Ric McIver, Speaker of the Alberta Legislature, has stated categorically he is not a supporter of Alberta separating from Canada.
In an emailed response to questions sent to United Conservative Party MLAs whose names appeared on a list of supposed separation sympathizers cooked up by the Republican Party of Alberta and published last spring on its website, Mr. McIver also said he has not signed the Alberta Prosperity Project separation referendum petition.
As for whether he has taken any measures to have the claim that he supports Alberta separation removed from the RPA website, Mr. McIver said no to that as well. Of the fringe separatist party, he said, “I have no relationship with whoever this is.”
Mr. McIver’s response is unusual since most of the 18 members of the UCP Caucus whose names appeared as separation supporters on the RPA’s “MLA Independence Scorecard” have not responded to questions from media about whether they in fact support separation or have signed the APP petition. Instead, they mostly let Caucus Communications Director Shanna Schulhauser speak on their behalf.
Her response to media on Feb. 9 said, not very informatively given what MLAs were being asked, that “Alberta’s United Conservative Caucus believes that citizen-initiated referendum petitions should be a grassroots process left to private citizens to sign, not elected officials. Our caucus has also been clear that we support a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”
That might be the truth and nothing but the truth, but it certainly isn’t the whole truth in the case of every UCP MLA named as a separation supporter.
In news stories about the RPA list published on Feb. 6, only three UCP MLAs commented. Cardston-Siksika MLA and Jobs, Economy, Trade and Immigration Minister Joseph Schow told CTV he hadn’t signed the petition and he thought Canada could work; Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA and chief UCP Whip Justin Wright stuck to the party line and told City News he supports a “sovereign Alberta within a united Canada,” and Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland MLA Shane Getson, the Parliamentary Secretary for economic corridors, complained to City News about the RPA publishing such a list but said nothing about his position on separation.
Readers may wonder if Mr. McIver missed the memo, metaphorical or otherwise, about UCP MLAs not giving away their position on separation. This could be literally true. While he was elected as a UCP MLA, as Speaker he does not attend UCP Caucus meetings or, presumably, get caucus emails.
Nevertheless, it is significant that at least one UCP MLA is willing to say aloud that he has not gone down the separation rabbit hole.
According to the City News reporter, the RPA also told her that it had changed the status of Agriculture Minister and Highwood MLA RJ Sigurdson on the “Scorecard” when he told them he did not support separation. However, as of yesterday, Mr. Sigurdson still appears as on the page supporting separatism, along with every other UCP MLA mentioned in this post.
This still leaves unresolved question of where Nathan Cooper, former MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, stands on separation. The RPA says he supports it. It also says he’s still the MLA for his former riding, which is obviously incorrect.
Mr. Cooper was appointed last May as Alberta’s trade representative in Washington, D.C. As such, he is an accredited Canadian diplomat, so whether or not he supports Alberta separation as the RPA “Independence Scorecard” claims is also obviously a matter of public interest.
However, Mr. Cooper has not responded to my requests for comment. I’m not aware of him responding to anyone else about this question. So while it seems unlikely he is a supporter of Alberta separation, the matter remains unresolved.
Perhaps Canada’s new ambassador to Washington, Mark Wiseman, who took up his duties in the U.S. capital on Sunday can ask Mr. Cooper about this the next time their paths cross in the Canadian Embassy. (Mr. Wiseman was the chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corp., the provincial Crown corporation better known as AIMCo, from 2020 to 2023, so perhaps they can also chat about old times in Alberta.)
Certainly separatism was an issue in last spring’s by-election to replace Mr. Cooper in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, with candidates from two separatist fringe parties, including none other than RPA Leader Cameron Davies, contesting the vote. On voting day, Mr. Davies came a respectable third, a few votes behind the NDP candidate, Beverley Toews. But the UCP’s Tara Sawyer won handily in the rural riding south of Red Deer.
And as to where Ms. Sawyer stands on this issue, no one seems to have asked.
Who are these UCP MLAs trying to fool?The damage from this has only started.
Well its good McIver clarified his position, although it seems he did not break any speed records in doing so. His clarification may partly be due to realizing in his unique position, caucus statements do not apply to him as they would to others.
As we head towards a referendum like a ship to an iceberg, other UCP MLAs may also be slowly realizing they have to address this matter with more than boilerplate caucus or nonsensical statements about a sovereign province in a united Canada.
This is what such referendums do, they force people to pick sides and as we get closer to them, sitting on the fence will become more and more difficult. Perhaps someone will explain this to our Premier, but I suspect they already have or she knows it. The confusing and contradictory messages by Smith and the UCP on separation will become harder to maintain if we continue down this path.
Unlike other jurisdictions where referendums on separatism (or if you prefer, sovereignty) have been held, there has often first been the election of a clearly pro separatist government to propose and advocate for such a regerendum. No such election has happened here. So I believe we are skipping important steps in this process and that will lead to some self inflicted collateral damage that the people running Alberta who think they are so clever, haven’t really thought through.
People do not like unpleasant surprises from the parties they voted into power and I feel that is what we are getting here. So there really is no mandate for them to go down this path. Those in power can not just abdicate their duty to govern responsibly to a petition.
Our politicians would also be wise now to closely study how socially and politically divisive the Quebec referendums were and that was in a province which was much more prepared for it because it didn’t skip important steps.
Dave: He seems not to have been aware of the Republican Party of Alberta list. Part of the delay in his response was my fault. I had his email for a couple of days and prioritized other posts. DJC
One truth teller does not a proper political party make. Traitors are not something to worry about; we live under them -be afraid. Alberta has seen better days. The future is not secure. We must all do better.
Talk is cheap. The UCP can not be trusted. Treat them as a separatist party as a default position.
“Sovereign Alberta” is a catchphrase. What is that, exactly? Has anyone seen an actual definition?
Is it, “We get to do whatever we want here and the feds fund it and the other provinces do what we say or we divorce you?”
No country with any sense is going to agree to that. They’re not the fuggin’ Kurds who’ve mercenaried for half the middle eastern nations for centuries just trying to win a homeland. Where’s Alberta’s Salah ad-Din?
Let’s lay the cards on the table right now and play this all the way out. To separate, Alberta needs the other provinces to agree. Never going to happen. They need all the registered First Nations to agree. Never going to happen. That means that in order to do so, they will have to engage in a civil war, which they will lose since the Canadian army doesn’t belong to them and they don’t have the cash or manpower to support a civil war insurgency while fighting off the entire Aboriginal nations of this country (and we produce more children than any other group) on top of the CAF or…
They beg for American intervention who then either:
A) pressure the rest of Canada which will cause mass ramifications for the USA economically and politically, globally or …
B) The USA sends military aid and soldiers because Albertans don’t know how to use the tech and embroil two entire countries in a mass conflict because they didn’t get to march a second free pipeline across someone else’s province and the right to gut an entire country from some deluded idea of “fweedumb”.
Anyway this plays out they will be economically destroyed for the next century or more and may take the entire country with them.
Ain’t nobody going to let that happen without a fight. Just how much sacrifice are Albertans willing to accept? How many dead? How much economic poverty? Theirs and ours?
Because that’s the cost of real insurgency. Not COD American-style bomb-then-run-away ordered from a bunker thousands of miles away.
Imagine telling your grandkids, “We destroyed your economic future and your parents sacrificed their lives so we could run away from THE DEMOCRACY OF CANADA.” (and into the arms of a fascist United States, a collapsing empire)
At least Ric McIver can go down in history as showing some sense, here.
B: As best as I can tell based on what elected UCP officials have said and done, “Sovereignty within a United Canada,” as defined by the UCP, means that “Alberta and anyone in Alberta or representing Alberta in any part of Canada has the constitutional right to ignore any federal law except, possibly or where it suits the UCP, the Criminal Code. In addition, Alberta’s jurisdiction extends into federal territory, the territory of all other provinces and any other jurisdiction in Canada.” This is of course impossible in a democracy and preposterous anywhere else. It would redefine Canada as the Alberta Empire. So the act of the same name is, in fact, an effort to create a constitutional crisis in hopes pf breaking Canada in the interests of … well, that is yet to be clearly seen. The United States? Capital? White Nationalists? Possibly all of the above. It is also important to note that in reality, Alberta already enjoys “sovereignty within a United Canada” as defined by the Canadian Constitution, that is to say each province is sovereign within its own jurisdiction and territory. From time to time, in my opinion, Mr. McIver does get it right – or, at least, righter than most Alberta Conservatives. DJC
@DJC
Therein, my friend, as you’ve noted–is the problem.
Alberta wants to be a country, inside a country. Without any of the implied responsibilities.
“We get to keep all our taxes” (while we use your military, border security, energy grids, transportation corridors and federal systems for free)
“We get our own judicial systems to run as we see fit” (even when those laws impact the entire nation)
“We get to dictate to other provinces when we want something” (but nobody gets to dictate to them)
The sooner the kibosh is put on this nonsense, the better. Not just for the rest of Canada, but for Albertans who, as I stated in my post, are the ones who will be paying economically, if not by dead bodies as well, if this is allowed to continue.
This isn’t a movement. It’s a reactionary hissy fit.
Thanks for explaining this. I never quite understood, it as it seemed contradictory or a bit of a dull wit’s oxymoron. But considering the UCP origins it would seem to be a likely oxymoron even when explained.
It is frustrating, but Carney has one helluva slapshot!
And the new broom sweeps Matt Jeneroux in its path.
What a dull old story. We scribble and scheme and surmise. And in the end it’s the kids on either end of the guns who lose and the old men who build them who win.
Full of sound and fury indeed.
It’s really hard to believe Ric McIver in light of his past history. Is he perhaps a bit worried that he’ll have to work for his seat in the next election? Whether or not his recall petition succeeds, he can’t win by courting both sides on this one.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/alberta-pc-leadership-candidates-ties-to-anti-gay-evangelicals-sparks-scandal
Some advice often given to children by their parents: you’re only as good as the people you associate with. Want to be better? Do better. Choose better friends. People are watching.
Jeneroux chose better friends!
In my opinion, Beverley Toews finishing 353 votes ahead of the separatist candidate is more than a few votes. A few hundred perhaps?
What does McIver mean by “sovereign” Alberta? He’ll never tell!
Mr. McIver didn’t use the word sovereign in his email or anything else that he’s said, that I’ve seen, anyway. The UCP Caucus communications director did, as did Justin Wright in his interview with City News. As I have said many times, sovereignty as defined by the UCP is inconsistent both with the Canadian Constitution and with the very notion of a nation state. DJC
Since all modern “conservatives” lie about everything, I would bet Ric “Opportunist” McIver is lying.
With respect, CX, I don’t. Mr. McIver has his flaws, as do we all, but I believe him on this one. Of course, I’m always ready to be disappointed. DJC
My feeling is McIver’s politics, although populist in flair from his days as a Calgary counsel member, is much closer to the “Progressive” Conservatives than he is to the “Reform-Rump-Disguised-As-Conservative” UCP.
With experience comes wisdom, perhaps? Or maybe he has seen party-polling?
One can hope the rest find the courage to break from the traitorous Redneckquois.
If you want to know who in your community supports independence, try this. Do a search on Facebook for ‘Alberta Prosperity Project Chapter: (insert name of city or town).’ A page will pop up – and it’s public. There you can see who from your area has posted, commented and liked posts. It’s enlightening.
McIver is petitioned for recall because he’s not Albertan enough.
Can’t you just imagine how disgusted Lougheed would have been with what these Reform Party idiots have done to Albertans? I know my father would have been. He was calling Ralph Klein “That sleazy bastard” long before he got into politics. We had known him and his family since 1960.
My good friend Jim Henderson an MLA for the Social Credit Party got so sick and tired of watching what Klein was doing to us he moved to Kelowna. He said that he couldn’t stand it anymore. Jim and I had lunch once a month for about 4 or 5 years.
He told me the Social Credit MLAs had a hard time being in opposition to Lougheed because they agreed with everything he was doing. Unlike these idiot Reformers they weren’t afraid to admit Lougheed was doing a good job. That’s way the Social Credit Party disappeared so quickly he said.
I’ve always liked Rick McIver. When he was on Calgary city council, all the way to now, I’ve always thought of him as honest and hard working. I was worried about his stance, being listed on the Reptilian Party of Alberta’s website, I’m glad he clarified it.
Imma put this here.
The sewers in Washington DC have collapsed due to decades of neglect. No, it’s not a joke–the Potomac, their water source is now flooded with sewage. The inspectors were all fired and nobody can make a decision as to who is going to fix it as sh*t is literally pouring out–fingers are pointing but it ain’t getting repaired cuz, you guessed it–FEMA was fired, too.
Dunno who in Alberta needs to see this but THIS is the country you want to join? Is America Great Enough for y’all, yet?
This is what we call democracy. No wonder the world is rejecting all this lack of clarity. In Ottawa Conservatives are moving to the party that is more convenient to their interests and the heck with what constituents chose. All too groovy.
Imagine what people think about all of this, if they think at all. Maybe AI has an answer.
The US has Project 2025
What does the UCP think about the separatist APP ‘s nonsense?
https://albertaprosperityproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Value_of_Freedom-DraftFiscal-Plan-10July2025.pdf
You know who is conspicuous by their absence from that RPA list? Nolan Dyck, the MLA formGrande Prairie — the recall petition against whom was just declared as failed — and Abe Wiebe, the MLA for Grande Prairie-Wapiti, who also has a recall petition against him that hasn’t hit deadline yet.
I don’t know if this means neither of them are in the separatist camp, or if they are simply so low profile that the RPA hasn’t spoken to them.