Poilievre has to contend with Alberta separatists as he vies for a Commons seat
CBC
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's path back to the House of Commons runs through a rural Alberta riding that has become a hotbed for Western discontent and the independence movement — a potentially tricky situation to navigate for a leader with national ambitions.
Poilievre, a Calgarian by birth who has lived away from Alberta for more than two decades, is running in the Aug. 18 byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot, a sprawling riding in the province's east where the oil and gas industry is a major employer. It includes the small town of Hardisty, which sits at the nexus of the North American oil pipeline system and is home to a huge petroleum tank farm.
The riding is easily one of the most Conservative in the country. In the last general election, nearly 83 per cent of voters there cast a ballot for Damien Kurek, who stepped aside to give Poilievre a chance to get back into Parliament after he lost his own Ontario seat to a Liberal. Only one other federal riding, Souris-Moose Mountain in Saskatchewan, delivered a higher share of the vote to a Conservative candidate.
Months after former prime minister Justin Trudeau resigned, homes and trucks still display "F--k Trudeau" signs, flags and decals — a testament to just how unpopular the last Liberal leader's environmental policies and COVID measures were among some in this riding.
While Poilievre faces only token partisan opposition in this byelection, there's another challenge: How he contends with an increasingly vocal separatist movement in the Conservative heartland.
Jeffrey Rath is a leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project. The group is trying to build support for an independent Alberta, which the province's premier says is at an all-time high. A recent poll found support at about 30 per cent.
In an interview with CBC News, Rath said the byelection outcome is not in doubt.
"People can't stomach voting for anyone else," he said.
Still, Rath said, independence-minded voters are looking for substantive answers from Poilievre on the issues they care about most, namely how Alberta can be better treated in a federation some feel isn't working for them anymore.
He predicts Poilievre will sidestep controversial issues and a close association with separatist voices so he can go back to Ottawa and vie for national power without any Alberta baggage.
"Poilievre ran in the last election against the end of equalization. The dairy cartel-mafia has gotten to him — he says he's not going to touch supply management," Rath said.
"He's pandering to Ontario and Quebec and I can tell you, a lot of Albertans, we're sick of it."
Rath, a First Nations rights lawyer who has floated the idea of Alberta joining the U.S., also objects to what he perceives as Poilievre's hostility toward President Donald Trump.
He said Poilievre should be looking to build bridges with Trump given the importance of the Canada-U.S. trading relationship.
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