Separatist Smith
Our Premier made a special address to say separating from Canada is an option worth considering.
The UCP are facing multiple investigations into their corruption. Wildfire season has started early and it is dryer than usual all over the province. Measles, a disease thought to have been eradicated, is spreading and showing signs of exponential growth in Alberta because we have not kept up with childhood vaccinations. And Trump is still musing about Canada becoming the 51st state.
Alberta needs an ethical, competent government, now, more than ever. So why have the UCP just changed the referendum rules in Alberta to clear a path and make it easier to have a referendum on separation from Canada?
May 5th, on the 80th anniversary of the Canadian Armed Forces liberating Holland from the Nazis, our Premier released an online video giving notice that she welcomes a referendum on separation rather than acknowledge the anniversary of this historical moment in WWII that forever bonded Canadians to the Dutch. She also did not acknowledge that it was Red Dress Day; an annual day of remembrance and action focused on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people in Canada.
Instead, our Premier made a special address to Albertans to acknowledge that she has grievances with the Federal Government and separating from Canada is an option worth considering.
Now, the entire UCP caucus has eased the requirement for citizen-initiated referendum rules in Alberta. 10 percent of eligible voters in a previous general election need to sign a petition — reduced from 20 percent of total registered voters. Petitioners will also get 120 days, rather than 90, to collect the required 177,000 signatures to initiate a referendum. Inspired separatists are already going door to door across the province, collecting signatures on petitions for a referendum on separation.
Feeling like an alienated westerner is something we have been doing since before we became a province for many Albertans. But I do not support separating from Canada or even threatening to separate from the rest of Canada as a bargaining chip to negotiate a better deal for Alberta. We are all Canadians. Families can disagree on things, but the moment one member starts threatening to leave, everything breaks down.
Alberta was able to support the completion of the TMX Expansion with a campaign to ‘Keep Canada Working’. I doubt threatening to separate from the rest of Canada will gain us pathways through other provinces to diversify markets for our products.
Perhaps members of the UCP have been plotting to break Alberta away from Canada for years. Perhaps there are members of the UCP that will organize against Premier Smith, like they organized against Premier Kenney, if she doesn’t ease their pathway to separation. Perhaps the investigations into UCP corruption have revealed more than the scandalous connections to the Premier’s Office and the bloated CorruptCare contracts. No matter the reason, the surest way to wreck a provincial economy is to talk about separation.
We are Canadians, Premier, and we always will be.
Kyle Kasawski is the MLA for Sherwood Park. If you have questions about this column or any provincial issues, he would like to hear from you. Find his contact information at kylekasawski.ca
Thanks for this Kyle, Well written and very clear. We need to do everything we can to stop Danielle Smith and the UCP from destroying our province. If anyone thinks that being a separate country is going to make life easier and cheaper has their head in the sand. All of the national services provided by the Government of Canada would then become additional responsibilities of the Government of Alberta (on top of what they are already responsible for). There is only one taxpayer that will be funding this insanity. There are simply so many things that don’t make sense about this whole idea that one could go on for days trying to explain it. Keep up the good work and fight the good fight.
This separatist nonsense is our version of Brexit. Giving it air by talking about it why it is even on the news. If we are talking about this, we aren't talking about our health care system being privatized and destroyed. We're not talking about scandals and corruption and cronyism in government. And we are not talking about the privatization and destruction of what was once the best educational system in the world. Wait until the teachers goon strike next October and you will suddenly remember why schools and teachers are so important.