Separatists rally at Alberta legislature: 'It's a movement. It's a culture. It's not going away.'

The sea of blue flags at the legislature grounds on Saturday made the crowd seem larger than the 2,000 or so who were there. Before the speakers took the stage, they shimmied as an Alberta-themed remake of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” played. They roared in approval when Nickelback was cranked over the sound system.

With just two days left to go before the Oct. 19 referendum, supporters of Alberta’s independence gathered for a final push to the finish line. Speakers talked about the fears that Ottawa was going to nationalize the province’s oil resources, that Canada’s negotiations with the European Union was all about making arms deals and that the proposed Pacific Link Pipeline was part of a federal money-laundering scheme.

The crowd booed heartily each and every time Prime Minister Mark Carney’s name was called out. They catcalled at any mention of the European Union.

Halfway through the event, there was a T-shirt toss, just like you’d see during the break in the action at an Oilers game. Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” played, followed by AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)”

And in the spirit of the down-but-never-out Rocky Balboa, the sentiment was clear. No matter the result of Monday’s vote on the question of independence, the Alberta separatism movement will live on.

“It’s a movement. It’s a culture. It’s not going away. This is a wave in Alberta that’s going to sustain,” said Cory Morgan, who helped found the Alberta Independence Party in 2000, and has been an active booster of separatism since. “We’ve got the vote coming on Monday. We’ll see what happens. We’re moving the right way. If it’s 10 per cent or it’s 90 per cent, people keep asking me, ‘What are you going to do the day after?’ Well, I do the exact same thing I always have. I’m going to pursue Alberta’s independence and nothing less.”

Morgan’s speech didn’t mention any polls, but survey after survey shows the federalist cause with a hefty lead. But he was clear that the crowd should not be discouraged if their side is on the losing end Monday night.

“It takes work. It takes a growing a movement to make something that lasts, and it’s here now,” said Morgan. “It’s been a journey, and we’ve got that base, and we’ve got to sustain it and foster it and make it positive. That’s what I want to end on. It\’s the positivity and what we’ve done and what we’ve still got to do. There’s going to be a lot of work.”

Podcaster Adam Derges praised the Alberta flag-wavers in attendance for getting to the Legislature grounds, despite hellish windstorm conditions earlier in the day that snarled highways and caused damage across the province.

He noted that Friday’s Forever Canadian rally, with Carney as the headliner, was held inside “a nice cushy barn where everything’s all nice and cosy for him.”

He beseeched supporters not to be deterred by long lineups at polling stations, saying that it’s nothing to have to wait two hours to vote, when independence supporters have waited two years for this vote.

Constitutional lawyer Keith Wilson, who has been speaking loudly about the province’s need to separate and how that could work, spoke to Postmedia before the event.

When asked if a vote to stay in Canada would deter him, he was defiant.

“Well, this movement started 100 years ago, so why would it stop now?” said Wilson.

But Wilson was hopeful that the “leave” side is being underestimated by pollsters.

“We’ve seen other instances where the polls aren’t accurate,” said Wilson. “It’s just hard for pollsters to really get a good count. These focus-group polls aren’t valuable. There are other polls that are more valuable, but regardless, once you understand that we have a legal pathway to change the constitutional relationship, to reveal the long-standing structural weaknesses of the constitution and how Alberta is treated and addressed, then you see the prospect for this economy unleashed. We have the largest reserve of oil in the world. I could keep going. You don’t give up on that.

“The most common thing I hear from people in this crowd are concerns about their kids and grandkids, that they don’t want them subject to another National Energy Program, they don’t want another set of nine bad laws, and they certainly don’t want Carney to impose an export tax.”