Jeffrey Rath’s gravest political sin was that he said what he thought too clearly.
And he thought the Queen Bee had betrayed him and his secessionist allies – which she most certainly had.
It turns out that calling for a Republic of Alberta free from Canada and closely tied to Donald Trump’s MAGA United States was all very well when the high-profile separatist leader’s looming presence provided the threat to back up Premier Danielle Smith’s “sovereignty within a united Canada” shakedown scheme.
But it all came a cropper when voters overwhelmingly rejected the separation referendum he played a big role in getting on a ballot and he then told Ms. Smith he was coming to her party’s AGM next month to knock her off her throne for setting a new course in light of the referendum result.
Larger than life, a blowhard known to spout profanities and conspiracy theories, a lawyer bogged down in financial litigation and problems with the Law Society, Mr. Rath made a tempting target.
If the UCP axe was going to fall on anyone’s neck – pour encourager les autres – it was going to fall on Mr. Rath’s. Yesterday it did.
What about the many, many other separatists in Ms. Smith’s United Conservative Party that she constantly enabled and encouraged in the long leadup to the Oct. 19 Alberta separation referendum as part of her blackmail strategy to weaken the federation in Alberta’s interest? (Nice little country you have here. Too bad if somebody broke it all up!)
They’re probably safe. After all, if you expel too many rats, it might look as if your ship is starting to sink. But they’re on notice.
UCP seppies have already been shown the carrot: They’ve been offered a chance to remain in the bosom of the UCP as long as they to agree to keep their lips zipped about their separatism for the time being, especially if they hold party office or run as candidates.
And now they’ve seen the stick. Step out of line and the axe will fall, just as it did on your former leader, old what’s his name with the suddenly embarrassing cowboy hat.
Mr. Rath told the CBC yesterday that UCP Executive Director Dustin van Vugt did the deed by email – which may seem a little cold to you, but if you ask me sure beats having it done with a real axe in front of a crowd on Tower Hill.
Indeed, the worst part of the punishment from Mr. Rath’s perspective may be that he’ll be denied the opportunity to perform before the crowd at the Nov. 27-29 UCP AGM in Calgary, as he did when Ms. Smith was booed at the party’s 2025 AGM in Edmonton. They’ve already sent him back the $239 he paid to be there.
Ironically, I suppose you could say, why Mr. Rath really needed to have his knuckles rapped was not clapping back at Premier Smith but his role in those notorious visits to Washington to try to negotiate Alberta’s departure from Canada with U.S. State Department and Republican Party officials.
Who was at the meetings on the U.S. side is unclear. Moreover, what took place depends on whom you talk to. Mr. Rath, Mitch Sylvestre of the Alberta Prosperity Project (with which, like Mr. Rath, he may or may not still be associated) and separatist surgeon Dennis Modry have all given differing versions of what happened at the three meetings. Mr. Rath said he only attended one.
So who knows? Maybe Ms. Smith heard something at one of her “top secret” security briefings from the feds and decided it was time to put a little distance between herself and her most enthusiastic seppie allies.
She told the CBC yesterday the reason for her decision was that Mr. Rath “has said publicly things like he wants to come to the AGM to turn the UCP into an independence party.”
For his part, Mr. Rath vowed to fight on. Fair enough, although it’s unlikely much will come of it. Most separatist leaders seem to have decided to make their peace with Ms. Smith and remain in bed with the UCP. You know, to prevent the horror of another NDP government.
Mr. Rath will likely soon be reduced to a political wraith haunting the party. Happy Halloween!
Meanwhile, Cameron Davies quits as Republican Party of Alberta leader
Mr. Rath, as it turns out, wasn’t the only Alberta separatist leader to exit, stage right, yesterday.
In a letter to members of his fringe Republican Party of Alberta, Cameron Davies announced he has resigned as leader.
The letter contains a lot of verbiage about why Albertans should continue to work toward a separation referendum, but not much that explains why Mr. Cameron has decided to move on just now beyond the sentiment that “this movement must always be bigger than one person.”
Perhaps he was just discouraged. When he ran as the party’s candidate in the June 23, 2025, by-election in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills Riding to replace Nathan Cooper as MLA, not only did the UCP candidate win with ease, but even the NDP candidate got more votes than Mr. Cameron.
It is known to have been the RPA’s copy of the List of Electors containing the personal information of 2.9 million Alberta voters that ended up in the hands of an entity called the Centurion Project Ltd. in April 2026. The RPA denies any wrongdoing.