Western Standard - Renew Alberta president claims referendum to hold a referendum shows why Canada is broken

00:00:00.000 Will Vassar here with the Western Standard.

00:00:02.800 Got a good interview for you guys today.

00:00:04.680 I'm going to be joined by Dr. Matthew Rowley.

00:00:07.300 He is founder and president of Renew Alberta.

00:00:11.780 They are looking at Alberta independence.

00:00:14.480 They see it as an opportunity to shift back to what Canada once was in the parliamentary system that it once was.

00:00:22.760 And so we're going to chat with him today, though, about independence in light of Premier Smith's new independence question that she introduced recently.

00:00:32.420 And we're going to talk about his thoughts on it and kind of what it means for the movement and going forward.

00:00:37.100 And so we'll throw it over to Dr. Rowley. Thank you very much for taking your time to meet with us today.

00:00:42.920 Glad to be here for sure.

00:00:45.060 I appreciate it.

00:00:46.260 so why don't we start with you giving me your overall kind of thoughts on the premier's 0.99

00:00:53.020 question that she introduced on Thursday well on the surface level it's convoluted it's stupid 0.96

00:01:00.820 it's frustrating but this isn't the premier's fault this doesn't speak to the premier you know 0.95

00:01:06.960 like some people are saying oh she's trying to stop independence blah blah blah if she wanted

00:01:10.760 to she had a hundred tools and levers that she could have used to stop independence this actually

00:01:16.140 speaks to the very problem of why we need independence. The court system and the government 0.92

00:01:21.840 is so messed up that this is the kind of malarkey we have to go through to ask Albertans an honest

00:01:29.300 question, to get the democratic opinion of everybody in Alberta. It shows the core brokenness

00:01:37.140 of Alberta's relationship with Ottawa and why we can't actually fix things from within the

00:01:43.280 constitution when the government can't ask a question of its own people and when a citizen's

00:01:50.080 initiative can be stopped because some judge decides it's unconstitutional to ask a question

00:01:56.640 we know that we have problems so i don't put the fault at premier smith's feet i think she

00:02:01.600 is trying to do her level best i know she says you know she's a federalist everything i believe she

00:02:07.520 is but i think she is also someone who listens to albertans and wants us to have the opportunity

00:02:13.920 700 000 people signed a petition two different petitions asking for a referendum and she respects

00:02:21.460 that yeah and i remember you and i talked a couple weeks ago about renew alberta and what you guys

00:02:29.340 are looking at and i heard the premier's announcement and kind of watch your reaction

00:02:33.280 video that you had. And it really just seemed like what was happening, the situation kind of

00:02:37.900 outlined, like you said, exactly what you guys are expressing as issues in Canada and why Alberta

00:02:43.300 needs out. And I'm curious on from a standpoint, do you believe that there are individuals who

00:02:50.100 are saying the premier could have just called the question if she wanted to? And that's why

00:02:53.400 they're saying that she's standing in the way of independence. But there's others. And I believe,

00:02:59.500 correct me if i'm wrong you are of the view that if she had called one the courts would have gotten

00:03:05.340 involved and it wouldn't have reached october and it wouldn't yeah if she had called a question

00:03:09.740 there would have been a court injunction the next day unfortunately the notwithstanding clause only

00:03:15.340 applies to the charter rights and freedoms which means section 35 isn't covered so some judge would

00:03:20.620 have said section 35 is uh violated by this it would have been tied up in the courts they never

00:03:26.700 would do such a thing to quebec because you know the whole province would burn ottawa down but out

00:03:32.060 here they feel free to do this so i i am frustrated i wish that it could be so simple uh but it is

00:03:40.300 true that the courts would have tied it up and we would have had no referendum question full stop

00:03:46.140 period so yes it's frustrating but we need to channel that frustration into recognizing that

00:03:53.260 this is the problem this is the canada that we asked for that we have currently and we need to

00:03:58.540 get out of this canada and you mentioned it in channeling the um channeling the anger and the

00:04:05.340 frustration in the proper way the other one of the other things when i talked with you previously

00:04:09.580 you mentioned is not channeling that frustration at the premier and recognizing the role that she

00:04:15.580 is i know that following the announcement there are a lot of alberta independent supporters who

00:04:19.980 have turned their pitchforks and directed them right at the premier for standing in the way

00:04:24.860 and um what's your kind of view on that and the premier's role and kind of where she stands right

00:04:29.740 now and how individuals should be reacting following it i i truly understand it i was so

00:04:36.060 frustrated and annoyed myself but we have to look at the fact that the only way we are going to win

00:04:42.220 the first referendum and the second is if we stay focused so if we divide our attentions divide the

00:04:48.380 movement have half of us going after the premier the other half saying don't if we start fragmenting

00:04:55.100 just as the let's stay in canada people are getting their feet under them

00:04:59.260 then we will lose this referendum and it will be our fault if you were talking a little bit about

00:05:06.540 how you guys have to stay focused on independence that if you turn your attention and get distracted

00:05:12.700 by focusing on the premier you guys won't win the referendum in october and you'll have no one else

00:05:17.420 to blame but you but yourselves for getting distracted yeah and honestly beyond that we will

00:05:24.220 divide the vote split the party and end up with premier nahed nenshi we've been through this any

00:05:30.620 albertan who went through rachel notley for four years should think long and hard it's all well and

00:05:38.860 good to want to see the world burn it's all well and good to be frustrated because things aren't

00:05:42.940 going the way we are but part of being an adult part of being mature part of proving that we're

00:05:47.800 capable of governing ourselves and being our own country is not throwing our toys out of the pram

00:05:53.720 every time things go wrong we have to be calm we have to be settled and we have to say we will do

00:06:00.460 what it takes the premier is not the problem we will be the problem so I give the premier great

00:06:07.300 credit she is trying to listen to all Albertans and govern for all Albertans it's frustrating

00:06:13.700 because some Albertans are not for independence but that's what a premier is supposed to do is

00:06:19.540 actually be the person who governs for the best for the province so we need to stop this nonsense

00:06:26.820 of fighting among ourselves and fighting the UCP government the UCP government will not lose this

00:06:33.460 referendum for us we will and i'm curious on it because there is the push among um grassroots

00:06:41.780 members of the independence movement and even um more high profile members in the independence

00:06:46.420 movement really turning their attention to the premier and saying she's turned her back on the

00:06:50.180 ucp base she needs to be um removed as a leader and i'm curious on your belief whether or not you

00:06:58.660 think that the best path forward for independence is under premier smith

00:07:02.740 i believe that she has done this she's gotten us this far and i don't see any other way because

00:07:11.880 when we start dividing the leadership and fighting into you know who's going to be the leader of the

00:07:17.380 ucp now and all of this we will end up splitting the party that's all that's going to happen we

00:07:22.400 will end up dividing instead of uniting so until the day when premier smith stands up and says

00:07:28.960 albertans you have no right to have a voice then we have to trust that the premier is doing as she

00:07:34.940 says she has said she's trying to do her best for everybody and we have to give her a bit of credit

00:07:40.480 she has a track record and funny enough she's one of these people that has done the wrong thing in

00:07:46.400 the past and has owned it you know it's funny i didn't vote for her in the leadership i voted

00:07:52.060 for somebody else and yet she has won me over by being direct dedicated and doing her best for

00:07:59.340 Albertans even the fact that she's going out and trying to negotiate with Carney she's proving the

00:08:04.500 point for us that you can't actually make headway she's trying hard Carney's talking out of one

00:08:10.060 side of his mouth but then we see how already they're starting to renege on their deals so

00:08:14.740 she's being honest she's trying her best let's give her a little bit of slack none of us would

00:08:20.340 like to do the job that she's trying to do uh and i'm curious on everything going forward and you

00:08:29.340 mentioned needing to focus on uh independence there's some that have said that this could be

00:08:35.480 a blessing in disguise for everything of building that support for alberta independence it you

00:08:41.880 wouldn't necessarily there were people that were sitting on the fence of saying hey i don't know

00:08:46.140 if uncomfortable voting for an independent Alberta, but maybe the people that are wanting

00:08:51.040 to send a message to Ottawa might be more willing to give a yes vote right now. What's your view on

00:08:56.700 that entire situation? I honestly do think it's a blessing in disguise. I think we will have more

00:09:02.580 time to make our case. More importantly, the government of Canada and the rest of Canada

00:09:08.460 will have more time to show the level of disdain and lack of care that they have for us. They will

00:09:15.200 show how little they're willing to do to look after us when it comes to their own political

00:09:20.100 ideas and choices we will see through this period just how much we need to go so every day longer

00:09:27.780 that it takes is actually a victory because there's going to be one more story coming down

00:09:32.040 the line just the other day the snowbirds we found out that they're going to be grounded

00:09:37.620 that they can't even in this country pull together enough will to make one of the symbols of canada

00:09:45.180 that everybody agrees is a good thing they couldn't pull together the political will to buy

00:09:50.000 them a couple airplanes this is how broken canada is so every time we hear the news all you have to

00:09:57.020 do is turn on the news and watch as canada slowly disintegrates around us and the more time that we

00:10:02.980 have to point to these things and say hey look this isn't about whether alberta is going to break

00:10:08.240 up canada this is about whether we pull the ripcord before the plane hits the mountain

00:10:12.620 And that's the choice that we have. So I'm fully confident that the longer a campaign runs, the better it is for us, that the more time that we have to make our case and make our argument in the face of the best that the stay for Canada people can do is say, well, nostalgia, gosh, golly gee, there was a time when Canada was great.

00:10:32.780 it's not today or they can say oh no look out what's going to happen if you vote against it

00:10:37.760 well we're going to see we'll we'll have this vote and you know what people aren't going to

00:10:42.480 flee the province money isn't going to flee the province because we are a province that has the

00:10:47.460 commodities the world needs we have our largest trading partner right south of the border and

00:10:51.860 they like us and they want to give us their money in exchange for our goods so we'll just be proving

00:10:57.140 more and more that all of the fear mongering all of the worry all of the false arguments that

00:11:03.600 they're making are actually just that they're false i'm curious what's the best things that

00:11:08.840 can happen for the independence movement right now leading up to october for you in your opinion

00:11:13.120 for the independence movement i think we're actually in the perfect world i know that's

00:11:19.020 hard to see but we are seeing the government of canada be predictably arrogant we're sealing

00:11:25.980 seeing the commentary at people like Andrew Coyne telling us that we can't leave anyway if we wanted

00:11:31.140 to and that it's not up to us and Canada owns us and we have to suck it up. We're seeing the

00:11:36.740 the world around us get more and more unstable. We have a prime minister that loves to point out

00:11:42.940 that everything's divided and falling apart and the world is in chaos. Well to a certain extent

00:11:47.820 he's right and the answer that they seem to have is to make it worse and worse and worse. So we're

00:11:53.840 on a path that allows us to see what's going to happen if we stay in Canada. I think the best

00:12:00.880 thing would be that we can actually have this referendum succeed and then we can have the

00:12:06.260 Alberta government step into its role of carrying out the will of the people, of negotiating with

00:12:12.500 Ottawa. I highly doubt, maybe I'll be shocked and surprised by the results, but I highly doubt that

00:12:17.720 Ottawa is going to negotiate in good faith with us, treat us as an equal partner in confederation

00:12:23.700 I think they will continue to use dirty tricks, everything that they can to try to damage us, but they will not actually show the humility that they need to tell Albertans that Canadians care for them.

00:12:38.600 So I think we're on the best possible track.

00:12:41.120 We just have to keep our heads and we have to not get distracted and we can't light our hair on fire every time we get a bit of news that we don't like.

00:12:48.580 and and i just want to ask you as well i think there's been and it's a little bit interesting

00:12:55.600 maybe you can speak to it the there's some messaging over the last week and especially

00:12:59.720 especially after the mou got announced or the mou announcement that this is all about oil

00:13:05.440 this is all about um getting alberta oil out and maybe you can speak to it there's the belief

00:13:11.840 in alberta that they're ottawa's misunderstanding people in central canada are misunderstanding it

00:13:17.560 that's helping the independence movement maybe them showing that they don't really even understand

00:13:21.800 what's happening yeah it it is when you look at it this is about culture this is about values

00:13:28.520 alberta is about hard work about doing it yourself about helping your community and not looking to

00:13:34.920 the government to solve all of our problems and make all of the rules albertans want to be free 0.97

00:13:41.320 and we want to be free from the petty stupid annoyances of a government that thinks that 0.90

00:13:46.360 taxing the internet and getting a back door into all of your electronic communications is a good 0.98

00:13:52.440 idea we want to be free of a government who thinks that they have the right to tell you that because

00:13:57.080 the climate is changing they get to tax you we want to be free of a government that thinks that

00:14:02.040 everything is their business and so the more that they say oh this is just about economics this is

00:14:09.800 just about a pipeline the more they totally don't grasp the last 120 years of alberta's history

00:14:17.560 they don't get the imbalance that we have in confederation the fact that we can't change

00:14:23.720 things if we want to we had almost 10 years of a good government under stephen harper and guess

00:14:30.440 what every one of those cabinet ministers who was involved in that couldn't change anything they

00:14:35.720 They couldn't make it more balanced for us, even as the conservative team, the Western side.

00:14:42.020 You know, there's some cabinet ministers, former cabinet ministers who are coming out to say, hey, we should stay in Canada.

00:14:47.100 And to them, I say, why didn't you fix it while you could?

00:14:50.680 Why? Because you couldn't.

00:14:53.620 Because the Constitution is broken and nothing can change that.

00:14:57.880 A pipeline isn't going to fix that.

00:14:59.340 It'll be nice.

00:15:00.500 It'll be helping.

00:15:01.980 But a pipeline won't fix the imbalance in Confederation.

00:15:05.440 A pipeline won't fix the fact that people don't listen in the rest of Confederation.

00:15:10.420 When I lived in Ontario, numerous times I had people say, I don't know why you're so mad at us.

00:15:16.560 We do so much for you.

00:15:18.340 And for a Westerner, that's about the funniest thing that could be ever said.

00:15:22.000 But it describes the problem right there. 0.90

00:15:26.140 Perfect. And thank you for your time.

00:15:28.560 I just want to close here, give you the opportunity to tell Albertans a little bit about Renew Alberta,

00:15:33.660 what you guys are doing and what you guys are going to be doing leading up to October when we

00:15:37.120 head to the polls? Well, we are going to do everything in our power. Renew Alberta is about

00:15:42.800 saying we got to do as little as we possibly have to. We just need to cut off Ottawa. That is the

00:15:49.180 core problem that we're dealing with in Alberta. It's not grand constitutional changes, you know,

00:15:55.020 where we shift into becoming a republic or we turn everything on its head. It's just saying

00:15:59.900 enough is enough. Ottawa, Pierre Trudeau's constitution, they have to go. So we're going

00:16:05.920 to be working hard to show people that independence is not about destroying everything you know.

00:16:11.880 It's just about severing the ties with Ottawa. It doesn't mean hatred towards the rest of Canada.

00:16:17.420 It just means a different relationship. It's about responsible government, something that

00:16:22.280 Canada earned from Britain. We're just taking the step of maturity that Alberta is ready for,

00:16:28.160 where we will govern ourselves so that's what we're working for we're going to be doing it in

00:16:32.960 every way we can through the internet through personal meetings however we can to help and

00:16:38.400 we're going to be working with other independence groups we are doing our best to unite our cause

00:16:45.600 into one voice so that we can move as fast and as hard and as concertedly as we can and i'm excited

00:16:53.200 to be working with so many other people who have the same vision of an independent alberta perfect

00:17:00.240 thank you very much for your time dr rally we appreciate it um and we hope to talk

00:17:04.320 with you again as we get moving here towards october always glad to talk with you will perfect

00:17:10.000 Thank you.

Western Standard - May 26, 2026

Renew Alberta president claims referendum to hold a referendum shows why Canada is broken

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