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Whistle Stop Cafe, known for remaining open in defiance of Alberta’s public health restrictions during COVID-19, hosted an Albertans’ Day Rally on Wednesday.Sarah B. Groot/The Globe and Mail
Four years ago, as the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down, Chris Scott raised a massive Canadian flag attached to a pick-up truck beside his cafe in Mirror, Alta.
“I hoisted that sucker 110 feet in the air.
“I flew that, and you could see it for miles. You could see it just about from Bashaw,” Mr. Scott said, referring to the nearby town.
A year later, Mr. Scott replaced the Maple Leaf with the Alberta flag, flying it high above the cafe, which rose to infamy when he was arrested and charged with breaking pandemic-era public health restrictions.
He was later acquitted, but he said it marked a turning point in his feelings toward the country.
And so, on Wednesday – as Canada marked its 159th birthday – it was the blue flag with the Alberta coat of arms that dominated. It was on people’s hoodies, T-shirts and ballcaps. There was not a red Maple Leaf to be seen.
It wasn’t Canada Day in Mirror, Mr. Scott told a crowd of several-hundred gathered in lawn chairs before a stage. This was Albertans’ day.
“I’m grateful that I live in Canada, and that Canada has afforded me, as an Albertan, the opportunity to decide whether or not I want to continue that relationship,” Mr. Scott said.
“Do you see what I’m saying? I don’t see Albertans’ day as a slight to Canada or an insult. I see it as an acknowledgement that the country we live in has afforded us the opportunity to speak.”
The gathering occurred at a fraught time for national unity, less than four months before the question of Alberta’s future in Canada will be put to the province’s voters in a referendum question asking residents to choose between remaining in the country or beginning the legal process to hold a second, binding secession vote.
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Meanwhile, the separatist Parti Québécois – which has promised an independence referendum by 2030 if it forms government – is leading in the polls ahead of Quebec’s Oct. 5 provincial election.
Though separatist sentiment has long held purchase with a small segment of Albertans, the discussion has burst into the mainstream over the past year, largely in response to changes by Premier Danielle Smith’s government that made it easier for citizens to petition for referendum questions to reach a provincewide vote.
Now, gearing up for Alberta’s Oct. 19 referendum, the independence movement is trying to build momentum.
Wednesday’s gathering was a homecoming of sorts for the hundreds who drove to Mirror, a hamlet of roughly 480 people that sits about 65 kilometres northeast of Red Deer, Alta.
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The gathering occurred at a fraught time for national unity, less than four months before the question of Alberta’s future in Canada will be put to the province’s voters in a referendum question.Sarah B. Groot/The Globe and Mail
Outside the cafe, dozens wove through a clump of vendors selling fruit, lotion, honey, embroidery and pro-independence merchandise. At one booth, Patti Vold, Sandy Duguay and Laveryne Green were selling lawn signs for Mr. Scott’s group, Let’s Talk Alberta, which is hosting pro-independence town halls across the province.
Ms. Green described the Whistle Stop Café as “a place you could come” during the pandemic.
“It’s very symbolic,” Ms. Vold added.
The event included a number of prominent faces in the independence movement. Later in the afternoon, Tamara Lich, a key organizer of the 2022 trucker convoy, was scheduled to perform a live concert.
Ben Crane, a country musician who performed, said he believes an independent Alberta and Canada can work better together.
“I think we can be way better friends with the rest of Canada and just take out the overreach,” Mr. Crane said.
And while support for separation continues to poll around 20 to 25 per cent, the movement is flush with cash compared to the federalist cause.
Last week, Let Alberta Decide, a pro-independence outfit led by lawyer Keith Wilson, reported receiving more than $119,000 in contributions during its first week as a registered third-party advertiser, according to Elections Alberta records.
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Another outfit, Pathway to Independence – a group run by Western Standard columnist Cory Morgan that’s distributing lawn signs across the province – has raked in $70,000 since early June.
Federalists’ success has been paltry by comparison. Alberta’s Voice, a group encouraging voters to reject separatism and nine other forthcoming referendum questions on immigration and constitutional issues, has received roughly $18,000 in donations. It was started by Stephen Carter, a prominent political strategist.
Forever Canadian, the group that last summer collected 404,000 signatures in support of remaining in Canada, hasn’t received any donations, according to Elections Alberta. However, it is distributing lawn signs across the province.
Ms. Smith, who has said she’ll vote in the fall for Alberta to remain in Canada, said in a Wednesday statement that she believes in a “strong Alberta and a strong Canada.”
She is expected to announce an initial proposal for a new oil pipeline to the West Coast on Thursday, which the province is due to submit to Ottawa’s Major Projects Office this week. The hope is for fast-tracked federal consideration.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was scheduled to speak in Edmonton on Wednesday night, but stormy weather prevented his plane from leaving Ottawa. In a speech earlier in the day, Mr. Carney focused on national unity, while touching on the importance of big national projects.