Tag: Jeffrey Rath

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

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

Alberta separatists gather to save a “Province in Peril”

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 2, 2026

Alberta separation supporters at the Alberta Legislature on August 29, 2026 (photo: Dave Cournoyer)

Around 800 Alberta separation supporters gathered at the Legislature on Saturday for a three-hour long rally organized by the Alberta Prosperity Project.

Dubbed by the organizers as a rally to save “a province in peril,” event speakers included the APP’s Mitch Sylvestre and Jeffrey Rath, and other guests who spoke about the dangers of COVID-19 vaccines and other issues popular in separatist circles.

Many separation supporters at the rally were bussed to Edmonton from smaller communities and rural areas across the province.

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

Tracking who’s who in the Alberta separation referendum debate

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 15, 2026

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

Alberta Politics

Separatists are entrenched in Danielle Smith’s UCP and aren’t going away

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 26, 2026

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

Former conservative party premiers Peter Lougheed and Ralph Klein would have told the separatists to pound dirt and wouldn’t have allowed them to dig themselves into their party like they have in the UCP.

The referendum will almost certainly further deepen the divide in conservative politics in this province along pro-Canada and pro-separation lines.

In her press conference today, Smith called for the losing side of this referendum to “accept the judgement of people and the direction that we go.”

That seems unlikely.

This referendum is guaranteed to string out this debate.

Read a lot more on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Canada Election Substack, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Forever Canadian, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, Peter Lougheed, Ralph Klein, Stay Free Alberta, Thomas Lukaszuk, United Conservative Party, United Conservative Party AGM

Alberta Politics

Elected officials should be coming out and voicing our commitment to Canada and to Confederation, says Michael Janz

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 18, 2026

Thomas Lukaszuk speaks with reporters about the Forever Canadian Avenue proposal with supporters and the Alberta Legislature Building in the background (source: Dave Cournoyer)

Michael Janz’s Forever Canadian Avenue announcement comes just days after a judge quashed Elections Alberta’s approval of a citizen initiative petition organized by separatist leaders with deep ties to the governing United Conservative Party.

Premier Danielle Smith called the judge’s ruling antidemocratic and declared her government would appeal the decision as separatist leaders publicly threatened her leadership of the party if she didn’t intervene. While a large majority of Albertans support remaining in Canada, a majority of UCP voters tell pollsters they would vote for Alberta to separate from Canada if a referendum is held.

Won’t a new pipeline make the Alberta separatists happy?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 17, 2026

Smith used the threat of national unity crisis to leverage the approval of a new pipeline to the Pacific Coast, and it looks like she just might get that. So this is a political win for Smith — especially because the September 1, 2027 target for the start of construction of a new pipeline lines up with the start of the next provincial general election campaign.

Expect “We got Alberta a pipeline!” to be splashed all over UCP re-election ads in 2027.

But don’t expect the promise of an oil pipeline to dampen the enthusiasm of Alberta’s separation activists. That was demonstrated clearly last November when Smith was booed by delegates at the UCP AGM when she touted the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding about pipelines and electrification.

For them, it was never about building a pipeline.

Danielle Smith will take the pipeline but won’t shelve the separatism talk

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 16, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Mark Carney speak at a joint press conference in Calgary on Friday, May 15, 2026.

Will she just call a referendum anyway? Yes, probably.

Expect “We got Alberta a pipeline!” to be splashed all over UCP re-election ads in 2027.

For them, it was never about building a pipeline.

Alberta separation policy resolution submitted for UCP AGM in November 2026

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 10, 2026

There is already a motion being proposed to adopt separatism as an official party policy at the UCP’s fall AGM.

A divisive policy debate about separatism was narrowly avoided by a vote by the UCP’s provincial board before separatist-endorsed candidates swept the majority of the party’s board positions at year’s AGM in Edmonton.

Emmott Kelsey of the Centurion Project is a UCP member and has submitted a policy resolution for debate at the UCP AGM that would officially endorse Alberta leaving Canada.

Separatist leader threatens nomination challenges against UCP MLAs

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 9, 2026

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.

Alberta separatists are entrenched in the United Conservative Party

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 8, 2026

An AI-generated image shared by the anonymous separatist Rise of Alberta social media account (source: @riseofalberta / Instagram)

Pro-Canada Conservatives need to speak up now before it’s too late

Premier Danielle Smith deflected criticism about a senior United Conservative Party Caucus staffer attending an online meeting of the separatist Centurion Project by blaming Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi for not telling her about the separatist group’s use of a leaked voter list.

Nenshi has been taking daily swings at the UCP all week starting with claims that party president Rob Smith and Caucus Director of Stakeholder Relations Arundeep Sandhu attended the Centurion Project meeting where former premier Jason Kenney’s home address was shown in a demonstration of the separatist group’s app.

The UCP denied that the party president was at the meeting but admitted Sandhu logged into the zoom call.

Nenshi says he notified Kenney and the RCMP of the privacy breach and that the presence of Smith’s senior staffer means she can’t claim she didn’t know that the voters list had been leaked.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Largest privacy breach of personal information in Alberta’s history

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 4, 2026

Alberta’s Legislature Building through the view of a broken glass panel in summer 2025 (credit: Dave Cournoyer)

Separatist Centurion Project somehow got access to the 2.9 million names on the official voters list and uploaded it to a public, searchable database

It has been a while since my phone buzzed with so many questions from political contacts and non-political friends than it did this past weekend.

“Did the voters list get leaked!?” “What does it mean?” “Who has my personal contact information”?” “Did the separatists cheat?” “Does this mean Trump and the Russians have the Alberta voters list?” “How did this happen?” “What’s going to happen now?”

Those are all legitimate questions that will be asked again and again as we start learn more about how a separatist group calling itself the Centurion Project got access to Elections Alberta’s official voters list and uploaded the full names, home addresses and phone numbers of 2.9 million Alberta voters to a public, searchable database. The group is led by well-known right-wing organizer David Parker of Take Back Alberta fame.

Though it remains unclear how exactly Parker’s group got the list, Elections Alberta identified the voters list as one that was provided to the separatist Republican Party last year. The Republican Party is led by well-known right-wing political organizer Cameron Davies of Kamikaze campaign fame.

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.

Alberta Belongs in Canada