Western Standard - June 18, 2026


CORY MORGAN： Alberta's referendum is very real

Smith rejects treason accusation over referendum, calls it “disgraceful” Western Standard News Update ｜ CCanada Post pays bonuses despite a $1.5-billion loss ｜ 19 Jun 2026

Episode Stats


Length

5 minutes

Words per minute

175.94

Word count

903

Sentence count

47

People

Also mentioned:
Smith Elections Alberta Jean Chrétien Pierre Poilievre Jason Kenney Brexit

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

On October 19th, Albertans will vote on a non-binding referendum question on whether or not they want to leave the Canadian federation. The question will be placed on the ballot by a Liberal-appointed judge, and is a question seeking a mandate to ask another question.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
00:00:00.000 So I know, trust me, I know, the referendum question being posed to Albertans on October
00:00:11.320 19th is a weak dump of word salad. Independent supporters were led down a garden path with what
00:00:17.520 was thought to be a legitimate form of invoking a referendum through a petition, only to have the
00:00:22.480 fruits of all that work stolen from them by a Liberal appointed judge. The question now being
00:00:27.180 placed on the ballot is a non-binding and it's only a question seeking a mandate to ask another
00:00:32.280 question. Premier Smith has gone on a federalist campaign as versiferous as the one Jason Kenney
00:00:37.900 has been on and as laden with misinformation as she claims the transition costs would peak or would
00:00:43.900 cost about 400 billion dollars. It feels like all the cards are against the independence movement
00:00:48.340 because it's true. The system and those within it are pulling out all the stops to keep Albertans
00:00:53.220 from having the choice of independence.
00:00:55.260 So why should independent supporters carry on
00:00:57.220 with the campaign in the face of such opposition?
00:01:00.180 Well, why should a campaign for this false flaccid question
00:01:04.500 be taken seriously by independent supporters?
00:01:06.980 It's because the opponents to independence
00:01:08.720 are taking it seriously.
00:01:10.580 Federalists and Laurentians see the real risk
00:01:12.840 of the referendum being held
00:01:14.280 and they're pulling out all the stops to fight it.
00:01:16.040 Even Jean Chrétien was drawn out of his crypt
00:01:17.940 to speak in opposition to Alberta's independence
00:01:21.120 while Pierre Polyev has decided to spend the summer
00:01:23.200 in Alberta trying to convince Albertans why the status quo is fine. Columnists and premiers are
00:01:28.440 fighting along with each other for the microphone to deride independent supporters in Alberta and
00:01:33.680 to campaign against choice. That's because the establishment knows the referendum presents a
00:01:39.260 threat to its comfortable position. Laurentian elites might be arrogant and parasitic, but many 0.96
00:01:44.580 of them aren't stupid. They saw what happened with Brexit and know that when the electorate is given 0.99
00:01:49.380 a choice in the matter, they will often choose to oppose existing institutions. Some independence
00:01:54.520 groups and individuals have taken their foot off the gas, and they're tired and dejected after
00:01:59.060 having four months of petitioning effort trampled on by the courts. It's understandable, but they
00:02:03.660 got to dust themselves off and get back up now. A strong vote for option two on the question 10 in
00:02:09.240 the election keeps the movement alive. A strong vote for option one on the question will put the
00:02:14.500 debate on the shelf for another decade. Albertans can't allow federalists to put this issue to bed.
00:02:20.220 The months of petitioning and blizzards and holding meetings in town halls and winter nights
00:02:23.700 were not wasted, guys. It doesn't matter if the 301,000 signatures weren't formally counted
00:02:28.800 by Elections Alberta. People with sense know they were genuine and they represent a groundswell of
00:02:33.960 support for a real referendum on independence. The months of petitioning helped solidify the
00:02:38.820 movement. Thousands of volunteers networked, bonded, and reached hundreds of thousands of Albertans.
00:02:44.240 They built the foundation of what will be the campaign to win the referendum this fall.
00:02:48.540 The petitioning phase was just a warm-up and a trial run for the bigger campaign.
00:02:52.480 The independent movement also has to be a little honest with itself.
00:02:56.060 While the core of dedicated independent supporters within Alberta has never measured so consistently strong as it has,
00:03:01.900 the number hasn't grown really over the last six months.
00:03:04.580 The mushy middle of undecided voters has remained the same, and those fiercely opposed to the concept will never budge.
00:03:10.020 but that's because the campaign to date has been focused on getting signatures rather than selling
00:03:15.000 the concept. Now the path of the campaign becomes clearer. People must be convinced to choose option
00:03:19.940 two, and to be frank, it'll be easier to sell than the binding yes or no question that petitioners
00:03:24.660 had tried to get on the ballot. With a non-binding option, the independent side could pivot a little
00:03:28.800 and gather those who want to send Ottawa a message rather than start the full process of independence.
00:03:34.600 If those people can be moved, a strong option two victory can be won. With that extra time having
00:03:39.700 who had bought independence advocates
00:03:41.300 can continue to work towards a true independence referendum
00:03:44.140 and to convert those soft supporters
00:03:45.660 into full yes voters in the future.
00:03:47.860 Never has there been so much open debate
00:03:49.420 about Alberta's place in the federation.
00:03:51.040 That discussion is going to be raging until October 19th.
00:03:53.420 And if the independence side continues
00:03:55.380 to leave the playing field to their opponents,
00:03:57.340 they will lose all momentum.
00:03:59.120 The path to independence is never going to be a simple one
00:04:01.480 or a straight one, but giving up is not an option.
00:04:04.180 The changing of the question for the referendum
00:04:05.760 hasn't erased the path.
00:04:07.100 It's only added a curve.
00:04:07.960 So the independence movement must navigate that curve and keep moving towards the goal.
00:04:13.160 Quitting isn't an option and it isn't the Alberta way.
00:04:16.280 And you know what?
00:04:16.760 I want to throw one more thing into because some of the prime campaigners are still obsessed
00:04:20.720 with trying to take Premier Smith out of power, guys.
00:04:23.600 If you split your movement like that, not only will you not get rid of Premier Smith,
00:04:27.580 but we will lose this referendum.
00:04:29.440 So let's think a little harder on it.
00:04:30.560 We can make a mark here.
00:04:37.960 Thank you.