As a work of political performance art, NDP Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi’s challenge yesterday to United Conservative Party MLAs to sign a letter saying they are proud Canadians, opponents of Alberta separatism, and promise to make that known to voters is not bad. Not bad at all.
Your typical UCP MLA, after all, is a guy who’ll risk a speeding ticket with points for a chance to sign a Canadian Taxpayers Federation pledge to never, ever raise taxes or run a budget deficit.
But put their name to, literally, a pledge of allegiance to the country whose flag they’re always posing before? What do you want to bet that turns out to be a different matter entirely?
Well, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and all that. If they won’t sign, it’s probably because they want to pledge allegiance to another flag entirely, not Canada’s, for personal and political gain. It’ll certainly mean they’re tacitly admitting their party has become a separatist entity under the leadership of Premier Danielle Smith and they’re either good with that, or they don’t have the courage to stand up for their country against their party’s Alberta Prosperity Project faction.
The UCP will be as unhappy as a swarm of wasps that they’ve been smoked out about this, of course. Just watch what the foreign and domestic rage bots start to say on the hate site previously known as Twitter. Actually, save yourselves the indigestion. You don’t need to look to know what’s being said.
I imagine the UCP communications brain trust was up all night slamming the AI to come up with some believable excuses, just in case some reporter asks. We respect all constituents’ beliefs! We don’t want our dual citizens to feel bad! Yadda-yadda.
The pledge it’s unlikely any UCP MLA will sign is pretty simple, a mere 33 words if you count the fill-in-the-blank spots.
“I, _____, MLA for _____, affirm that I am a proud Albertan and a proud Canadian. I am opposed to separatism and I will make my position known and clear to my constituents.” There’s space for their signature and the date the document was signed.
It’s critical that Canadians stand together, Mr. Nenshi said in a statement yesterday. “We have entered a dangerous new phase of global politics.”
“In times like these, we need nothing less than absolute clarity from our leaders,” he said. “Our health-care system is in crisis, the cost of living continues to outpace inflation, and yet our premier is busy stoking the fires of separatism with her separatist government.
“‘A sovereign Alberta within a united Canada is intentionally vague double-speak,” Mr. Nenshi continued. “It only gives Donald Trump, the U.S. secretary of the treasury, and those trying to make us the 51st state, power to escalate their threats and weaken us from within.
“It’s time for the premier to stop putting us in danger and for every MLA to make their position clear. I’m sending a letter to all MLAs, asking them to sign a pledge and be on the record: are you on Team Canada or a separatist?”
As for his party, Mr. Nenshi said, “Alberta New Democrats unequivocally denounce separatism. … Can the UCP say the same?”
Well, we’ll soon know the answer to that poser.
This matters, Mr. Nenshi said, because separatism doesn’t reduce the cost of living, build hospital beds or hire teachers, and it will scare away investment, costs us jobs, and put all Albertans “in an extremely vulnerable position.”
Hard to argue with any of that.
From the UCP’s perspective, wouldn’t the best thing to do be to instruct all their MLAs to sign the pledge, and then tell the NDP, “OK, now let’s talk about who would make the best government!”
Mind you, as of last night anyway, Alberta media seemed shy about covering the story. The Red Deer Advocate filed a report, and City News posted an advancer.
There was a day when Conservative politicians in Canada could be counted on to be patriotic Canadians, even if it took them a long time to accept new ideas that happened to be good ones – like our beautiful Maple Leaf Flag, for example.
But that was before the MAGA virus infected Canadian Conservative parties. Now it would seem, many Conservatives hate Canada so much they’d be happy to destroy it and join the nightmare below the 49th Parallel.
If any Alberta Conservative, united or otherwise, wants to prove me wrong, it’s really quite easy. They can just sign the pledge!
Bob Ascah, 71, author, teacher, public servant, and raconteur
Bob Ascah, a familiar friendly face in Edmonton’s progressive community, was the author of the indispensable ABPolEcon blog and well known for his work as a university teacher, senior civil servant, researcher and commentator. Always generous with a smile and a good yarn, he was a true raconteur.
Robert Lawrence Ascah died on Jan. 20 in Edmonton after a short but difficult illness. He was 71. “What remains is the shape of a life well and consciously lived,” his family obituary said.
Dr. Ascah was born in Montreal on May 27, 1954, studied commerce and public administration at Carleton University in Ottawa and completed a PhD in political science at the University of Alberta. Over the years, he worked as a senior public servant at Alberta’s Intergovernmental Affairs and Treasury departments, at Alberta Treasury Branches, and as chair of the University of Alberta’s Institute for Public Economics. He was a research fellow at the Edmonton-based Parkland Institute and published the ABPolEcon blog independently.
“His blog was a source of much wisdom and understanding,” wrote retired Rabble.ca publisher Duncan Cameron on Dr. Ascah’s obituary page. “His ability to put Alberta into context made him a must read. His loss will be felt wherever people gather to inform each other about the politics of oil and gas.”
“Titles were never the point,” Dr. Ascah’s family obituary said. “What mattered was how he lived inside them, as a patron of the arts, a protector of the environment, and someone who believed deeply in the role of culture and environmental responsibility. He showed up. He funded. He defended. He asked better questions. He paid attention.”
Dr. Ascah is survived by his wife Linda and many family members.
Someone should also send a version of the pledge to all of Alberta’s federal MPs.
To some, lying is not a problem.
For example, you might already have taken an oath of alliegence to the crown to become an MLA.
To subsequently forswear that and to be a separatist is simple for traitors and grifters.
@PJP
The point isn’t whether they lie or not. It’s that they’ve publicly had to declare for Canada. Not the Canadian government per se…for Canada.
Thus they can be publicly shamed if they then turncoat and claim for separatism or joining the USA.
Also, someone should explain to them that “provincial sovereignty” is not a thing. Ever. “Sovereign” refers to the legitimate borders of a country, because y’know, under the rule of a sovereign, nowadays under the leadership of a country’s official government.
B: While I fundamentally agree with your first points here, it is important to note that in the Canadian Constitution, sovereignty is indeed a thing. Sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867, set out the division of powers. Provinces are not subordinate to the federal government within their areas of jurisdiction, although the doctrine of paramountcy means federal laws prevail if a conflict exists in areas of shared jurisdiction. So it can be properly said, though, that provinces are sovereign within their jurisdiction. Of course, the so-called Alberta Sovereignty Act is a load of codswallop. DJC
@DJC
Thanks for the clarification. “Codswallop” one of my favourite words 😀
If we look historically at how large kingdoms/empires operate, generally, the Crown/Sultan/NameThatTitle set the laws for fair trade between areas, criminal justice, foreign policy, taxes, fiscal policies, treaties, inter-area infrastructure such as ports/roads and the like.
Regional powers could set some local taxes to take care of needs required by that area…digging wells, sanitation, local roads, where the commercial shops and guilds could locate, enforcing cultural norms, most education, etc
It’s a system that worked for thousands of years in thousands of countries. Dunno how we wound up with inter-provincial trade barriers to begin with because that’s ludicrously stupid. Must look what idiot decided that would work.
What Dixie Dani wants is her own Oil Empire. She clearly doesn’t want to pay for anything for Albertans as per the healthcare/education scandals, she just wants a free shot at a kleptocracy without restraint whether she has plans to join the USA or not.
Somehow I don’t think the feds are ever going to allow that. Like all countries, sooner or later, through some means of statecraft, they *will* have to put an end to her delusion or risk losing the country. While Trudeau might have hoped “it would work itself out”, I’d suggest that Carney is several moves ahead and holding his cards tightly until the right moment…as Davos, proved.
MLA Jason Stephan took an oath of allegiance to the Crown ensuring a legislature gig, salary and pension before presenting his “Alberta does not need a King” rant.
Jimmy: In Mr. Stephan’s defence, he is a moron. Every time he opens his mouth in the Legislature he proves it. Alberta MLAs do not receive a pension. DJC
I stand corrected regarding the pension. Thanks.
Welp, that’s a nice piece of activist theatre Nenshi, and I mean it. It would work spectacularly except for one thing…
…the media would need to press every UCP politician, every time they met them and demand to see the signed document. They’d need to grill them every time on camera to sign it and shame them if they didn’t. They’d need to ask, “How is that partisan? What’s wrong with signing it? Aren’t you *Canadian*?” etc etc. and put their shame right up there on the wall of YouTube and (what’s left of) Tiktok, Rumble and Substack and all over the mainstream media. Did Nenshi bother to contact a crapton of them and ask for assistance? Citizen Journos love this sort of stunt.
To do this, Nenshi would have to use alternative media because most of the major media are owned by USA corporations.
The indies could splatter it all over but it won’t get anywhere near the eyeballs that CBC or CTV could get on it.
Had I not seen it on your blog DJC, I wouldn’t even know Nenshi proposed it.
Suggesting something is one thing. Following through, is another.
I’ll update my opinion if it starts going viral
Ah, Nenshi and the ABNDP are all over Youtube. Fair waring, search at your own peril, YouTube algorithm will start skewing your results afterwards … speaking from experience!
@Gerald
Never came across my feed of progressive/socialist vloggers yet. As for the mainstream, they are mostly American owned so we know they’re gonna bury it.
Gerald: I recall an article about disinformation bots showing up and influencing things. They are all over social media platforms.
Boni: This is exactly why the media in Canada needs to be reformed. Columnists, such as these from Postmedia are of a very low calibre. Consider Licia Corbella’s column about Rachel Notley and the NDP. Postmedia columnists would have been canned for publishing what they were publishing, had this even been over a decade ago. Danielle Smith would have also gotten into hot water for this.
Copy editors checking facts? That’s thing of the past at Postmedia, apparently, as election column illustrates – Alberta Politics https://share.google/PaoiMJWitExCkoRUn
Danielle Smith works weekend shift at her restaurant doing dishes | National Post https://share.google/xi32zOYzQcfxuDKXq
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s restaurant The Dining Car up for sale | National Post https://share.google/WBzcDney2uKXj6a5j
@Anonymous
I knew we were going down the craphouse hole when Christie Blatchford forced the Toronto Sun to sign a “no editing” deal to keep her column. Not a “no editing without agreement” clause that many writers fairly demand, but a “no editing deal”. She suffered from Stephen King syndrome whereby one churns out work of varying quality that could use some serious input from someone whose skill is providing it. Thus, she was allowed to spew venom, American style, unabated. It’s only grown worse since then.
It’s painful to read at this point. Basic spelling errors, grammar mistakes etc. Spewing away on comment sections or social media for free is one thing–when someone else is freighting the bill I expect the writer to have basic literacy and journalistic competency. Sadly, we don’t demand this any more, right up to, and including, the CBC which breaks my heart.
Yes, experienced editors and copy editors have gone the way of the dodo. In their place we have AI, grammar and spell check which are utterly useless if someone doesn’t have a basic grasp of grammar, spelling and well, a grasp on the *facts* and how to construct an essay/argument, in the first place.
B: That shows you that the media in Canada needs to be reformed. It’s pathetic.
I know the media tends to be shy about covering Nenshi, but I did see Global ran this during the 6:00 p.m. news, I think right after they covered the separation gathering in Calgary.
This is a stroke of genius in my view. Put the UCP clowns on the spot or get them to crawl back into their holes.
Is is possible that many UCP members will fraudulently sign the pledge? Conservatives have a pension (but these people will happily steal your pension and laugh while you enter an impoverished state and die on the street – self righteous monsters!) for undermining anyone and anything that whiffs like left leaning thinking. Nenshi proves yet again that all he can muster is a whimper while the province burns to the ground. He’s an intelligent man with a soft mushy heart in battle with seething lunatics who are hell-bent on destroying Canada and do not give a tinkers damn if people have to suffer so that they can have their way. What are the chances of Nenshi coming out on top?
The tenor in this province is as palpable as Minneapolis but here we have no protests. The difference between passive Albertans who are about to have a referendum on separating from and losing Canada and the Americans in Minneapolis is striking, and unnerving to say the least. Have you ever been outside of your home and seen the scowls on the faces of your average Albertan? People are worried about the calamity but love Disneyland! All of this focus on Alberta separating is chaos creation. Smith and company are all about creating death and destruction; it is their idea of a “great time”. Blowhards the lot of them. Unless the GOP Americans have their way, Canada will prevail because the federal government will push back as necessary against the UCP and their MAGA allies. Should Canada cease to exist, then we shall see what happens. This is unlikely because we have a prime minister who is trying to change trading partners with ensuing agreements with countries that are not beholden to the USA, for one initiative. Also, given the horrible incitement towards civil war by ICE and MAGA down in the USA, it may be possible that enough Canadians vote the UCP and their ilk out of office, but don’t count on UCP Trump supporters to do the same cause they love a gun fight and they are bloodthirsty! Indeed, humans are a fickle bunch, so one truly never knows what the future holds – which perhaps is why people are hanging onto their gluttony, and given the discord people are hunkering down into their personal bubbles much to the delight of the conservative world destroyers – bring on the rapture! Too bad the NDP can’t organize a serious effort to create a positive movement in this province – a government that actually governs by the people FOR the people.
A smart move.
Why do you not want Alberta to become the 51st state?
We all have our reasons for not wanting to become American. For me it is American gun laws and health care.
In the comments section of David’s last column, Gerald posted a link to the constitution of the new Alberta Republic, which I had not looked at before (thank you Gerald). As I looked through the document I realized it didn’t matter if the Alberta Republic became the 51 state or not; either way we would end up with the reasons I don’t want to become American.
The constitution has imbedded in it a fundamental right to bear arms, and to defend person and property with whatever means are available. In other words, it will implement ‘stand your ground’ and ‘castle doctrine’, policies I understand not even all states have.
On the topic of medicare, the republic’s constitution does say it will continue, but then the document turns around and also implements a bunch of policies that will undermine our cherished medicare system, such as:
1. Allowing private care to compete with it
2. Allowing private ownership of hospitals
3. Voucher funding, so wealthier patients don’t even need to pay for the total cost of their private care, they just have to top it up.
4. Implement a comparison of private and public care. I don’t see the point of this, unless it is to find an excuse to discontinue medicare.
Other people have different reasons for not wanting to join the United States. I would encourage them to look at the document and see if an independent Republic of Alberta would include the reasons they don’t want to join either.
https://albertaprosperityproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Proposed-Policies-and-Governance-of-the-Sovereign-Nation-of-Alberta-Draft-Mater-Document-Feb-17-2022.pdf
Your welcome. I hope your nausea & blood pressure wasn’t spiked too high.
You may also be interested in this Tyee article: https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/01/26/Wild-Claims-Jeff-Rath-Separatist-Firebrand/
@Bob
In Canada it’s, “Peace, Order and Good Government” as fundamental.
In the USA it’s, “Life, Liberty And The Pursuit of Happiness” which has the political depth of something written by and 8-year-old.
B: Well, to be fair to the drafters of the Declaration of Independence, where the phrase appears, what they probably had in mind was “property.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_Happiness DJC
@DJC
Yeah, I’ve seen that argument before that they meant “property” but if you’re obfuscating your foundational principles…you might wanna rethink what the potential results might be.
“We committed genocide, slavery and rampant theft cuz we were pursuing happiness!” kinda kills the myth.
It would refreshing to see UPC MLA’s sign the pledge, but in all honesty, it should have been signed, when they decided to run in the first place. And it should be legally binding. I just don’t understand, how people can look at the disarray in the U.S. and say I want to be part of that.
Canada should be clear about if an MP or a member of provincial legislature or assembly can hold foreign citizenship or not. This should be the first necessary step before discussion on foreign interfering in our elections or any other public affairs can conscientiously take place.
Well that’s been answered ages ago…yes. In fact, the current PM is a dual Canadian citizen/British subject (I think he may also have Irish citizenship). Other PMs with dual citizenship: John Turner (Canada/UK) and R.B. Bennett (Canada/UK). Then there is Sir John A. MacDonald, but do fathers of confederation count?
Expat: Mr. Carney may or may not hold Irish and U.K. citizenship. That is to say, he did, and has promised to drop those two. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-renounce-citizenship-1.7472421 I was born a British Subject by merit of being born in Canada in 1952, and lost that status in the 1980s, to my growing irritation as time passes. I want it back! DJC
As recently as the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the G20 the Canadian state proved highly adept at surveilling politically insane Canadian citizens and compiling good ol’ fashioned secret police dossiers on these dodgy folks. Why is there no evidence of a response by the security apparatus of this country to organized efforts to break up the state? JTF2 is constantly running around in foreign countries, ensuring our national interest through brave acts like kidnapping the elected leader of Haiti, so where are they now? Li’l Magus was able to seize the bank accounts of the Rebel Yokel truckers, but the Carny is powerless in the face of clearly foreign-backed secessionists? What up wit dat?
The difference is Trudeau had to use the Emergencies Act; do you wish Carny to do the same, because I get the feeling that would give you the excuse to go on another tangent.
As well, if you’re referring to Jean-Bertrand Aristide he was allegedly kidnapped by the CIA/US marines, JTF2 supposedly secured the airport. Suspicious but not quite the same thing.
Don’t look here. Look over there. No answer. Isn’t that how it goes?
Perhaps they’ll be like a certain country singer who in 2021 declared that he wasn’t “an anti-vaxxer”, after coming under fire for a social media post derided as “misinformation”.
Who delivered food by helicopter to the Coutts border blockaders on February 2, 2022? Who thanked the Ottawa blockaders?
Now he’s under fire again for another social media post. Just song lyrics this time. His answer to critics who want to know where he stands on Alberta separatism? Look over there. Look at something else completely unrelated that I’m doing. What’s wrong with you? Why don’t you pay attention to that?
Is that a circular conversation, moving the goalposts or just shameless attention-seeking? Whatever it is, it does not answer the question.
UCP MLAs won’t answer the question, which does answer the question. If our elected representatives don’t know where they stand, we know by default.
Well! Nenshi is finally at least trying to make an impression. Now, the challenge is to get MSM to notice. Next, the second challenge will be to get Danielle Smith and the separatist lunatics to respond (aka “beaking off”) in public.
I just sent requests to the Tyee and to CBC to cover this story, and report the reactions of Smith’s UCP and the various separatist cliques.
In case you missed it, let me provide links to a few reports that illustrate the quality of the separatist leadership, and the dangers of encouraging these people.
https://www.readtheorchard.org/p/canada-day-with-the-separatists
https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/10/29/Alberta-Separatist-End-Indigenous-Rights/ (even other separatists think this guy’s crazy)
https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/01/26/Wild-Claims-Jeff-Rath-Separatist-Firebrand/ (just published)
And you’ve heard this, I’m sure:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/trump-cabinet-member-weighs-in-on-alberta-separatism-9.7058082
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/01/26/Trump-America-Comes-Alberta/
It sounds like Bob Ascah was a great man, a citizen of both Alberta and Canada. I, we can only trust that the void he left, will be filled by someone with just as much, if not more wisdom and understanding. R.I.P.
Too late, Alberta. Your children’s birthright has been sold. By any name- BRIK, APMC, well cleanup liability, CCUS grants, royalty reductions relief, operational incentives, rural infrastructure deficit- it has been done. And the UCP and their descendants shall inherit the blessing of their Father. Or at the very least a post in Washington, place on the ATCO board, special envoy to the AER…
Danielle Smith is despicable. So are the UCP. They never cared about Albertans, or Canadians.
While this is a nice aggressive move on the part of the ABNDP, I have a feeling it’s not going to be capitalized on. Why? Because there will be another distraction that everyone will fall for, and this pledge will be forgotten.
Personally, I would include in such a pledge …
In recognition that you, the signatory, chooses to be in opposition and disloyal to Canada, let it be known that you do so in the full knowledge that you will be subject to immediate persecution and death as a traitor to the Crown and the Dominion.
Your remains will not receive a dignified burial; rather, they will be rendered and fed to pigs. Do you really think you deserve better?
JM: And the pigs shall be reduced to chops and we shall eat them hup, on Ilkley Moor bar tat. At the risk of being a legal pedant, the most severe penalty for High Treason in the Criminal Code of Canada is life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years, for garden variety treason committed in wartime, life in prison, and for treason committed in peacetime, 14 years. DJC
I can understand Nenshi’s idea but this is 2026. Even the ones that are Christian will sign the document on top of the Bible and lie. They will use those pages as place mats the following day. The UCP is now a MAGA franchise and they are a cult, not a political party. How do you deal with that? The only way I know is public pressure and like someone said in another post, it is much easier to go to Disneyland.
I hate to sound pessimistic but I think we are already on a path of no return without some very horrendous consequences. Danielle Smith is taking Alberta to a very bad place and we know who will pay for the price of this coup.
By the way, what happened to the petition to stay in Canada? Probably in the recycle bin right? Was there even an article about the dismissal of it by the UCP? Does anyone even care? Signed by almost half a million Albertans and where is it? Maybe sent to Disneyland.
I hate to say but more and more I believe the saying ‘We have the government we deserve’
One of Smith’s many talents in communications is appearing to be definitive, while sitting on the fence. It probably also doesn’t hurt her that Alberta’s fairly docile main stream conservative media is generally content just to regurgitate what she says rather than challenge it very much.
Hopefully this pledge will help smoke out whether Smith is more aligned with her separatist leaning party or more pro Canada leaning Albertans in general. I am guessing it will turn out to be the former and would also not be surprised if somehow she will try feign outrage at being pressed into signing a pro Canada pledge. After all, phony ourage may be one of the last refuges of a scoundrel.
At least Quebec separatists had the decency to leave their ambiguously Federalist governing party to build an unequivocally separatist party instead. With Smith, it is hard to be sure what she really believes in, although she seems to be doing all she can now to benefit the separatist faction of her supporters.
It would be wild if history were to reveal that this entire 51st state separatist movement was not spontaneous or “natural” at all. Wouldn’t it be something if this whole thing was ginned up by elected officials and/or former elected officials, at arm’s length, entirely for personal gain? What if it tied into the so-called trucker convoy movement as a complex, years-in-the-making nefarious plan by powerful people who feign loyalty to Canada while tearing it down? I’m still waiting to hear the name of the Big Boss of the 2022 Coutts border blockade. Sadly, there are too many possibilities.
Anyways, I guess that would be deus ex machina or a conspiracy theory, involving willing rubes as its frontmen (sorry ladies, only hand-chosen men — in alignment with a certain belief system — can lead lemmings off a cliff) while a man behind the curtain pulls levers. This is what you look like to the omnipotent, gents. They’re mocking you.
More plot twists than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz! May this conspiracy theory take wing like a flock of flying monkeys.
Great column as always, DC, and I agree, a very good move by Mr Nenshi.
A letter to the editor in today’s Globe led me to a very interesting post by the US polling company YouGov.com: https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/48669-state-support-secession-alaska-texas-california-poll
A little less than two years ago, YouGov polled residents of most US states on the question of support for secession of their state. I was surprised to learn that 20% support for secession (as is sometimes claimed by Alberta separatists) would rank low in the US. I quote: “Secession is most popular in Alaska (36%), Texas (31%), and California (29%). While a variety of factors are likely at play, there is a significant correlation between support for secession within a state and that state’s physical size as well as its population; the largest and most populous states have among the highest levels of support. The most pro-secession states are a mix of Democratic states — such as California and New York — and Republican states — such as Texas and Oklahoma.”
I would suggest that leaders of both political parties in the US would be very leery of supporting Alberta separatists (as those separatists like to claim) given that they are dealing with much higher levels of secessionist sentiment in strategic states like Texas and Alaska, and economic drivers like New York and California. Secessionist sentiment in New York, California and Texas might not have changed much since then, but it must be spiking in Minnesota.
New York and Alaska (among others) share borders with Canada. Potential provinces? Just asking.
Can-con MAPL welfare baby Paul Rennée Belobersycky has inserted himself into the ‘berta derp show, and there couldn’t be a more apt poster boy for their clown fest. Belobersycky plays pretend rough and ready western individualist after growing up in the frontier tumbleweed bedroom community of Airdrie and attending school on of the city core of Calgary, and then living off the avails of the CRTC regulation of Canadian “kulture”, groomed by the most pandering of professional panderers in show-biz, the Nashvillle garbage factory. If there’s a man who understands the value of recognizing who he is and where he comes from, it’s the singing Ruthenian nurse.
Perhaps Mr. Nenshi should pay attention to Premier Eby, and call Smith what she really is – a wanna be traitor, or at minimum, a traitor enabler.
After all, he does have an mla’s legal protection.
My MLA is NDP, thank goodness. I contacted my MP, Shuvaloy Majumder, to ask if he would sign the statement and haven’t yet heard back, although it’s only been a few days. We’ll see.