Tag: United Conservative Party

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.

Can you tell me how to get. How to get to Forever Canadian Street.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 17, 2026

Thomas Lukaszuk and Michael Janz unveil a mock-up of the proposed Forever Canadian Avenue street sign (source: Dave Cournoyer)

🎶Can you tell me how to get. How to get to Forever Canadian Street.🎶

That might be a tune that children visiting Alberta’s provincial legislature for the first time will sing in years to come if an Edmonton City Councillor gets his wish.

City Councillor Michael Janz joined former Edmonton MLA Thomas Lukaszuk and supporters near the Alberta Legislature today to announce a proposal to rename a two-block stretch of 99th Avenue between 107 Street to 109 Street to Forever Canadian Avenue.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Canada Election Substack, Citizen Initiative Act, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Forever Canadian, Forever Canadian Avenue, Michael Janz, Thomas Lukaszuk, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

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 librarians and library boards quick to respond to Bill 28

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 13, 2026

The speed at which librarians and the community volunteers who sit on local public library boards across Alberta responded to Williams’ bill was swift.

The Town of Mayerthorpe Library Board took on Williams’ principal claims straight on in a statement published by the Mayerthorpe Freelancer:

The Mayerthorpe Public Library does not have pornographic material for children, nor does any other public library in Alberta. Our collection is guided by a board-approved collection development policy and is informed by professional library standards. Materials are catalogued and shelved appropriately by age. The library board has a formal process for patrons to request reconsideration of items – a process that has never been used in our community.

The Town of Olds Library board expressed concern that several aspects of a proposed bill could curtail library board autonomy and intimidate staff.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta Book Ban, Bill 28 Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act, Canmore Public Library, Coalition of Alberta Public Libraries, Dan Williams, Danielle Smith, Demetrios Nicolaides, Joseph Schow, Town of Mayerthorpe Library Board, Town of Olds Library Board, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Dan Williams’ Bill 28 aims to undermine public trust in public libraries and librarians

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 12, 2026

Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams speaks to reporters on April 2, 2026 (screenshot: Government of Alberta / YouTube)

In the age of Artificial Intelligence, algorithms, easily spread misinformation, and privately owned social media platforms, who better is there to trust in our society than librarians? Like teachers and other educators, professional librarians and library staff are on the frontlines of the fight to preserve and protect credible public information and knowledge.

Public libraries are probably one of the last truly public spaces we have in our communities. They aren’t a private space that you have to pay to access by buying a ticket, membership, or a coffee. Public libraries are for everyone – and they offer much more than books. They provide programming for kids and adults, courses, resources, and a place for community gatherings.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

New report finds Russian and Trump-aligned online disinformation campaigns targeting Alberta

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 11, 2026

The Globe & Mail reports that a study being released this week by the Global Centre for Democratic Resilience has identified Russian and Trump-aligned websites and social-media accounts that are being created to inflame the separatism debate in Alberta:

“The danger is not the existence of that debate. The danger is that foreign governments, state-aligned media, ideological networks, and profit-driven manipulation systems are seeking to distort it,” the report concludes.

“When external actors amplify separatist narratives, normalize annexation, encourage national rupture, or undermine confidence in democratic processes, the issue is no longer only a matter of provincial politics. It becomes a direct threat to Canada’s democratic integrity, national security, and cognitive sovereignty.”

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.

Danielle Smith makes her Alberta separatist problem our provincial problem

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 8, 2026

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to the Canada Strong and Free Conference in Ottawa on May 8, 2026 (source: Canada Strong and Free Network / Facebook)

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.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Alberta voter list leaked, Canada Election Substack, Centurion Project, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, David Parker, Jen Gerson, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, Ryan Jespersen, Stay Free Alberta, Take Back Alberta, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

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.

Policy proposal from St. Albert Liberal aims to block private health care and Alberta Pension Plan

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 1, 2026

Lucia Stachurski was the Liberal Party candidate in the St. Albert-Sturgeon River in the 2025 Canadian federal election (source: David J. Climenhaga)

Delegates to the Liberal Party’s national convention in Montreal earlier this month voted unanimously in favour of two policies that take direct aim at key pieces of Premier Smith’s political agenda.

Introduced by past St. Albert-Sturgeon River candidate Lucia Stachurski, the policy proposals call for the Liberal Party to oppose the implementation of Bill 11 and a big item on Smith’s sovereignty agenda: the creation of an Alberta Pension Plan.

“Our universal healthcare system is under coordinated across the country. There is a shift towards for-profit clinics that divert federal transfers away from public care and in many cases bill Canadians out-of-pocket for assured services,” Stachurski said when she took the floor to introduce the motion. “We cannot allow a two tier healthcare system to become the Canadian norm.”

“I’m the guardian of the Canada Health Act,” says federal health minister Marjorie Michel

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 30, 2026

Federal Minister of Health Marjorie Michel (source: Marjorie Michel / Facebook)

The National Post’s Rahim Mohamed reports that federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel admitted to speaking with Alberta’s Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services Adriana LaGrange about Bill 11 earlier this month.

LaGrange is the senior of Alberta’s four health ministers who were named following the province’s dismembering of the Alberta Health Services province-wide health authority in 2024. She introduced Bill 11 into the Legislature last year.

Will Mark Carney push back against Alberta’s health care privatization agenda?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 29, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney (source: Mark Carney / Facebook)

Alberta separatism, referendums, library book bans, and gerrymandering are catching a lot of the headlines these days but a law passed by Alberta’s United Conservative Party government that allows for more private-for-profit health care is becoming harder for the federal government in Ottawa to ignore.

Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), known as Bill 11 when it was passed through the Legislature last December, would allow physicians working in Alberta to practice medicine in both the public system and in private-for-profit businesses, something that isn’t allowed anywhere else in Canada.

Premier Danielle Smith’s push toward privatization of the public health care system, which UCP defends as “European style” health care, is almost certainly more American-inspired. But wherever the inspiration comes from, it will almost certainly mean more out of pocket expenses for Albertans — something Smith has long advocated for — and more public funds subsidizing private companies.