Alberta Premier Faces A Separatist Challenge Inside Her Own Party

CALGARY, Alberta — Albertans voted overwhelmingly this week to remain in Canada. Now the fight over the future of the province has moved inside Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party.

Separatists are organizing ahead of the UCP’s annual general meeting next month, where they plan to push the party to adopt a position on seceding from Canada — and to challenge Smith’s leadership if she won’t.

Mitch Sylvestre, an architect of the modern separatist movement, says he’ll be bringing in rural Albertans by the busload to the meeting where delegates will vote on party policy and elect board members. The 71-year-old has made separation from Canada a retirement project — and he’s not slowing down.

“It’s time to put more of our people in,” he told POLITICO of his plans to pursue a separatist agenda within the UCP. “Matter of fact, I’m working on that very thing right now.”

Sylvestre said he’s planning to meet leaders across Alberta and “set the plan,” which includes a takeover of the UCP board.

Almost 7,000 people have signed up for the party’s three-day annual meeting, which opens Nov. 27. Smith said she expects attendance to top 7,500. “People are very interested in … determining the direction of our party,” she told a conservative conference last week.

On Wednesday, Smith told separatists in the UCP to leave and form their own party.

But Sylvestre refuses. “I won't be the guy that splits the right. I will not come up with a new party,” he said. “If the progressives want to leave the UCP, they're very welcome to do it. We're not going anywhere.”

A recent poll shows a majority of UCP members back separatism.

Like Sylvestre, many of the prominent grassroots separatists helped put Smith in power in 2023 after voting out then-Premier Jason Kenney over Covid-19 measures. Now, the referendum campaign has forced them to rethink Smith’s leadership.

Behind the scenes, Smith is also recruiting members, targeting progressive conservatives and women, three people privy to her outreach, one of which is a UCP member, told POLITICO, who were granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

She is pledging to continue with a pro-unity message.

“It is time to move forward to gather as a strong and free Alberta within a united Canada,” Smith said in a televised address Tuesday. She vowed there will not be another referendum “as long as I am premier.”

One person close to the campaign, granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation, said Smith is worried her leadership is about to be tested.

In an email to UCP members, seen by POLITICO, which promoted early-bird tickets to the party’s annual meeting, Energy Minister Brian Jean declared: “I’m backing Danielle Smith. Join me!”

Last week Smith’s party sent a text blast encouraging Albertans to get out to vote in the referendum. The message included a link to a survey that asked: “If an election were held today, who would you vote for?”

Smith, who called the referendum but voted to remain in Canada, managed to anger both sides of the debate. She’s been called a “traitor” for putting Alberta’s place in Canada to a vote, while others say she should have stayed neutral.

“She has lost some of her base,” said Mahmoud Mourra, a UCP member, and prominent Calgary-based activist.

Tanya Clemens said the premier should be held answerable for her decisions during the referendum campaign. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a democratic tool like a leadership review to hold your highest elected official accountable,” Clemens told POLITICO. “Especially when she has actively been campaigning against a portion of her base by saying that she wants to stay within Canada.”

There’s a groundswell beginning to force a leadership review. Two UCP constituency associations have voted in favor of triggering a vote, but they need at least another 20 associations to sign on.

The tension is playing out in Smith’s caucus. UCP lawmaker Jason Stephan, who backed a legally binding separation referendum, has announced he will not run in the next election whether it’s next October — or sooner.

“The status quo is not the right way for Albertans,” Stephan announced hours before Monday’s results rolled in. “Empty words and platitudes do not make it otherwise.”

Stephan’s statement did not mention Smith or the UCP but still fueled speculation that Smith could call an early election to weed the separatists out of her party — and her caucus. The premier’s office dismissed that scenario as a rumor.

A few days earlier, Smith urged members at a private constituency-board reception to be “election ready,” citing the party’s surprising loss in a Calgary special election last month to Alberta’s progressive New Democrat Party.

“In those same comments to folks [Saturday] she also said next year’s election will be close — as next year’s in October,” Sam Blackett, director of communications to Smith, told POLITICO via text. The UCP didn’t respond to a request for comment.

UCP lawmakers represent constituencies with substantial support for a separation referendum, including provincial Forestry Minister Todd Loewen. Pro-independence supporters argue the party leadership should reflect this reality.

“It’s not sustainable for the leader of any party to try and move the party in a direction opposite of the majority of its members,” Keith Wilson, a UCP member and co-leader of Let Alberta Decide, a third-party advertiser that campaigned for independence, told POLITICO. “You have a recipe for a lot of pressure and a lot of conflict."

At private events, Smith had urged conservatives to stay united and focus on issues where they agree, cautioning they could otherwise lose to the NDP.

She has pledged to address Albertans’ concerns, including on immigration. She even has acknowledged her past role in splitting Alberta’s conservative movement — warning others to learn from her mistakes.

“I felt that in Alberta at the time you could have two conservative parties and one would be government and one would be opposition,” Smith said last week. Smith was referring to her roots in Alberta’s progressive conservative movement and the social conservative wing of the party, which leaned further right.

“I was wrong. It turned out not to be the case. I had my own soul-searching,” she said, before urging others in the party to look inward.

In 2024, Smith won her leadership review with more than 91% support. Now, there’s open debate about whether she’s still the right person for the job.