The United Conservative Party’s effort to railroad a separation referendum onto a ballot this fall and blame it on the people who signed the pro-Canada Forever Canadian petition was unfolding according to plan in a Legislature committee meeting yesterday afternoon when Opposition House Leader Christina Gray raised a point of privilege.
Ms. Gray, who is not a member of the UCP-dominated Select Special Citizen Initiative Proposal Review Committee but could speak as the NDP MLA for Edmonton-Mill Woods, explained that she had just learned the UCP Caucus had published a news release saying the motion recommending a referendum question to cabinet had passed.
It had not. Indeed, it had not even been voted on.
This exposed the committee’s deliberations as a sham, committee chair Brandon Lunty as something less than the sharpest knife in the UCP drawer, and the UCP of being capable of messing up spectacularly even when it holds all the cards.
The news release in question quoted Mr. Lunty spinning the circumstances hard as “following the law and respecting the expectations” of the nearly half a million Albertans who signed the Forever Canadian petition organized last year by former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. According to Mr. Lunty’s version of the facts, they “signed Mr. Lukaszuk’s petition in good faith, understanding it would result in a referendum.”
The reality, of course, is that most of them just wanted to tell Ms. Smith and her separatist allies to go to hell, and even Mr. Lunty had to understand that.
Well, whatever. That was the moment the stuff hit the fan. Talk about a messy case of premature dissemination! The release was quickly pulled off the Internet by the UCP, but screen shots were popping up within seconds.
It was, Ms. Gray told the committee, an obvious breach of Parliamentary privilege. Mr. Lunty looked like a deer in the headlights as Ms. Gray dropped her bombshell.
Just before that gobsmacking moment, Nate Glubish, Danielle Smith’s technology minister and the MLA for Strathcona-Sherwood Park, had moved that the committee use the Forever Canadian petition’s wording as the basis of the separation referendum the premier has been scheming for months to put before Albertans.
Rest assured, this is not because the UCP loves Forever Canadian’s wording. It’s because courts have blocked the Stay Free Alberta petition’s wording as unconstitutional and stopped verification of that petition’s signatures by Elections Alberta because First Nations were not consulted about the implications of tearing Alberta out of Canada.
Apparently the sneaky committee manoeuvre, opposed by the NDP and Mr. Lukaszuk, was the only way for a desperate separatist-dominated governing party to get the divisive separation question it wants on the ballot in October or risk completely alienating its powerful anti-Canadian faction.
Implied but not stated in the debate between the three UCP members of the committee, who favoured the motion, and its two NDP members, who opposed it, was that wording can be altered later to something more favourable to breaking up the country. The opening of the UCP news release carried the same implication.
The committee had given Mr. Lukaszuk five minutes – later extended to 10 – to make his case that his question shouldn’t be used to advance the government’s scheme. Mr. Glubish and Assisted Living Minister Jason Nixon argued aggressively and at length with Mr. Lukaszuk, obviously trying to make the preposterous case the referendum would be all his fault.
Ms. Gray called for the matter to be referred to the Speaker of the House – Ric McIver, who is capable of independent thought and is expected to retire after the next election. Obviously the UCP didn’t want to take a chance on that. She also said Mr. Lunty – who by his own words and actions had revealed the whole thing was a set-up – should recuse himself.
The committee recessed while the UCP members figured out what the hell to do. When the meeting resumed, the UCP members – Mr. Glubish, Mr. Nixon and Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Tara Sawyer – quickly voted down a motion to send the matter to Mr. McIver.
Mr. Lunty, naturally, remained in the chair.
But when he tried to move the meeting back on track to approve getting Ms. Smith’s separation question onto the ballot, the clock ran out. A fiery Rakhi Pancholi, deputy NDP leader and committee member, and Calgary-Foothills MLA Court Ellingson said no to an extension, so for the moment the matter is unresolved.
“Whatever the Premier chooses for the wording of a referendum, the UCP owns it,” Ms. Pancholi said in a statement after the meeting. “They can’t hide behind the separatists. They can’t hide behind Forever Canada. … She can say no to a referendum that she and the UCP so clearly want. Or she can go ahead with it, owning forever that she is Alberta’s first separatist premier.”
Mr. Lunty has called for the committee to meet again at 2 o’clock this afternoon. Obviously, the motion will be rammed through then, just in time to save the 20 minutes of prime time TV the premier has booked for this evening to tell us all why a divisive separation referendum is a good thing for Alberta. No media questions will be permitted.
This morning, new members of Ms. Smith’s cabinet will be sworn in after announcements yesterday by two of the more level-headed ministers in her current cabinet – Finance Minister Nate Horner and Hospital and Surgical Services Minister Matt Jones – that they are quitting their portfolios and not running in the next election.
Did they jump to escape the gong show Ms. Smith’s MAGA-adjacent rule has produced or were they pushed because they remain too loyal to Canada? Hard to say given the limited data available.
Mr. Horner, a scion of the Horner political clan, indicated in his resignation letter that quitting was “the best fit for me and my family.” It’s hard to argue with that from his perspective. This morning, Mr. Nixon is expected to be handed the keys to the finance minister’s office, which he occupied briefly in 2022.
Meanwhile, Ms. Smith’s manoeuvre is unlikely to do much to assuage the fury of Alberta separatists. The premier, said prominent separatist Jeffrey Rath on social media Tuesday night, “had better understand that if she puts a question forward on Independence that isn’t a constitutional question that complies with the Clarity Act that she will be betraying her base in favour of Carney as badly as when she screwed them over for Jim Prentice.”
“If she does this hundreds of thousands of Albertans will be forced to mobilize to remove her as the leader of the United Conservative Party,” he said. “We can easily do this prior to an election in 2028.”
This is an absolute subversion of democracy by the UCP and Danielle Smith. Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canada petition is not what the UCP and Danielle Smith wants to support, and they are at the full control of the separatists, including David Parker (the head of Take Back Alberta), Jeff Rath, Mitch Sylvestre, and any others who are in that camp. If they go against the wants of the separatists, the separatists who infiltrated the UCP are going to remove Danielle Smith. Any panels or committees by the UCP have always had a predetermined outcome, much like someone mixing ingredients together and baking a cake. This is no different. Why are Nate Horner and Matt Jones resigning? The UCP’s MH Care (Corrupt Care) scandal that is a hefty sum of $614 million, has involvement with them, and it’s still being investigated. It is going to get ugly. Naturally, Nate Horner and Matt Jones want to remain MLAs until their terms end in 2027, because they don’t want to shrink the UCP’s thinner majority government even more. You would think Albertans learned their lesson by now, but they haven’t. Giving these pseudo Conservatives and Reformers power that they clearly abuse was a major mistake.
Oh oh. You got to love when something goes according to plan.
The UCP indeed had it all planned out, but their premature news release both exposed their plan and the sham behind it. What was supposed to be a quick and smooth manoeuvre to catch all their opponents by surprise has now been revealed and also delayed.
Of course the delay will just be temporary, but it makes Smith and crew look like the desperate bumblers they are in trying to force through a referendum that most Albertans do not want now.
First of all the separatists do not like the question. Secondly the Forever Canadian petition was about having our MLAs vote to affirm support for Canada, not to force a referendum on it, an important detail now conveniently forgotten by Smith and her gang as she desperately looks for a way, any way to force a referendum on us.
It is a bit of a political backflip and Smith has experience with this sort of thing. Lest we forget her previous backflip from opposition leader to government member did not go so well. It enraged her supporters and then voters kicked out the government she unexpectedly joined. Well perhaps the press release for that was not leaked as prematurely. However, one lesson from it is voters do not react well to unexpected surprises, another may be they do not like to have things forced on them as a fait acompli.
Now we can’t say for sure this manoeuvre is what led to two prominent UCP cabinet ministers resigning around the same time, but it seems to be an incredible coincidence. It may be fair to say they saw dark clouds on the horizon and decided to get the heck out of Dodge before the political tornado, that this will be, hits.
So Smith is rolling the political dice again in a high stakes manoeuvre. Maybe it will go better than before for her, but also as Santayana said, those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
“Secondly the Forever Canadian petition was about having our MLAs vote to affirm support for Canada”. No, it wasn’t. No one expected for a moment that such a thing would happen. It was totally about having the question put to Albertans, and we have succeeded.
No it wasn’t. It was meant to go before the legislature. It was NEVER meant to be used in a referendum.
Not tornado. Feces impacting rotating element.
In case any of you missed it, this is exactly what a dictatorship looks like. The man expected to get the nod as Treasurer can only be described as totally unethical. To be recorded saying yes the pre-mature release rises to a point of privilege one minute and then voting to not send this to the Speaker shows how two faced and unethical Minister Nixon really is. Granted Mr. Lunty always looks like he has no clue of what he is doing or supposed to be doing. Maybe Lunty will get the nod as Hospitals Minister or Seniors and Social Services. Whatever happens this shit show is getting worse every day.
An interesting turn of events. Is there any doubt now that Premier Ditzy is indeed a separatist As for let’s go Brandon what a complete twit. He looks sort of like he is related to Geoffrey Rath. He has been promoted beyond the level of his competence.
Next up; the tailings ponds have been made whole through the divine intervention of an Indigenous blessing. Glory be! https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-oilsands-tailings-mine-wastewater-consultation-9.7206761
Emily, mines are good for us and for the environment. Just because Prairie mines had a berm give out and leak into the Lovett (Little Pembina) river earlier this month, most likely killing most if not all the fish. And Crowsnest Lake is still being polluted by the Legacy mine, that was closed down a number of years ago and with assurances, from the Alberta UPC, that mining is safe and eco friendly, I really don’t see the problem. If it wasn’t for the high levels of selenium interfering with reproductive systems of our Mountain Sheep, we would have nothing but little sheep running rampant on our Eastern Slopes. OMG, the horror. I believe we need more tailings ponds, then some developer can come in and sell beach front property to the UPC, Rath and the separatists. I personally think it would be a great place for them to live. 🙂
According to the “Additional Information” sources provided in the premature/aborted press release, Lukazuk and the NDP are totally to blame for forcing Albertans to a referendum. Not a mention of the seppies’ illegal attempt. Slimey does not even begin to describe the corruption and decay of the UCP body politic!
What a sham committee and chair!
It looks like the UCP will have to play even stupider games to win stupider prizes today. Brandon Lunty, meet Old Father Time. Your clock needs a reset.
Nenshi, on CBC Radio Calgary EyeOpener, given an opportunity to rightfully express outrage about Lunty et al., spent way too much time droning on about “how we got here”, diluted his point by discussing whether or not the ForeverCanadian petition was intended to be a referendum, and when given the easy question “what do you think the question will be” didn’t immediately respond with a simple “Danielle Smith will game the question for the separatists”.
Much like my comment here, he was unquotable, rambling, and often clearly working in his bias with spin.
Compared with Smith’s oration, it’s clear why Nenshi isn’t breaking through.
PJP: If Rakhi Pancholi were Opposition leader today, the NDP would be 10 points ahead. DJC
I have great respect for Rakhi Pancholi, but she joined the leadership contest briefly only to make way for Nenshi. There is no doubt that she was always part of the Nenshi campaign.
I don’t think there’s any evidence of this. She’s a Junior MLA , she did a great job of securing her riding for the NDP but no one knew she would turn out to be the powerhouse that she is (though I did, and said so on this blog at the time). It’s not to let, get her the keys and Nenshi can bow out to whatever corporate gig he’s clearly waiting on.
Respectfully, I have to push back on this claim. And, yes, I do have doubts now about whether Nenshi is ‘up to the job’ but would also like to give him at least a little more time, given that he has not even been an elected MLA for a year.
As for Pancholi, she likely strikes more of a chord with voters – feisty, high energy, telegenic, ‘likeable’ – all qualities Nenshi lacks. But she is also in the position of not being leader which leaves her with a longer rein and less pressure.
When ‘we’ blame Nenshi for the NDP’s performance I think much of it comes out of frustration that so many Albertans simply refuse to consider the NDP as an option, which is where I circle back to the belief that Rakhi Pancholi could have the party 10 points out front. This would amount to a near 20 point swing and I just don’t see where this swing is coming from. Rural Alberta is solidly 65 to 70% UCP and no one out here is changing their mind – not for Nenshi, not for Rakhi Pancholi, not for Rocky Balboa. Frankly, if we ever get another NDP government it will be because the UCP imploded not because the NDP did anything great.
@Rufus:
Listen to old Jack Layton or Ed Broadbent interviews. Or listen to Avi Lewis or even Charlie Angus. That’s how committed NDPer’s sound.
Then listen to Nenshi. He’s got a bad case of mumble mouth and zero enthusiasm.
It’s not hard to see why he’s not exactly lighting up the voters.
…at least 10 points! And the entire NDP can not make one simple point to one simple Nenshi.
Dave, you crack me up, “It is a bit of a political backflip and Smith has experience with this sort of thing.”
PHP: Naheed Nenshi isn’t the problem. A complacent media who supports the UCP and Danielle Smith, while lying about the NDP and Naheed Nenshi is. The media hardly acknowledges the NDP and Naheed Nenshi. Even if Naheed Nenshi wasn’t the NDP leader, this would be the case. The media lied about Rachel Notley, while blatantly ignoring the major missteps of the UCP and Danielle Smith, which is why the NDP and Rachel Notley were defeated in the provincial election, three years ago.
Who was the idiot who put Brandon Lunty in charge of a committee? Especially a committee that’s guaranteed to attract media attention. As Mrs. Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) always said “if my Sheridan were here, he’d be appalled.”
The UPC of Alberta, the board, the entire group needs to be de-certified, tossed on the fire, thrown in the trash I don’t care. They need to go! The level of incompetence and corruption is unconscionable. And Rath threatening Smith publicly like that, shows at best he’s just an ambulance chaser. Parker’s ass needs to be thrown in jail and Rath dis-barred. I bet Hollywood couldn’t even make this sh*t up. I’m half expecting Chuck Barris to jump up and hit the gong!
I genuinely wonder if the early release of the statement regarding the outcome of the committee meeting was truly an inadvertent mistake by a well-meaning UCP staffer, or if it was intentional sabotage to humiliate their whacko bosses.
Or, it was released intentionally at precisely 3 p.m. when Thomas Lukaszuk had been scheduled to speak to the committee? Nothing shows disrespect like a power move of this magnitude.
90% of the “separatists” are bots. The rest are American shills.
The solution is simple. They have to show up in person to vote. Dixie Dani and her cohorts will try to move this online, just watch.
They can kick her out of the party but it’s unlikely they can remove her from office.
This is all American Imperialist-created chaos. It’s a dog-and-pony show so nobody looks closely at the Feds and Alberta gutting healthcare, pensions and privatizing everything they can into the hands of the American oligarchs.
An online vote would be awfully convenient for the David Parker app providers who are sitting on the personal data of 2.9M potential voters, and who know exactly who votes and who does not. Nefarious ne’er-do-wells might be tempted to vote on behalf of non-voters. Non-voters have no way of finding out if someone committed fraud and stole their vote. And besides, isn’t fraud called “just another day” in Alberta? No punishment for anything. Carry on. Federal law does not apply in the wild West.
If our federal government doesn’t step in and soon, the whole country will be taken down by these miscreants, which is likely the plan. We can’t walk gently around words like “spies” and “insurrectionists” anymore.
@Abs…precisely.
Using a skewed app was exactly how the DNC cheated Bernie Sanders. Had he not suspected this plan and had his operatives keep a paper tally count of what they saw going on and passed their results onto the alternative media–it would never have come to light.
I also agree it’s long past time the feds need to step up the investigations, here. If it turns out everyone’s innocent, they’ll finally have something concrete to whinge about.
If not, the sooner this American interference crap is stomped on, the better.
What a complete gong show. The whole point of the Forever Canada petition is to get MLAs to vote on the separation question in the Legistature not to have a referendum. To state the obvious, the UCP government is not operating in good faith. I am guessing that the government will propose another separation question and then the First Nations will go back to court again. Maybe the separatists can actually follow through on their threat to remove Smith thereby facturing the UCP into pieces.
For the sham meeting this afternoon the NDP should reenact the Al Pacino courtroom scene from “And Justice For All”, almost verbatim. They should put up such a stink that security should have to carry them out. If this isn’t the hill to die on, what is? Sadly, they will do no such thing. Why the NDP still think, when they go low we go high, is the preferred course of action is a head scratcher.
Jaundiced Eye: As I said, the NDP and Naheed Nenshi isn’t the problm. It’s the media who doesn’t acknowledge them, and lies about them the very little time they do acknowledge them, while exonetating the UCP and Danielle Smith. It begins with not blaming the NDP and Naheed Nenshi, and blaming the media, who are controlled and influenced by their American Republican overlords (Postmedia is an excellent example of this). The NDP in Alberta can have any leader they want to, and the media will still continue to lie about them, while propping up the UCP and Danielle Smith. If the media was as good as Alberta Politics is, and started to take the UCP and Danielle Smith to task for their epic boondoogles, we wouldn’t be in this hot mess.
Could it possibly be that the premature dissemination was a planned act perpetrated by a disillusioned staffer?
Mr. Nixon’s comment pertaining to going after incompetent staffers is most alarming. His statement implies that there are so many errors that the government would be run ragged trying to look into all the staff gaffes.
So, Smith and her little pack of schemers are going to sprinkle some Black Magic over the Forever Canadian Petition and use it to further her Separation Agenda? With sleight-of-hand she’s going to change the wording of The Question? I don’t think so, lady- that is not what nearly half a million Albertans signed. Even she can’t change the question retroactively. If she thinks Rath and Parker and the rest of her traitor club are mad, wait until she tries to throw the Rest Of Us under the bus.
Two more of her cabinet ministers are gone now, too? I wondered, besides all these Separation manoeverings, how much the revelations about Sam Jaber and his “qualifications” for Alberta’s Treasury Board appointment might have affected Horner’s skedaddling Stage Left; and the latest mortality in an Edmonton ER might have motivated Matt Jones to high-tail out of here. Herself’s watching the body count going up, people dying in Emergency, waiting for surgery, waiting for cancer care, so she can say public health care isn’t working, dammit, we need to privatize the whole mess! Well, pretty soon all she’s going to have left on her bench are the Luntys. The NDP’s Christina Gray has more intelligence and integrity in her little finger than the whole UCP caucus. What an absolute sham they have made of Alberta’s governance.
My grandson’s Grade 6 class spent a week getting “educated” at the Legislature- he said, “Granny, those guys were swearing.” Can you imagine, that was one of his first take-aways from his experience in the People’s Legislature? His class could do a better job governing this province than those UCP hooligans. Actually, my neighbour’s cat could do a better job. It’s time Albertans gave them all the boot- down to the U.S. where they belong. Living in rusty trailers. No health care. No teeth. Everybody “packing”. They will no doubt “appropriate” another flag to wave around. Probably the Confederate flag. Because those yokels don’t have any original ideas. But Smith- there’s an original thinker. Always outside the box. I’m waiting with baited breath for her next sly move.
Let’s get something clear: the thousands of canvassers and the hundreds of thousands of signatories, and the organizers, who created the very successful Forever Canadian initiative did not go to all that trouble just to make a statement or to advocate for a hypothetical vote in the Legislature that everyone knows was never going to happen. We did that work to have that question put to Albertans, and we have succeeded. Mr. Lukaszuk may be saying that he just wanted a vote by the MLAs, but he has been organizing and fundraising quite explicitly for a referendum campaign. Let’s get behind this and make it a successful one, as successful as the first Forever Canadian campaign. This is not about political parties or ideologies or this or that interest group. This is about reaffirming that Canada exists and is in good health and we are happy to be part of that and make it happen.
@Alfredo,
Sending a big hug and a plate of chocolate chip cookies from Ontario for that statement. Made my day.
This UCP (United Centurion Project) government is the worst joke north of the 49 parallel! Of course, they have taken direction from the worst/best “world class” a**holes to the south. I wish the Alberta separatists would return to their ancestors roots and report back in 4 years how much of an improvement it is, with a wacked out federal loco bin, gun toting simpletons and a righteousness that only rivals Israel’s. From Allison, Jim, Jason and others, this current comedy troupe has gone on too long at the expense of a province that should be a model of success!
Apart from appointing Jason Nixon as the new finance minister, how many other f’k ups are the UCP capable of?
Let me count the ways.
The committee hearing went off the rails when Nate Gubish was swapped in, because the UCP MLA who was supposed to chair the committee got cold feet. From there, the whole hearing went insane, because of course it would. And the premature press release, for which a partisan staffer was thrown under the bus over, was just the biggest red flag of all. The UCP has long been considered a gang of idiots. But now even real idiots are impressed by their level of idiocy. What’s next? Everyone is going to forget to put their pants on?
It’s beginning to look like Queen Danielle is going to hijack the Forever Canadian initiative and make it into a question on Alberta FreeDUMB from Canada. Thomas Lukaszuk’s impressive presentation was clear in his assessment of this spectacle: we don’t need this goddamn referendum and AB Seppies can STFU. Rath was all over X declaring himself a great leader and the republic of AB FreeDUMB will soon be a thing. Sounds like this guy actually believes the bots praising him on X are real.
So, Dani is going to address the province over what’s to come. Personally, I hope she will be announcing she’s the new federal trade envoy to all things Emirates, before telling Alberta to go f’k itself. Nothing like slamming the door shut before it hits you in the arse.
But she’s going to announce that there will be a referendum for FreeDUMB. Meanwhile, women will never be allowed to hold public office in Alberta again for reasons.
Rath really does believe his own PR. Unbelievable!
He’s not wrong. There was that swearing incident in 2022 by this fella.
https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2022/04/25/jason-nixon-will-not-be-sanctioned-for-swearing-at-legislature-speaker/
And so much worse! Alberta is no country for old women, or women of any description, or non-redneck men, for that matter. The financial scandal is the extra icing on the fruitcake.
https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/jason-nixon-ascent-to-power
I know he’s a big guy but he’s also a giant asshole. I assume he wouldn’t be offended by the language.
TheSpeciousSelectCitizensInitiativeProposalCommittee
The United Conservative Playpen
The Alberta Gong-Show Project
The tRumpublican Party of Alberta
Stay Furious Alberta
The Two-Cents Hurryin’ Project
The 2028 Project
You are living in interesting times, my Alberta friends, interesting times indeed…
Sean Amato has pointed out today on twitter that while Smith keeps claiming that 700,000 people wanted a referendum, actually 0 have petitioned for the questions Smith came up with. 400,000+ signed for Lucaszuk’s question and somewhere between 0 and 300,000 for the separatist petition.
So Smith has simply imposed a question mess that no one wants. But we can keep pointing out it’s not 700,000, it’s 0.