Alberta separatists urged to stay the course despite outcome of Monday’s referendum

Wilson addressed the crowd from the steps of the Alberta legislature, with just two days left before the referendum that will decide whether the province will chart a course toward a future vote on secession.

“Regardless of what happens on Monday, we’ve already won,” he said.

The constitutional lawyer who represented key organizers during the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” and who become a major organizer in the push for independence, said it was important for supporters and organizers to “celebrate our successes.”

Speaker after speaker called on the crowd of independence supporters to not lose heart with the 150-day campaign in its last 48 hours.

Half a call to action, half a walk down memory lane about what the independence movement became this year through a 300,000- signature petition drive that began in the depths of winter to the hundreds of town halls staged across the province, speakers encouraged supporters not to give up, regardless of Monday’s outcome.

“We are moving in the right direction,” said Cory Morgan, a longtime advocate for Alberta independence.

Having spent more than two decades pushing for independence, Morgan told rallygoers that he planned to keep up his fight regardless of whether they earned 10 or 90 per cent of support in the referendum.

He suggested the country’s political leaders failed to understand how those pushing for separation had no plans to go anywhere, and that independence was a “movement” and a “culture.”

“We’ve made an incredible stride.”

For months, successive public opinion polling has shown that support for separation is a minority opinion in the province. Federalist organizers have nevertheless urged those who reject separatism to turn out to Monday’s vote, suggesting those stumping for independence are highly motivated.

Morgan also called for civility as he noted how personal the referendum has become and cautioned those listening in the crowd and more online from losing friendships or family just because they are on different sides on the issue.

“Stay together as people,” he said.

His calls came as a sense of division has set in across the province, with some supporters of separation saying people feel afraid of being labelled by neighbours.

Chris Scott, a cafe owner in Mirror, Alta., who first became known within the province and online for opposing COVID-19 restrictions, told the crowd those who want to remain in Canada had few arguments to offer them and instead label those demanding independence as “dirty seppies” and a “fringe minority.”

While bitterness remains over the long-dismantled National Energy Program of the 1980s under former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the 2015 election of his son, Justin Trudeau, who ushered in an environmental regime that inflamed feelings of western alienation, the backlash to pandemic-era mandates has played an unmistakable role in fuelling a new generation of independence advocacy

But as separatist organizers look to convince more Albertans frustrated by the long-standing grievances against Ottawa to consider voting for the independence option, even if they are not sold on separation, those in Saturday’s crowd did not need any convincing.

Brandishing rows of Alberta flags both big and small, with some that read “Republic of Alberta,” supporters wore hats that declared “Make Alberta Great Again,” and held signs that included messages like “No to the EU, Vote Option 2.”

Thunderous boos emanated from the crowd at the mention of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s name.

Another name with which independence supporters expressed displeasure, but more in private, was Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

Sandy Martel and her husband Barry are decades-long independence supporters as well as members of Smith’s United Conservative Party. The couple who attended the rally say they used to support Smith, but that began to change when she inked a new pipeline and energy pact with Carney last fall.

“I truly feel she’s turning,” Martel said.

“I think Carney’s paying her … I think she’s being bought.”

That deal stands as the centrepiece of the relationship reset both Smith and Carney sought to undertake after years of acrimony under the prime minister’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

Despite the deal laying the groundwork for what culminated into an announcement just weeks ago that construction of a new million-barrel a day pipeline would be fast tracked from Alberta to the West Coast, independence supporters like Chris Anderson oppose the continual charging of an industrial carbon price and the push to build a massive carbon capture and storage network to reduce its level of emissions output.

As a UCP member, Anderson wants Smith gone.

“Everybody was under the impression that Danielle Smith was in support of this,” he said of Alberta’s independence.

Despite being a UCP member, Darlene Knezevich says she’s open to leaving the party altogether.

“To tell you the truth, if an independence-minded party were to form, I would jump on that bandwagon immediately because I don’t believe that (Smith) is going to help.”

Robert Martens says Smith had managed to win back his support after losing it when she crossed the floor as leader of the Wildrose Party to join the Progressive Conservatives more than a decade ago, before the parties were merged under Jason Kenney.

But Smith’s decision to come out in support of remaining in Canada has meant she won’t be able to win him back again, he says.

“That was her second time with me, and that was it.”