The Theft and Betrayal of Alberta's Democracy

[Swede]

This is becoming truly scary.

Alberta’s democracy was stolen. It was sold for profit. And loaded up onto a far right mobilization app by a pro-sovereignty group called the Centurion Project. Founded by David Parker—who also founded Take Back Alberta, the hardline conservative activist network that played a major role in Premier Danielle Smith’s rise to power— the Centurion Project has close ties to the MAGA movement in the United States. Parker and his partners didn’t believe the separatist petition process to a referendum was going to work using traditional methods: townhalls, door knocking, phone banking, spending regulated amounts on advertising, communicating effectively—the grunt work of running a democratic campaign.

To start to unpack the most pressing of these implications we must understand that at their hardened core, separatists are white nationalists. They would be Proud Boys, if the Proud Boys weren’t a listed terrorist entity. These are the people that blockaded Hwy 2 at Coutts, amassed a cache of high-powered weapons, and plotted to kill RCMP over COVID restrictions. These are the people who parked their rigs and blared their horns for weeks and shut down Canada’s Capital City while aspiring to overthrow the federal government. These are anti-authority, anti-science, anti-woke, anti-elite, anti-trans, conspiracy theorists drunk on disinformation fed to them by predatory ‘leaders’ like David Parker and Jeff Rath and Donald Trump and Danielle Smith. They are, in other words, a dangerous crowd.

To paint them as guys doing grievance politics things misses the mark. This is something far more sinister and we better get live to it fast. For the rest of Canada and for the federal government to think that now that the breach has been discovered, the injunction order issued, and the data base taken down, that this is all in hand would be mistaken.

https://plennox.substack.com/p/the-theft-and-betrayal-of-albertas

[applegrove]

1. So upsetting Swede. I hope Naheed Nenshi will win

for the NDP. Albertans should be furious. And I think many are.

[Swede]

2. And Smith is paving the way for these traitors.

nt

[applegrove]

4. Yes. She is a snake.

[Spazito]

3. 68% of Albertans want no part of these fringe white nationalists...

These numbers haven't changed in decades. The Alberta Republican Party, a separatist party had the list legitimately due to running a candidate in a by-election and, no doubt, passed it on to their buddies, the Centurion Project. It's not going to help them, the poll numbers on separation is baked in and Albertans of all political persuasions are furious at this breach.

My question is what is going to happen to both the Alberta Republican party and the Centurion Project people who are responsible for what's happened.

The bigger worry, imo, are the 9 questions on the upcoming referendum, in October, about judges, pensions, immigrants, etc. Many of those questions are likely to pass without those voting for them know the full ramifications if they are translated into law.

[applegrove]

5. I didn't know all the extra questions. Sounds ominous.

[Spazito]

6. At this point there is no direct separation question...

The collection of signatures by the separatist organization has been done but the check on the signatures cannot begin due to a court case put forward by First Nations on it's constitutionality due to their treaties. The Judge will probably make a decision on the question of it's constitutionality fairly soon.

If the Judge says the count can go ahead and it shows there are enough signatures to force a referendum, Smith has not said whether it would be added to the current referendum questions or be a separate referendum.

To put it succinctly, it's a mess.