The Alberta Separatist Files: Who's Behind It, What They're After, and Why They Might Win
Inside the organizations, leaders, UCP support, and referendum strategy pushing Alberta toward separation
In December 2025, following court decisions that cast doubt on the legality of a separatist referendum petition, Premier Danielle Smith’s government passed Bill 14, legislation that removed advance constitutional screening and allowed the initiative to proceed. Bill 14 not only permitted the Alberta Prosperity Project’s initiative to proceed, but also altered Alberta’s referendum framework in ways that reduced legal barriers to future secession-related initiatives. What is often described as fringe politics now operates as an organized ecosystem functioning within Alberta’s legal framework.
Alberta separatism does not operate as a single, centralized movement. Instead, it functions as a fast-organizing ecosystem of overlapping advocacy groups, political parties, and online networks.
At its centre is the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), supported and amplified by a constellation of allied “sovereignty” organizations, separatist political parties, and digital communities.
Crucially, this ecosystem has developed alongside—and increasingly within—a legal and political environment shaped by the United Conservative Party (UCP) government under Premier Danielle Smith.
While the government maintains an official position of “sovereignty within a united Canada,” its legislative actions have created pathways that materially lower the barriers for an independence campaign without formally endorsing separation.
The Core Objective of Alberta Separatism
Forcing a Binding Referendum on Independence
The central strategic objective of contemporary Alberta separatism is procedural rather than rhetorical: to compel a binding provincial referendum on independence through Alberta’s Citizens Initiative Act.
The intended sequence is explicit:
Secure sufficient signatures under the citizen-initiated referendum framework.
Force a province-wide vote on independence.
Use a “Yes” result as a democratic mandate to negotiate Alberta’s exit from Canada under the federal Clarity Act.
Redesign Alberta’s political and economic institutions along a more centralized, nationalist, and market-oriented model.
This step-by-step approach prioritizes legal formality, incremental normalization, and political pressure over immediate unilateral action.
Main Actors Within Alberta Separatism
Alberta Prosperity Project (APP)
The Alberta Prosperity Project is the most visible and organized independence-advocacy groups operating in Alberta, with more than 53 Alberta-based chapters or regional pages publicly listed on a single social media platform.
Key characteristics:
Emerged in 2021–2022 as a dedicated independence advocacy organization.
Self-describes as a “non-political,” non-profit educational society focused on Alberta sovereignty and independence.
Operates town halls, media campaigns, educational outreach, and the official independence petition.
Prominent figures:
Jeffrey Rath, lawyer and former Progressive Conservative Party fundraiser. Prior to the formation of the UCP, Rath filed formal complaints in 2017 opposing Jason Kenney’s effort to merge the PCs with Wildrose.
Dennis Modry, physician and APP co-founder, documented supporter and donor to Danielle Smith’s former Wildrose Party.
Mitch Sylvestre, organizer identified as a regional leader within Take Back Alberta, the movement that mobilized against former Premier Jason Kenney and supported Smith’s leadership bid.
APP predates Danielle Smith’s leadership of the UCP, but her ascent significantly altered the political environment. Early APP presentations in 2022 openly promised an independent Alberta by 2025–26 if the 2023 election shifted provincial power. After Smith won the UCP leadership in October 2022, she adopted “sovereignty within a united Canada” language and appeared on platforms sympathetic to APP, at times referring to the group as a key ally on sovereignty issues while rejecting outright separation.
Analytically, this relationship is best described as mutual accommodation: APP gains legitimacy and usable legal tools, while Smith consolidates support from sovereignty-minded voters without formally endorsing independence.
Other Separatist and “Sovereignist” Formations
Republican Party of Alberta
The Republican Party of Alberta represents a more explicit separatist vehicle.
Led by Cameron Davies, a former UCP member who left to pursue open independence advocacy.
Promotes republican and separatist language without the sovereignty-within-Canada framing.
Maintains an “MLA Independence Scorecard” claiming that 11 UCP MLAs, including several cabinet ministers, support a binding independence referendum.
Online Networks and Digital Mobilization
Large Facebook communities play a significant amplifying role rather than acting as formal organizations:
Let’s Talk Alberta Independence (over 28,000 members).
Alberta Independence (over 89,000 members).
These groups routinely circulate APP materials, fundraising appeals, and UCP content, including speeches and keynote clips from Danielle Smith. Administrators and members frequently frame Smith as the political leader most likely to deliver an independence referendum and encourage support for UCP-aligned efforts.
What the Alberta Separatist Agenda Proposes
Independence and Sovereignty Outcomes
APP’s current proposed referendum question asks:
“Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada to become an independent state?”
This wording was revised after a court found an earlier version unconstitutional. The updated phrasing mirrors language in the Clarity Act, reflecting a deliberate effort to withstand legal scrutiny.
Long-term ambitions range from full sovereignty to an Alberta so autonomous that federal authority becomes marginal.
Institutional and Legal Restructuring
Separatist proposals emphasize:
Provincial control over pensions, policing, taxation, immigration, and natural resources.
Reduced federal operational presence prior to any formal separation.
Adoption of a written Alberta constitution entrenching property rights, fiscal restraint, and direct-democracy mechanisms such as recall and referendums.
Many of these goals overlap with active UCP initiatives and Alberta Next Panel recommendations, even when officially framed as remaining within Canada.
Economic and Fiscal Vision
The economic case for Alberta separatism centres on:
Lower taxes and elimination of a federal tax layer.
Fewer national regulations, particularly in oil, gas, and climate policy.
Retention of resource revenues within Alberta and withdrawal from equalization.
While the UCP rejects independence, its rhetoric around fairer federalism and regulatory autonomy often mirrors separatist framing, differing primarily in the proposed remedy.
How the Alberta Separatist Roadmap Operates
Education and Normalization
APP and allied groups prioritize sustained public engagement through town halls, social media, and alternative media appearances. Independence is presented as legally viable, economically rational, and culturally necessary, often linked to broader grievances regarding federal authority and social policy.
Citizen-Initiated Referendum Mechanism
Under Alberta’s Citizens Initiative Act, proponents must collect signatures from approximately 10 percent of eligible voters—roughly 177,000 individuals—within a 120-day window. Elections Alberta has now accepted APP’s initiative and approved the revised question.
Post-Referendum Strategy
APP materials indicate that a successful referendum would be used to compel negotiations with Ottawa under the Clarity Act, followed by:
Adoption of a new Alberta constitution.
Restructuring of courts and fiscal institutions.
Renegotiation of trade and Indigenous agreements.
Many of these elements remain aspirational and legally contested.
UCP Government Actions That Enable the Movement
Referendum Law Changes
Bill 54 significantly reduced the signature threshold for citizen-initiated constitutional referendums.
Earlier legislative changes embedded the Citizens Initiative framework as a practical tool for independence advocates.
Bill 14 and Constitutional Screening
After a court decision threatened the legality of a secession referendum, the UCP passed Bill 14 in December 2025. This legislation removed advance constitutional vetting of initiative questions and retroactively enabled APP’s revised petition to proceed.
Alberta Next Panel and Sovereignty Framing
The Alberta Next Panel was tasked with exploring ways to strengthen provincial authority while remaining in Canada. Its recommendations—including provincial control over pensions, policing, and tax collection—align closely with the institutional groundwork separatist groups argue is necessary for independence.
Alberta Separatism as a Structural, Not Fringe, Phenomenon
Alberta separatism today is best understood not as a marginal protest movement but as an increasingly structured political ecosystem operating within Alberta’s evolving legal framework. While public support remains uncertain, the institutional pathways now exist to formally test that support.
The Alberta Prosperity Project has held nearly 40 town hall events across Alberta in recent months, with individual events drawing 300 in-person attendees and 600 livestream viewers. In October 2025, Edmonton Police estimated 5,000-6,000 people attended their independence rally at the Legislature.
The question is no longer whether separatist actors can organize, but how changes to Alberta’s legal and political framework may affect the prospects of a minority movement advancing its objectives.
If the UCP has already amended laws affecting the independence petition process, what limits—if any—exist on future changes to referendum rules?
Part 1 of "The Alberta Separatist Files"—a series tracking how close Alberta actually is to leaving Canada. Subscribe to stay up to date.
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This is exactly the kind of work this moment calls for. I really appreciate you taking the time to lay this out with history, structure, and legal context rather than treating it as fringe noise. When movements like this shift from rhetoric into procedural pathways, Canadians need clarity more than heat.
Alberta’s situation doesn’t exist in isolation. With renewed separatist talk likely in Quebec this year, and sustained economic and political pressure coming from the United States, we don’t have the luxury of looking away or dismissing these developments as regional theatre. They intersect with real stresses on Confederation itself.
Following this closely—and soberly—isn’t alarmism; it’s civic responsibility. Pieces like this help readers understand how these dynamics work, not just what people are shouting about. FACTS MATTER.
They will not win. Smarten up.