Tag: Darby-rae Crouch

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

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date June 22, 2026

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

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Canada Election Substack, Centurion Project, Danielle Smith, Darby Crouch, Darby-rae Crouch, Daveberta Substack, Forever Canadian, Innisfail Rotary Pro Rodeo, Jason Nixon, Richard Warnock, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, Sundre Pro Rodeo, Thomas Lukaszuk, Tim Hoven, United Conservative Party

Evasive maneuvers! Alberta politics on a collision course!

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 24, 2025

A large rally of around 30,000 striking teachers gathered outside the Legislature to welcome MLAs back for the fall session on October 23 (source: @atalocal8 / Instagram)

A loud crowd of 30,000 teachers and their supporters welcomed MLAs back to the Legislature

When MLAs returned to the Legislature yesterday for the Speech from the Throne and the start of the fall session they were welcomed back by a very large and very loud crowd of around 30,000 Alberta teachers.

More than 51,000 teachers from public, Catholic, and Francophone schools across the province have been on strike since October 6 with workload challenges being their biggest issue, namely class sizes and per-student funding.

Instead of getting back to the bargaining table to negotiate a deal that could satisfy both the government and teachers, Premier Danielle Smith has signalled her government’s plans to fasttrack back to work legislation — and there is wide speculation that it could use the constitutional sledgehammer known as the Notwithstanding Clause to block any court challenges of the law.

The Order Papers for next week shows that Minister of Finance Nate Horner will soon introduce Bill 2: Back to School Act along with motions to severely limit debate at all stages of reading. With a 6 vote majority in the Legislature, UCP MLAs should have no problem pushing it through swiftly, though the opposition NDP can be expected to try its best to delay the passage of the bill.

Naheed Nenshi’s NDP win Edmonton-Ellerslie and Edmonton-Strathcona by-elections

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date June 24, 2025

NDP leader Naheed Nenshi shares a stage with NDP MLAs at his by-election victory party on June 23, 2025 (source: Alberta NDP / YouTube)

UCP wins Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills but fails to make gains in Edmonton

The ballots have been counted in the provincial by-elections held yesterday and the results are: Status quo ante bellum.

Naheed Nenshi’s NDP held suburban Edmonton-Ellerslie and urban Edmonton-Strathcona, and Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party held rural Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.

What’s at stake in Alberta’s mid-term by-elections

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date June 19, 2025

Then-leader of the Wildrose Party Danielle Smith at a press conference during the 2014 Edmonton-Whitemud by-election. (source: Dave Cournoyer)

Deciphering what happens in Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-Strathcona, and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills could be interesting

The three by-elections happening on June 23 could have a big impact on Alberta politics, but maybe not in the way you might think. The results of the mid-term by-elections in urban Edmonton-Strathcona, suburban Edmonton-Ellerslie, and rural Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills are an important test for Alberta’s political leaders and the results could impact provincial politics in our province in different ways.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Party, Alberta Pension Plan, Alberta Separatism, Battle River-Crowfoot, Battle River-Crowfoot by-election, Bev Toews, Brandon Lunty, Cameron Davies, Caroline Currie, Chris Gallaway, Christy Clark, Corey Hogan, Damien Kurek, Danielle Smith, Darby Crouch, Darby-rae Crouch, Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-Ellerslie by-election, Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Strathcona by-election, Enyinnah Okere, Fred Munn, Gordon Kesler, Gurtej Singh Brar, Mike Ellis, Naheed Nenshi, Naresh Bhardwaj, Nathan Cooper, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills by-election, Patrick Lennox, Paul Hinman, Pierre Poilievre, Republican Party of Alberta, Ryan Hastman, Tara Sawyer, United Conservative Party, Western Canada Concept, Wildrose Loyalty Coalition, Yonathan Sumamo

Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith’s mid-term by-elections

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 29, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith with UCP candidate Tara Sawyer and supporters in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills on May 24, 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

By-elections in Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-Strathcona, and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills on June 23

It was two years ago today that Premier Danielle Smith led the United Conservative Party to re-election in Alberta. It was a close election by Alberta standards, with former premier Rachel Notley’s NDP making big gains in Calgary but not enough to block a conservative re-election.

Despite implementing a political agenda much more radical than anything that was promised on May 29, 2023 and being dogged by controversial scandals and allegations of corruption, Smith’s UCP continues to hold it’s support in the province.

Smith is a deeply divisive figure in Alberta but she is a shrewd politician and skilled communicator who knows how to appeal to and govern with her party’s voters exclusively in mind, even if it sometimes puts her offside with most Albertans.

Upcoming by-elections in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Edmonton-Ellerslie and Edmonton-Strathcona

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 26, 2025

The Alberta NDP are scheduled to nominate a candidate in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills by-election on June 14, but rumours are circulating that Premier Danielle Smith could call that by-election along with two others in Edmonton-Ellerslie and Edmonton-Strathcona very soon.

The UCP announced last week that Alberta Grains chairperson Tara Sawyer had been appointed as the party’s candidate in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. Sawyer’s appointment happened without an open nomination race, which is likely an indication the UCP was concerned a pro-separatist candidate could possibly create a messy nomination contest in that rural central Alberta riding.

Read more on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Redrawing Alberta’s electoral map

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 22, 2025

Voters only getting 2 more MLAs despite huge population boom

Alberta will have a new electoral map when the next provincial election is called. An Electoral Boundaries Commission has been named and will begin travelling the province next week to collect feedback from Albertans about how new riding boundaries should be drawn to reflect population changes since the last time the map was redrawn in 2017.

Ten big questions about Alberta separatism in 2025

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 16, 2025

The Alberta Prosperity Project’s Jeffrey Rath shows off the separatist group’s proposed referendum question in Calgary (source: Facebook).

Is Premier Danielle Smith a separatist? Is the UCP a separatist party?

The biggest difference between today’s Alberta separatist push and past efforts is that today’s most vocal separatists are operating within the governing UCP. Premier Danielle Smith gave her tacit public support for these groups in an online video address earlier this month and she knows that any direct effort to try to stop it would turn those groups, which included some of the UCP’s most enthusiastic activists, against her.

Many of those enthusiastic separatists inside the UCP helped topple former Premier Jason Kenney in 2022 and propel Smith to victory in the leadership race that followed. Writer Jen Gerson cleverly described Smith’s situation through one rule of politics: you get ate by the dragon you ride in on.

Liberals tap Corey Hogan to run against Jeremy Nixon in Calgary Confederation

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 4, 2025

Liberals drop former NDP MLA Rod Loyola in Edmonton Gateway

Canada’s federal election is in full-swing and today’s Daveberta newsletter includes a quick update about candidate nominations in Alberta. I will be back early next week with a regular column and more analysis from Alberta in the federal election.

As of this morning, the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party are the only parties with candidates in all 37 ridings in Alberta. The Liberal Party briefly had a full slate but are down one after their candidate in Edmonton Gateway was removed yesterday (more about that below).

The deadline for parties to nominate candidates or for Independent candidates to put their names forward is Monday, April 7 at 2:00 p.m.

Alberta Politics

What to make of Mark Carney’s meeting with Danielle Smith

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 21, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith speaks to supporters at the United Conservative Party Leader’s Dinner fundraiser in Edmonton on March 19, 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Liberal PM expected to call federal election on Sunday for an April 28 or May 5 vote

Prime Minster Mark Carney was in Edmonton yesterday for his first visit since winning the Liberal Party leadership and becoming leader of the government. Carney met with Premier Danielle Smith, who re-endorsed Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre the night before at a sold out Leader’s Dinner fundraiser in the capital city.

The Prime Minister and Premier did not make themselves available to speak with the media after the meeting and there were no photos taken of the two politicians together, which is probably an indication of how well we can expect the meeting went (Smith’s office later posted a photo of her meeting with Ambassador of Austria Andreas Rendl, which also gives us an idea of where the Prime Minister fits in her pecking order).

Alberta responds to Trump’s trade war still obsessed with border security

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 6, 2025

Danielle Smith joins Team Canada reluctant to use oil & gas trump card

One full day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial premiers Doug Ford in Ontario and Wab Kinew in Manitoba announced retaliatory measures in response to American President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs on Canadian products, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith entered the fray.

“This economic attack on our country, combined with Mr. Trump’s continued talk of using economic force to facilitate the annexation of our country, has broken trust between our two countries in a profound way,” Smith said at a press conference where she was flanked by Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Justice Mickey Amery, Deputy Premier Mike Ellis, and two law enforcement officers (one wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying an assault rifle).

“It is a betrayal of a deep and abiding friendship,” she said.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Quick note: Thank you for reading today’s Daveberta Newsletter! Paid subscribers can keep scrolling to read about the upcoming Edmonton-Strathcona provincial by-election and the federal Conservative Party candidate nomination votes being held in Bow River on March 6 & 7, Red Deer on March 8, and Edmonton Griesbach on March 9.