It’s been frustrating to stand up for Canada from a position of strength over the past nearly two years since Donald Trump was re-elected. He has imposed tariffs, he has made threats, he has hurled insults.
I’ve tried to sit back and separate noise from signal.
Respond to what is important, ignore anything that is not. Push for our country to do what is best for Canadian workers and Canadian companies to be able to survive.
For a large part of the Canadian public though, just screaming about how awful Trump is has become the only test of being a true, patriotic Canadian.
I don’t accept that and never have.
Now, when it comes to Alberta’s referendum on staying in Canada or starting a path to leave, I also have a different viewpoint than the standard member of the chattering classes.
If you are a columnist in Toronto, Ottawa or Montreal - even Vancouver, see certain Globe columnists - you are expected to say that Danielle Smith is a separatist and Conservatives across the province want to join the USA. None of that is true but appears to be “received wisdom” as if handed down by God on Mount Sinai.
I’ve known Danielle Smith for 16 years now, not super well, we don’t hang out or vacation together but she is not an Alberta separatist.
Neither are any of the Conservative MPs that I know.
That’s from Pierre Poilievre on down.
On Tuesday, Poilievre gave a speech in Edmonton - ahead of the Oilers season opener - calling for a united Canada that includes Alberta.
The video of the speech is below, but before we get to that, here is my interview with Dane Lloyd, Conservative MP for the riding of Parkland. I first met Lloyd shortly after he was elected in 2017 and we have kept in touch.
Poilievre tapped him to lead the campaign by the federal Conservatives to keep Alberta in Canada - I haven’t seen a Liberal campaign. I chatted with Lloyd from a different location while I was in Saskatoon over Labour Day weekend.
Here now, is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre talking about why Alberta should stay.
I am an Albertan. I have thought of myself as Alberta first, and proud to be Albertan, for at least a few decades. And definitely after 2015, I have been ashamed of Canada. Truly ashamed. I don't recognize what Canada has become, and I honestly don't understand how it can survive in its present form. I believe the intention of the federal Liberals under Trudeau and then Carney, is to have it not survive.
I don't want to be an American. But I definitely DO NOT hate our American brothers and sisters. I think TDS is a mindf**k that has been perpetuated by the worst of us, the ones who actually do NOT want what is best for Canada, and it's been wildly successfully in turning average Canadians against the US. Many people I know seem horrified that I am willing to travel to the U.S. This, when Carney conducts most of his business in the US, his family lives there, and Trudeau seems to be living there with his girlfriend. It makes me question the intelligence of the average Canadian, seriously.
Danielle Smith is NOT a separatist, I can say that with confidence. She does, however, want Alberta to have a bigger say in its own destiny. I think she has fumbled the ball recently, but I still think she has been one of our best premiers, and I hope she survives the people in her own party who support separation, and want to get rid of her.
Having said the above, I will be voting #2 in the referendum on October 19th. I would like this to lead to a spring vote on whether Alberta should separate from Canada. I would like both these votes to be successful, but I believe the first one will fail, and the second one won't happen. If that happens, I would vote for the Conservatives in the next federal election, because that is Canada's only hope. If that somehow makes me a hypocrite, oh well. I think I'm not the only one. Maybe the craziest part is that I continue to vote, when I have almost given up on that (apparent) foundation of democracy.
I will stand and fight for Alberta. Mainly because I am too old to leave, not because I believe in Canada any more.
"Conservatives have a patriotism problem" - this coming from the same crowd of patriots who lowered flags, defaced and pulled down statues, renamed schools and streets, cancelled Canada Day, all in an orgy of hate for their own "post national state with no core identity". Reality is whatever Leftists say it is.