Bruised but not yet broken, Alberta’s separatist movement is turning its attention toe Premier Danielle Smith and the governing United Conservative Party.
As results continued to trickle in early Tuesday morning, the separatists’ defeat proved even more decisive than months of public polling predicted — with 75.7 per cent of Albertans voting to remain in Canada, and just 24.3 per cent voting to trigger an independence referendum.
It was a staggering blow to the separatist movement, and a massive win for the volunteers and politicians who campaigned for months against independence. The impact of the vote was less clear for Smith — who despite officially supporting the remain side, was seen as being sympathetic to the separatist cause and triggered the vote in the first place.
It doesn’t appear that Smith will get her wish that Albertans will simply accept the results of the referendum and move on.
Instead, Smith and the governing United Conservative Party (UCP) will have to contend with a motivated and more organized separatist movement turning their efforts to oust the premier and take control of the party.
Jeffrey Rath, one of the central figures in the separatist movement who had a hand in former premier Jason Kenney’s ouster, told Global News he will be pushing for a special general meeting of the party to remove Smith.
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Rath said Alberta independence will never be realized as long as Smith, who he called an “avowed federalist,” remains leader.
“Moving forward from here, our hundreds of thousands of members and volunteers are going to be committed to taking back ownership of the (UCP),” Rath said.
“It’s time to have a serious discussion as to whether or not a supermajority of the United Conservative Party of Alberta want to continue to be led by a Federalist (in Smith) who’s in bed with Naheed Nensi, Mark Carney, Rachel Notley and the rest of the socialists and globalists that have literally been ruining this province and ruining this country.”
Polling released on the eve of the referendum suggested that the separatists’ biggest pool of support was found within the UCP ranks. Abacus Data’s findings suggest 52 per cent of UCP supporters would vote for a referendum, with just 44 per cent voting to remain
“By comparison, 93 per cent of NDP supporters would vote remain,” David Coletto, Abacus’ CEO, wrote in an analysis of the numbers.
“Indeed, 77 per cent of everyone who would vote (for a referendum) currently supports the UCP. The referendum continues to divide the governing party’s own coalition.”
The polling revealed UCP supporters are less likely than other partisans to feel a connection to Canada. Just 39 per cent of the party’s supporters expressed a strong attachment to the country, while 68 per cent of UCP voters feel a strong attachment to Alberta. More NDP voters (84 per cent) said they felt a strong attachment to Canada, while 42 per cent said the same about attachment to their province.
Another risk for Smith and the UCP is the political blowback for forcing Albertans to vote on independence in the first place.
While a strong current within their own party, Tuesday’s results clearly show that most Albertans do not have separatist sympathies. In forcing the issue, Smith risked wearing the separatist cause in voters eyes — while failing to satisfy the die-hard independence movement within her own party.
Polling aggregator 338Canada’s numbers suggest a tightening of the provincial horse race polls, with Naheed Nenshi’s NDP pulling within the margin of error with Smith’s governing party. That tightening of the provincial political race roughly coincided with Smith’s decision to put separation on the ballot.
With files from Global News’ Karen Bartko
Interesting, the 25% probably represents the people directly involved in the oil industry. Thing is the other 75% is indirectly involved in the oil industry. Why do I say that, without oil Alberta’s population would go from 5 million people to 1 million like Saskatchewan because without oil, Alberta’s and Saskatchewan’s economies would be about the same.
The other way to look at it without the oil industry, 4 million people in Alberta wouldn’t have jobs. So as the Federal Government keeps suppressing the oil industry there are a lot more than just oil workers jobs on the line.
Who proofreads these articles before publishing? It’s almost as laughable as Separatists in Alberta.
Well, it’s a minority with a loud voice that keeps repeating the same nonsense. It’s time for accountability and justice for everyone involved, including members of the provincial government and others. The federal government should launch an investigation and ensure that anyone found guilty of wrongdoing faces the appropriate legal consequences. Traitors should be in JAIL.
There is a typo in your very first sentence. Do you not hire editors anymore? It’s “to” not “toe.” Now pay up the editor’s fee.
Separatists should turn their “attention toe” sitting down and shutting the F*&@ up. While I’d love to Smith go, ousting her isn’t going to make their movement any more appealing.
Give it a rest, commie news. We are still counting votes here…
Congratulations Alberta! 75% of you are intelligent!
Jeffrey might be trying to make those plans from prison
Interesting. The conservatives of Alberta have always been pro-Alberta but within a confederated Canada. Same as the Wild Rose party. They wanted a more equal say for Alberta, within Canada. They were for reducing the equalization payments. The group that is trying to make UCP a separatist party should separate from the conservatives, and form their own party. They would get 24% of the votes. Then we would have a true conservative party we can stand behind. All this privatisation of our health care, policing and pension nonsense would fade.
Dream on