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National Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Colby Cosh: The flaccid state of Alberta's separation movement
On Monday, the Alberta provincial riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills gave us a clear, unmistakeable snapshot of the elusive Alberta-separatist Sasquatch — and it turns out he's about the size of a Yorkshire terrier. In 1982, Olds-Didsbury, as it then was, became the only Alberta riding ever to elect a separatist legislator, the still-living and still-radical Gordon Kesler. In 2025, Kesler's latter-day successor, Conservative MLA and Assembly Speaker Nathan Cooper, resigned to take a job as Alberta's official agent in Washington. Article content Article content This forced a byelection and gave the allegedly resurgent Alberta separatist movement an electrifying opportunity to repeat history. Could the new-christened Republican Party of Alberta (RPA) duplicate the separatist coup of 1982 on the same conservative ground? Article content Article content Article content The party sent its leader, the self-exiled UCP operative Cameron Davies, to contest the byelection. Davies, who had Kesler's endorsement, told the Post's Rahim Mohamed that he would be content with 20 per cent of the vote, given that the 'Republicans' only adopted their new brand in February. Speculation that the RPA might vault into second place was widespread, and, after all, the New Democrats have finished as low as sixth in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills this century (namely, in 2004's election, in which the Separation Party of Alberta finished fourth). Well, for better or worse, it seems it's not 1982, or at least not early 1982, anymore. According to unofficial returns, Davies and the Republicans drew a not unimpressive 2,705 votes, but New Democratic candidate Bev Toews pulled in 3,061, and the UCP's Tara Sawyer, an ex-chairperson of the Grain Growers of Canada, scooped up 9,363. With a 'Wildrose Loyalty' die-hard candidate in the mix, Davies came up short of his hopes with a vote share under 18 per cent. Article content Article content No doubt the Alberta Republicans will argue that this is a floor, not a ceiling, but the Olds-Didsbury area is their heartland, and byelections are ideal moments for protest voting if there's any appetite for it. Two other byelections were held last night in Edmonton ridings, and the Republican candidates didn't reach two per cent of the total there. Article content There was a fuss last month when Danielle Smith's UCP government made changes to the statutory cutoff for 'citizen initiative' petitions that allow proposals for legislation to be put to a province-wide referendum. Smith explicitly promised that Alberta separatists would be given their day if they could reach the new, lowered cutoff for signatures. Article content But they still need 177,000 Albertans to sign a petition asking for a referendum, and the underwhelming RPA performance in Olds hints that they might have trouble hitting even that mark. Premier Smith, whose numbers in the polls have enjoyed a resurgence lately, might actually have preferred the dimensions of that Sasquatch to turn out a little more threatening to Eastern Canada when exposed to the byelection flash. Article content
CTV News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
United Conservative Party wins Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection
The unofficial results are in and the United Conservative Party received 61 per cent of the byelection vote in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding. The Alberta NDP finished with 20 per cent, the Republican Party of Alberta had 18 per cent and the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition took about one per cent. Official results will be announced July 3. Many political analysts were curious if the Republican Party of Alberta would receive more votes, as they focused on Alberta secession during a time when discontent with Ottawa is high. 'The results of this byelection in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills could not be more disastrous for the Republican Party of Alberta. To have come in third behind the NDP is not something that even their most ardent supporters could ever have imagined,' said Matthew Solberg with New West Public Affairs. 'I would expect them to go off into the wilderness at this point.' Cameron Davies, Republican Party of Alberta candidate and leader, sees the 2,705 votes as laying a foundation for future support. 'It took a step of courage for people to step away from their traditional voting habits and patterns and say the status quo isn't working,' said Davies. 'My message to them is that we are still here and fighting, and we aren't going away any time soon. This is just the beginning.' The unofficial results are in and the United Conservative Party received 61 per cent of the byelection vote in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding. The unofficial results are in and the United Conservative Party received 61 per cent of the byelection vote in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills riding. On Tuesday, Premier Danielle Smith said she hopes to quell the separatist movement and conservative vote splitting with a stronger relationship with Ottawa. 'The sentiment that you're seeing was created in Ottawa by 10 years of terrible policy. I think it can also be dialed down by Ottawa by undoing 10 years of terrible policy and allowing us to get back to investing and allowing us to be able to chart our own course as a province in our areas of jurisdiction,' said Smith. 'I think that the jury is very much still out on the future of that movement, but I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to address these concerns so that sentiment subsides.'
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Separatist Alberta Republican Party cries foul after byelection debate is cancelled
Cameron Davies, leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, is pro-separation from Canada and is pictured with his truck in Red Deer, Alta., Wednesday, May 7, CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh EDMONTON — The separatist Republican Party of Alberta is crying foul over a cancelled debate in a central Alberta byelection, suggesting the governing United Conservative Party is dodging democracy. The local Olds and District Chamber of Commerce said it had invited candidates from both those parties and the NDP, but only Republican Party of Alberta leader Cameron Davies committed in time, so the chamber was forced to call it off. Davies said it's up to the UCP to explain to voters why they don't want to debate. 'When you have nothing to offer Albertans at the ballot box, maybe that's their idea - avoid accountability and dodge democracy,' said Davies. He added he is still hoping a forum can be arranged before voters go to the polls on June 23, and that he's heard interest from two organizations to do so. Davies said the biggest issue he's hearing on the doorsteps is Alberta's place in Canada, and voters' discomfort with Premier Danielle Smith's party giving Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney a chance to bring the province a better deal. '(The UCP) should be up front and honest about where they stand, and I think avoiding whether or not they're in favour of independence - that's not going to satisfy Albertans that want to see Alberta end this toxic, abusive relationship with Ottawa,' said Davies. 'It doesn't take a petition for a provincial government to hold a referendum. The whole notion of a petition is nothing more than passing the buck and the UCP is trying to sit on the fence, instead of saying, 'Let's let Albertans have a say,'' he said. Smith has repeatedly said she wants to see Alberta remain in Canada, but recently passed legislation to lower the threshold for citizens to spark a referendum on seceding from Canada. The UCP said they're holding a town hall in Three Hills with their candidate, Tara Sawyer, and Smith on the same night the chamber wanted to hold their debate. 'We offered other dates, but they weren't able to move it, which we understand,' spokesman Dave Prisco said in an email. 'We held another town hall last week in Olds with hundreds of people in attendance, free to ask questions on any topic. We'll keep meeting with people, listening, and earning their support throughout the campaign,' he said. Doug Rieberger, president of the Olds and District Chamber of Commerce, said with Sawyer unavailable, and the chamber not getting a response from the NDP until after its deadline, they made the decision to cancel their event. 'Due to the short timeline of the campaign and availability of facilities, the chamber will be unable to reschedule,' said Rieberger. Bev Toews, the NDP's candidate in the riding, said in a statement it's a shame that the UCP refuses to debate. 'As always, they take this riding for granted. They assume people will blindly vote for them,' said Toews. 'I am the only candidate in this race that loves Canada and wants to fight to save it. The UCP candidate is too scared to say even that. 'I'll debate with her any time, anywhere.' Smith appointed Sawyer, a farmer and former chair of the Grain Growers of Canada, to run for the UCP without a competitive nomination process, citing the need to pick a candidate quickly. Davies, a longtime conservative activist and organizer, has become a key figure in Alberta's renewed separatist movement following the latest federal election. He said there are 'several' UCP MLAs who are in favour of Alberta independence but they're being silenced within their own party. 'There's speculation that's why they chose to avoid having their own internal nomination process,' said Davies. 'They made a very clear and conscious decision to have an Ottawa-first candidate hand-picked for the riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills.' The seat became vacant last month when Nathan Cooper, the former legislature Speaker and a longtime United Conservative member in the legislature, resigned to become Alberta's representative in Washington, D.C. It's one of three vacant ridings, along with Edmonton-Strathcona and Edmonton-Ellerslie, that will have a byelection on the same day in less than three weeks. But in the rural riding of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, western separatist sentiment has bubbled to the surface before. In 1982, Gordon Kesler won what was Olds-Didsbury with 42 per cent of the vote in a byelection under the Western Canada Concept banner. Davies said there are differences now, including that his party has much less runway ahead of that vote than the Western Canada Concept did more than decades ago. 'We've been around for all of two months now,' said Davies. 'This is why the (UCP) wanted the byelection so quickly, because they did see we're getting momentum.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025. Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
CTV News
04-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Alberta separation becoming the focus of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection
A Canada flag, left, and an Alberta flag flap in the breeze with Mt. Kidd in the background in Kananaskis, Alta., Monday, June 2, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh) The Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills byelection is quickly turning into a mini referendum on Alberta secession. The riding saw its MLA, former speaker Nathan Cooper, step down earlier this year to take a provincial job in Washington. That's meant the conservative stronghold will be one of three Alberta areas electing a new representative on June 23. The UCP has held the south-central seat since the party's inception. Before that, it bounced between the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives. But the recent federal election and tension between rural Alberta and Ottawa have another right-leaning party convinced the byelection is there for the taking. Cameron Davies is running for the newly created Republican Party of Alberta, which he also leads. Provincial separation is the party's main goal. 'Albertans are ready for change,' he told CTV News. 'Justin Trudeau, he read the book on how to be a socialist. But Mark Carney is the gentleman who wrote the book. So, any politician who goes out there and tells you they have high hopes for Mark Carney, I think, needs to take a closer look at who he is.' The Republican Party of Alberta Davies and his party believe that Ottawa's treatment of western Canada has alienated voters and edged them out of important decisions. They want to leave confederation. And while he alleges some within the governing UCP are separatists, Davies doesn't think the party is 'conservative enough' for the province. 'The UCP has, over the last several years, attempted to pander to downtown Edmonton and downtown Calgary,' he said. '(Albertans) are ready for an alternative: a truly conservative option that doesn't apologize for our values.' Asked what those values are, Davies began with a message: 'I can look you in the eye and tell you there's only two genders,' he said. 'Let's start there.' The Republican Party of Alberta does seem to be focused on popular conservative ideas from south of the border: at various points in the interview, Davies brought up parental choice, property rights and 'family values.' 'I believe that the longer we wait for the conservatives to figure out if they are in fact conservatives, the more and more disappointed we will be,' he said. And some of his messaging is obviously resonating. An afternoon of door knocking in Three Hills showed there's an appetite in this area for what the Republicans are pitching. Despite Canadian flags lining multiple lawns, residents were happy to engage in conversation with the party leader and ask him questions about leaving the country. Davies promised it's not just here. He claimed the party's other two byelection candidates are making inroads, passing out hundreds of signs in city centres like Edmonton. Post federal election, the party alleges to have 24,000 members. They want to double that and pass Davies' former Wildrose party in sign-ups before the party's autumn AGM. 'And regardless of the outcome (in this byelection), our objective is to make sure that our message is heard,' he said. The Alberta NDP Bev Toews is running for the Alberta NDP. She has worked at an Olds high school for years and calls herself a 'community volunteer.' Toews is the first Alberta NDP candidate in this riding to be local: a badge she wears with pride. 'This talk of separatism is very concerning to me, and so I thought it was really important that somebody had a voice and talked about health care, education, affordability and being a strong Alberta in a strong Canada,' she told CTV News. In 2023, her party brought in only 18.8 per cent of the vote. The UCP's Cooper exceeded 75 per cent. At the time, another separatist group, the Alberta Independence Party, garnered 1,140 votes: 4.7 per cent of the ballots. The new NDPer says she understands some of the federal frustration in the riding — and believes her party having more voices in Edmonton can help. 'Certainly, there are things we can make better, and there are things that Ottawa can do better for Alberta,' Toews said. 'But I think we have more possibility of making a positive change working together than being all on our own.' Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills is largely comprised of born-in-Alberta residents and agricultural workers who lean to the political right. They've never given the NDP more than 4,600 votes. Toews understands it'll be an uphill campaign — but expressed some excitement Wednesday that there is more choice for constituents. 'And if they're not happy, this is an excellent opportunity for them to send a very strong message to (Premier) Danielle Smith and the UCP,' she said. The United Conservative Party Tara Sawyer is the United Conservative candidate. CTV News reached out to Sawyer and the UCP multiple times to set up an interview but never received a response. Earlier this week, Sawyer refused to give a planned all-candidates forum any availability in the lead-up to June 23's vote, meaning the forum was cancelled. Expert insight A Mount Royal University political scientist believes the byelection could be a close one between the UCP and Republican Party of Alberta. 'It's an area that is likely to be more sympathetic to the kinds of things that the Republican Party stands for than in other parts of Alberta,' political scientist Lori Williams said. 'So, it will be very interesting.' As for the separation talk, Williams says she'll be watching closely to get a sense of just how real the rural secession appetite really is. It's been talked about for decades, but she's still not entirely convinced separation will be a decider when the voting pencils are picked up. That's because the logistics of the move would be extremely complicated and costly. 'More fairness within confederation is a message that resonates frankly across the province to some degree; it's just whether that extends to the point of independence,' Williams said. 'That may make (Davies) more of a hard sell. If it were just about entitlement, corruption and a failure to represent within the United Conservative Party, I think that Cam Davies could have a significant impact on this election.' 'It will be a test: both of the Republican Party, but also of the United Conservative Party and to what extent other conservatives are more appealing than the UCP in Alberta.'
Globe and Mail
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Republican Party of Alberta calls for province's independence at rally in Red Deer
Inside a hotel event hall in the centre of the province, 12 Alberta flags hung around the large room. But nowhere to be found was the red and white maple leaf. Around 400 people had gathered at the Red Deer Resort and Casino Conference Centre for a town hall hosted by the newly re-named Republican Party of Alberta to promote the province's growing independence movement. Walking on to the stage to AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' was the party's leader, Cameron Davies, a long-time conservative operative who has worked behind the scenes in Alberta politics for more than a decade. In April, Mr. Davies loudly rescinded his membership to the United Conservatives, a party he helped put in power but now criticizes for it's recent health contract procurement controversies, lack of transparency and bloated government. As the head of the political arm of Alberta's separatist movement, he made a pitch to attendees focused on unity and political involvement. 'We are the conservative alternative option. This is not a one issue, single issue party,' Mr. Davies told The Globe and Mail in an interview before the event. The weekend rally is just one conversation in a larger dialogue that has been at the fringe of Alberta politics for decades, but has recently seen a surge in the wake of the recent federal election. The province has danced around talks of separation in the past, as recently as 2019 and 2020s Wexit movement, but this month has seen a flurry of political action and growing support in some corners. At the centre of it all is Premier Danielle Smith who has been using separatism and warnings of a 'national unity crisis' as a way to push Ottawa and Prime Minister Mark Carney against a wall on energy policy. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith focuses on scrapping energy policies in speech on province's relationship with Ottawa Her government recently, in proposed legislation, reduced the number of signatures needed for a referendum question down to 177,000 from 600,000, opening the door to a vote on independence. But at the same time, Ms. Smith has remained steadfast in saying she is for a 'sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,' without denouncing the separatists. Resentment toward Ottawa, and frustration over energy policy, social issues, and education dominated the chatter in the Red Deer crowd. Paul Neumann, 31, works at a slaughterhouse in a nearby town and says he was a reluctant separatist but is all on board now, even if he's not sold on the political part. He grew up on a farm and wants to be able to own a home where he and his wife can raise a family. Financial struggles are making that goal difficult, and Mr. Neumann says an independent Alberta would be more prosperous. 'We're being taxed like crazy.' he said. 'My wife and I, we can't really afford to put money away.' Western discontent is a growing problem after Liberal election victory Opinion: Dear Alberta, please don't leave Near a table sporting Republican merchandise which came in red, black, or camouflage, was 73-year-old retiree Jacob Korycki. He and his wife attended the event to find out more about the Republicans. 'We're here to learn about it, to see if that's what we're going to go with, or if it's gonna be something else,' said Mr. Korycki. 'I definitely don't want to be part of the United States.' As a heavy duty mechanic most of his working years, he often worked in the oil and gas sector which he says was neutered by Ottawa in the 1980s and was again under Justin Trudeau. 'I got burnt then, and we're getting burnt again here,' said Mr. Korycki. Two major players have emerged in the sovereignty fight – the Alberta Prosperity Project, and the Alberta Republican Party. The former has gained tens of thousands of registrations in the past few weeks and has funnelled its energy into getting signatures on a referendum ballot – one that it's leader Mitch Sylvestre filed a petition for on Friday. The Republicans have been focused on siphoning political power from the province's dominant parties, placing two candidates in upcoming by-elections with plans to slate 87 candidates in the next provincial election, set for 2027. When asked about how the two groups were operating in the same space, Mr. Davies said he was worried about putting all the separatist eggs in one basket. 'It's absolutely important that every group, every organization and every individual is united in the purpose of an independent Alberta,' Mr. Davies said. Speaking at the event was Gordon Kesler, the only separatist to ever hold a seat in the Alberta legislature which he had for two and a half months in 1982. His former riding in Olds-Didsbury is where Mr. Davies hopes to win his seat in the upcoming round of by-elections. Mr. Davies called Mr. Kesler a 'giant in our movement.' Mr. Kesler, speaking from the stage, claimed that Prime Minister Carney was installed by the World Economic Forum, likened Alberta's current place in Canada to that of pre-revolution America of 'taxation without representation,' and warned the audience not to trust Premier Smith. 'You are free freedom warriors in a time of great, great hostility towards this province' Mr. Kesler told the crowd.
