OTTAWA—The vote for separation in Alberta was stronger in rural areas where Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives have some of their safest seats — which an upstart federal party now intends to target.
As of Tuesday afternoon with almost all votes counted, only two provincial ridings have a majority vote for option two in the referendum, which would have seen the province start the process toward a binding vote to leave Canada.
Those two ridings, Central Peace—Notley and Rimbey—Rocky Mountain House, both narrowly voted for the leave option. Federal ridings have different boundaries from provincial ones in Alberta and those two ridings overlap with three federal ridings, all represented by Conservative MPs: Chris Warkentin in Grande Prairie, Arnold Viersen in Peace River—Westlock and William Stevenson in the riding of Yellowhead.
Warkentin won his riding with a nearly 70-percentage-point margin, while Viersen’s margin was over 65 points. The Star contacted Warkentin and Stevenson, but did not hear back before deadline and Viersen didn’t stop for the Star outside Parliament, saying only that “they are what they are,” when asked about the results.
Not ‘business as usual’
Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, who led the party’s campaign for remaining in Canada, said he’s happy Albertans saw the benefits of staying, but as they knocked on doors they heard a clear message from people looking for serious change.
“We’re incredibly pleased by the result,” he said Tuesday outside the House of Commons. “But I don’t want anyone to think that we’re going back to business as usual in Ottawa. I think people realize that Alberta has these legitimate grievances.”
Lloyd said many of the people who voted for option two didn’t actually want to leave Canada, but they did want a better deal for the province.
“They would never fathom voting to actually separate from Canada, what they were saying was they wanted to send a message to Ottawa.”
He said delivering for the province will mean delivering results, like shovels in the ground on major projects.
Other provincial ridings where the support for separation was closer to a tie included the ridings held federally by Conservative MP Glen Motz and party leader Pierre Poilievre.
At a news conference in Calgary, Poilievre said it is clear there is more to do because even a quarter of Albertans supporting leaving is too many.
“I’m very concerned that after 11 years of Liberal government, there’s a quarter of Albertans, a third of Quebecers that voted for a separation option in the last month,” he said, referring to the Parti Québécois winning a minority in the provincial election.
Plans for a new federal party
Former Alberta MLA Drew Barnes said his new federal party will target all 37 Alberta ridings, but he intends to use the ridings where support for separatism is high as a road map.
“When you look at those constituencies, 50 per cent of Albertans believe that the current system is broken,” he said.
Barnes said those voters don’t see the current major federal parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, as serving their interests well.
“They believe that they’re not getting an adequate voice,” he said.
Barnes, a former Wildrose and United Conservative member, has yet to file to formally register his new party with Elections Canada, but said he has the required signatures and plans to do so soon. The party, currently named Alberta Now, is being styled after the Bloc Québécois, Barnes said, with an explicit aim to represent only Albertans’ interests in the House of Commons.
Barnes, who supported option two in the referendum, said the party would respect Albertans’ choice and would be a federalist party, but one pushing for a better position for the province.
Lloyd, the Conservative MP, said previously he is not concerned about Alberta Now, and on Tuesday, he said Albertans already know the Conservatives have their best interests at heart.
“We had 1.4 million Albertans who voted Conservative in the last federal election precisely because people in Alberta believe that the Conservative Party of Canada is the party that’s in Ottawa fighting for their best interests.”
