Alberta separatism casts shadow over Conservative convention

The Conservative Party convention boasts roughly 2,650 delegates, which doesn’t make this the largest right-leaning political gathering this week in Calgary — or even the biggest on the Calgary Stampede park grounds.

That title would belong to Stay Free Alberta’s separatist rally and petition signing event that drew more than three thousand supporters on Monday to the Big Four building, a few hundred metres away from the federal party’s convention site at the BMO Centre.

There’s an acute awareness and sensitivity at the convention to the political issue that’s now at the centre of Alberta politics, particularly within conservative circles.

And to at least one attendee of this federal gathering, there’s even an eagerness to hold a vote on whether Alberta should leave Canada.

Medicine Hat delegate Daniel Hein told CBC News he’s signed the citizen’s initiative to require Alberta to schedule a secession referendum.

He isn’t sure how he’d vote but he wants the debate, no matter how “ugly and weird” it may get.

“I want the question, that’s what I want,” Hein said outside the main convention room. “I’m tired of people saying, you hush.”

Norman Schachar, a Calgary delegate, said he wants to sign the petition as well, to have “an adult discussion about Canada’s future.”

Many of his Alberta Conservative friends are similarly kicking tires and want the debate a referendum would stoke, Schachar said.

“They want to talk about moving, but they aren’t packing their bags.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to address the threat of Alberta separatism in his speech tonight, ahead of his leadership review.

That comes as there are growing calls for more Conservative politicians to combat a feared rise in Alberta separatist sentiment, particularly Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

“This is an opportunity for Premier Smith to stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ Either you’re with Canada or you’re not with Canada,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a Progressive Conservative, earlier this week at a premiers’ meeting in Ottawa.

The Alberta New Democrats have demanded all United Conservative MLAs declare where they stand on separatism, although Alberta’s governing caucus wouldn’t play ball with that request.