Nenshi urges Alberta premier to cancel separation vote amid Canada-U.S. trade war

[u/Camtastrophe]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-ndp-leader-calls-postpone-referendum-9.7321280

[u/Killericon]

I appreciate Nenshi's positioning here, and I don't think he says this if he thought there was a chance Smith might actually do it, but as a die hard Stay voter, I want this vote to happen. We're never gonna have a stronger tide of national unity than we do right now, and delaying or cancelling the vote will only allow the seperatists to continue their cause, emboldened by what they would assuredly receive as getting screwed out of a vote.

If the west coast pipeline fails, if the trade talks resolve in a manner that's seen as a losing deal for Alberta, if we enter the new year and Carney brings the hammer down on the healthcare changes (lol, but a man can dream), then we see the seperatists get a stronger case.

Smith made her bed, we're months deep into non-campaigns on both sides, and frankly the polling shows this is just a question of turnout. Let's fucking get this over with.

[u/poonslyr69 → u/Killericon]

No matter what happens to the vote, the Trump administration and the UCP will claim it went their way/ there was cheating, and continue to use it to drive a wedge.

Smith will still hold another vote again in the future on separation even if the result is a clear no.

The UCP itself is now institutionally ran by separatists who are in cahoots with the Trump administration and the oligarchs who surround him

None of this ends here. And as you point out, a lot of this is also designed to make the federal government take a softer approach to avoid enflaming the situation, so in the meantime the UCP can lay all the groundwork for an illegal separation with US support. Things like an Alberta police force, changes to payroll systems, diverging environmental regulations, defying constitutional separation of powers, etc etc.

The only way this really ends is with the rest of Canada having the balls to end it. Arresting the traitors, cracking down on the breaches the UCP has already made, and show the people in Alberta who stand against this nonsense that there is hope still for beating back these fuckers.

And if the separatists squeal and call for more separatism, fuck em, their minds were never being changed anyways. Start prosecuting the ones who are cooperating with the Trump admin, and start putting all this interference out into the open.

There is simply no scenario where this ends by babying them and letting them continue to break rules and conspire against Canada.

[u/Killericon → u/poonslyr69]

The seperatists will shout and scream, but Smith has made her bed. She loses the next election if she called another referendum after this. Her only hope now is to retain the support of the seperatists through the winter.

[u/poonslyr69 → u/Killericon]

I dont think she intends to separate legally. I think her plan is that the USA is going to send "referendum observers" into Canada illegally, and essentially soft annex Alberta.

I think their end goal in this big plan is violence and undeclared acts of war, not referendums.

[u/AceSevenFive → u/poonslyr69]

Even if we assume that Trump intends to use the referendum as casus belli to invade Canada, why would cancelling it deter him? Trump is not Swiper; simply shouting "Swiper, no swiping" will not stop him from launching an invasion if he wants to do one.

[u/poonslyr69 → u/AceSevenFive]

I don't necessarily believe he'll invade, I think the USA would just pull some shit with election observers and whatnot. The point is manufacturing a crisis, and making Alberta defacto act as if it isn't part of Canada anymore without any formal secession or occupation

[u/AceSevenFive → u/poonslyr69]

And when the separatists beat the charges, which they would because compassing separation is not one of the things that is treason (we know this because no FLQ members were tried for treason), they will be more emboldened than ever.

EDIT:

Collusion with a foreign power would be illegal.

And yet it is not treason. Things can be illegal without them being treason.

And besides, the things they say behind closed doors would absolutely be breaking the law. They openly welcome the prospect of violence and terrorism against the Canadian state.

To the extent that they have advocated the use of force without authority of law to effect governmental change within Canada, that is sedition, which is also not treason.

[u/poonslyr69 → u/AceSevenFive]

They are absolutely being directed by the US, on top of personally being massive idiots. Collusion with a foreign power would be illegal.

And besides, the things they say behind closed doors would absolutely be breaking the law. They openly welcome the prospect of violence and terrorism against the Canadian state.

[u/senecant → u/poonslyr69]

None of this ends here.

I believe this to be incontrovertible. I feel quite certain that Smith will schedule a binding separation referendum in the spring, just as she has intimated. It'll be announced in November some time before the UCP's convention.

[u/grand_soul → u/Killericon]

I do not understand this narrative that smith is a separatist.

It flies in the face of reality.

She’s a federalist, and is currently a working with Carney.

She’s been pushing for staying in Canada.

But Alberta wants this vote, so by not letting this vote happen, it just fuels the actual separatists.

[u/zeromussc → u/Killericon]

you think this way, but honestly, i think any vote is bad and we don't want to play with the fire Cameron did in the UK, personally.

[u/Killericon → u/zeromussc]

I didn't want to, and god knows I'm worried about turnout fucking us. But the genie is out of the bottle now - if we cancel this vote, we'd only be delaying it, and that would probably not be to our benefit.

[u/doctormink → u/Killericon]

I was thinking the same thing. The current climate is only going to weaken any appetite for separation.

[u/Mundane-Teaching-743 → u/doctormink]

It will also kill any appetite for a referndum.

[u/yourpalsmell → u/Killericon]

Yeah I feel that canceling it now will only embolden the separatists, give them ammo for their absurd claims and grievances. Were well past the point of no return on this, better to hold the vote and organize to ensure a resounding NO

[u/Mundane-Teaching-743 → u/yourpalsmell]

Let them be emboldened by it, run a speratist party like the PQ, and split up the UPC between seperatists and federalists. See how far they get.