'It's not great': Alberta independence movement takes hit in Olds byelection

OTTAWA — David Parker, the founder of conservative activist group Take Back Alberta, said on Monday morning that, by the end of the day, Albertans would know the strength of the province’s budding independence movement. “It’s not great,” he tweeted shortly before midnight , as the the last of the results trickled in from Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills. The rural Alberta riding, one of three up for grabs in Monday’s provincial byelection, was closely watched for a potential separatist breakthrough . In the end, the two pro-independence candidates on the ballot took home a respectable 19 per cent of the vote, but fell short of both major parties. According to preliminary results, the UCP’s Tara Sawyer won easily with 61 per cent of the vote with NDP candidate Bev Toews taking home 20 per cent, edging out Republican Party of Alberta leader Cam Davies by 365 votes. Davies told the National Post that the third-place finish won’t break his spirits. “I see a lot of talking heads and pundits and pollsters that are all quite vigorously calling for us to pack it in. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news for them, but we’re just getting started,” said Davies. He said going into the byelection that he was aiming for about 20 per cent of the vote.

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Davies, who favours Alberta becoming an independent constitutional republic, concedes that the Alberta Republicans’ name and red colours may have tethered it too closely to U.S. President Donald Trump. “(The branding) certainly did cause questions about what we were,” said Davies “Did it leave an opening for others to spread misinformation? Absolutely it did.” Davies pushed back against assertions throughout the campaign that he wants Alberta to enter the U.S. as the 51st state, a claim he flatly denies. Davies, who lives in south Red Deer, said he’ll be running in the next provincial election but hasn’t decided which riding he’ll run in. Wildrose Loyalty Coalition candidate Bill Tufts finished well behind the top three with just over one per cent of the vote. Most of the riding overlaps with Olds-Didsbury, where pro-independence candidate Gordon Kesler won a surprise byelection victory in 1982, becoming the only separatist to ever sit in Alberta’s legislature. Jeff Rath, a lawyer with the pro-independence Alberta Prosperity Project, said that the easy UCP win was a testament to party leader and Premier Danielle Smith’s continued popularity with the party’s grassroots. Rath says this popularity extends to the majority of the UCP’s base that supports Alberta independence . “Even at APP events, when Danielle Smith’s name gets mentioned … people applaud and they’re very supportive of her,” said Rath. Rath says that the province’s separatist movement is “appreciative” of Smith’s move in April to lower the threshold of signatures needed to trigger a referendum on independence. He also said he expects Smith to come out in favour of independence once its advantageous for her to do so. “She’s a pragmatist,” said Rath. Thirty-five per cent of UCP voters view Smith as a separatist, according to a recent poll from Pollara Strategic Insights. Rath says he wasn’t concerned by the Alberta Republicans’ showing in Olds, and didn’t think the Alberta independence movement needs a new party considering how comfortable most of those voters are with the UCP. National Post Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.