canadian Press reports:

“Albertans do not want data centres,” said one man who came from the neighbouring town of Ponoka.

Another woman told Glubish to “get your boxing gloves on” if another AI data centre was being planned for the region.

“Your words are nice, you explain things well, but I don’t trust you, and I think that the people in this room agree with me,” she said to big applause.

Glubish encountered a similar response from local residents at a Redwater town hall with Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally:

Sturgeon County resident, Connie Shields, said she doesn’t trust the government to properly regulate projects like these.

“You are the people we elected. You should be saying what we’re telling you to say,” Shields said.

“You shouldn’t be making up your own rules, you shouldn’t be dictating what goes where.”

The NDP has been hosting their own town halls in response to the data centre backlash. Leader Naheed Nenshi was joined by Edmonton-South West NDP MLA Nathan Ip at a town hall meeting in Red Deer earlier in August