What Danielle Smith is still getting wrong, according to this even-tempered separatist

“The people have spoken, I accept what they’ve said,” says Keith Wilson, co-founder of the Let Alberta Decide campaign and one of the more even-tempered advocates for Alberta independence. “And they really want, in my view, the premier to make an earnest effort at seeking fairness for Alberta. That’s how I interpret this.”

Albertans spoke clearly on Oct. 19. Roughly three-quarters of voters endorsed remaining in Canada; about one-quarter backed starting the constitutional process for a future binding separation referendum. Turnout was historic. A slight majority supported the UCP’s proposals for greater provincial control over immigration, while the constitutional questions received more mixed results that fall short of a clear mandate for rewriting Confederation.

Premier Danielle Smith’s address to the province on Tuesday was crisp: Alberta remains a province of Canada, and for as long as she is premier she will not hold another referendum on separation. The government will honour the referendum results and continue asserting provincial autonomy through political and legal channels rather than the exit ramp.

Her message to UCP members was equally direct: the next election is 12 months away (fixed for Oct. 18, 2027). Division within the party hands the Opposition New Democrats the win. The UCP is a big-tent party but not an independence party. Candidates and members of constituency association boards must support a strong Alberta within a united Canada; those who cannot reconcile and seek to turn the party into a vehicle for independence are invited to find another party. Ordinary members remain free to hold personal views.

After months of badgering, shaming and demands to purge anyone with separatist sympathies from the conservative fold, I was relieved to hear the distinction. I also wondered how it landed with those who had pushed hardest for independence.

“I was glad to hear she’s not treating this as ‘mission accomplished,’” Wilson says. “She’s treating this as she has marching orders from the voters and it’s to seek serious change in how Alberta is treated within Confederation. So that to me is very positive, and I hope for her success in that, and whatever role I can provide to help with that, I’ll do.”

He cautions, however: “I think her messaging to the (UCP) membership was an error,” and if uncorrected it risks the very division she aims to prevent, in his view.

I listened to Smith’s video more than once. What I heard was precise: separatists are not welcome as UCP candidates or on constituency boards.

“You and I are political nerds,” Wilson observes, “and those nuances mean a lot to us. But the voters aren’t. And they just hear, ‘If you’re a separatist, you’re not welcome,’ whereas what she was saying was, ‘If you’re a separatist, you’re not welcome in these two very specific, discrete roles.’

“I know what she meant, but that’s not what came across,” he adds. “It’s coming across that she’s dismissing these people and one of the fundamental consistent grievances of Albertans who support independence is their frustration that they feel Ottawa dismisses them.” Framing that lands as dismissal, doesn’t help the reconciliation the party needs and “risks creating that wedge she’s seeking to avoid,” he says.

At times, Wilson says, it felt as if the premier was addressing Jeff Rath and Mitch Sylvestre, leaders of other pro-separatist campaigns who had made the issue personal against her. “I can understand her frustration,” he notes. Social media accuses them of Smith derangement syndrome; their attacks have been vicious. “They cost us a lot of support and I can understand why the premier would be unhappy with them.” Plenty of Albertans see the damage and reject the lumping together of every independence advocate.

“When I reflect on some of her wording,” he continues, “I even felt … she was kind of almost speaking to me at one point or at least people in my camp.” The reception, though, has been “you’re with us or against us” — decide now if you’re a separatist. “I don’t think that may have been her intention but that’s how it’s coming across. It’s a messaging problem; I don’t think it’s an intention problem.”

The pro-independence campaigns are not interchangeable. Some accept the referendum outcome and will engage constructively inside existing structures; others will not. Alberta’s experiment with direct democracy — historic turnout, rigorous third-party funding rules, and a hand-count process whose full administrative cost is still being tallied — did not produce catharsis for the most strident voices still calling for Smith’s head. There are, however, champions prepared to accept the result and work with the government for structural change. Wilson is among them. He needs to know, explicitly, that he remains welcome in the party of which he is still a member.

This is not our first conversation. We disagree on independence, but lawyer-to-lawyer I respect Wilson’s work ethic and motives. He has spent a career standing up for people facing powerful institutions — ranchers in a BSE crisis, families living beside industrial emissions, citizens confronting extraordinary emergency powers during COVID — and he is unrelenting. “I’m looking for work for the first time since I was 14 years old,” he chuckles. “I can’t believe I did this to myself … I normally run 30 files and I’m down to two.” Unlike others, he did not work this campaign from the corner of a desk; he was all in.

He has no political ambition. People have told him outright he should be the next premier. “Absolutely not,” he says.

What does he expect from the government? Structural change so that “the future of my children and grandchildren’s prosperity (is not) dependent on whether or not the sitting premier is getting along with the sitting prime minister.” He views the premier’s pledge against another referendum as imprudent: an export tax or other sudden federal hit would create immense pressure. And he’s not convinced the rest of Canada fully grasps Alberta’s grievances despite the coverage. Quebec’s new minority PQ government under Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon may create some leverage for greater provincial autonomy, but he is not optimistic it will push to open the equalization formula.

“I think the best, surest pathway to achieve that change is for the premier to be successful in bringing the party back together, recognizing the legitimate objectives of those of us who are separatists. Having us all put our shoulder to the wheel to support her … and for her to be ambitious about the change.”

“But it doesn’t have to be separation?” I ask. “You accept that?”

“Of course,” he says.

He has not spoken with Premier Smith about the results; their last private conversation was in 2025, when she asked if he was all in on independence. In my estimation, they are due for a follow-up.

National Post

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