Dave Cournoyer 🇨🇦

👋 I just want to take a moment to sincerely thank everyone who reads and subscribes to Daveberta. I’ve been writing about Alberta politics for 21 years now and it continues to be a real privilege to share my thoughts and have so many of you read, share and send feedback about it. Thank you so much.

Oof.

Just in case you missed it, I recently joined Joseph Lavoie on Craft Politics for a deep dive discussion about Alberta’s referendum and how the results could impact Alberta politics and Premier Danielle Smith’s future as leader of the United Conservative Party. m.youtube.com/watch?v=fWnC...

My take on the historic election last night here in BC. theconversation.com/david-ebys-e...

🇨🇦 Six takeaways from Alberta’s Referendum and what’s next in our wild west politics. Albertans embrace staying in Canada, reject Danielle Smith’s constitutional reforms, give the UCP a weak mandate on immigration questions. 🤠Read all about it: daveberta.substack.com/p/six-takeaw...

Lorne Doerkson is the new premier of British Columbia. David Eby announced his resignation as BC NDP leader. And BC Greens leader Emily Lowan won her seat on Vancouver Island. #BCPoli thetyee.ca/News/2026/10...

Is no one going to ask *how* she plans on enforcing this? The party bylaws don't give her authority. This isn't the APP. Bylaws do matter.

🇨🇦 Six takeaways from Alberta’s Referendum and what’s next in our wild west politics. Albertans embrace staying in Canada, reject Danielle Smith’s constitutional reforms, give the UCP a weak mandate on immigration questions. 🤠Read all about it: daveberta.substack.com/p/six-takeaw...

🟦 Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer has lost the UCP nomination in Edmonton-North West. With 113 total votes cast, Jaffer earned 54 votes to winning candidate Parker Royer’s 59 votes. Royer is expected to face long-time NDP MLA David Eggen in the 2027 Alberta election.

"...the separation option received less votes than the total number of signatures that would have been required to trigger a citizen initiative referendum when the Citizen Initiative Act was initially passed in 2021." #abpoli https://daveberta.substack.com/p/six-takeaways-from-albertas-referendum

🎙️🇨🇦 I joined Joseph Lavoie on Craft Politics for a deep dive discussion about Alberta’s referendum and how the results could impact Alberta politics and Premier Danielle Smith’s future as leader of the United Conservative Party.

🇨🇦 Six takeaways from Alberta’s Referendum and what’s next in our wild west politics. Albertans embrace staying in Canada, reject Danielle Smith’s constitutional reforms, give the UCP a weak mandate on immigration questions. 🤠Read all about it: daveberta.substack.com/p/six-takeaw...

Alberta candidate nomination updates: 🟦 Erin Averbukh defeated Jeevan Mangat to win the UCP nomination in Calgary-Acadia. 🟦 Today: Former MP and recent mayoral candidate Rahim Jaffer faces Parker Royer in a the UCP nomination vote in Edmonton-North West. daveberta.substack.com/p/candidates...

🎙️🇨🇦 I joined Joseph Lavoie on Craft Politics for a deep dive discussion about Alberta’s referendum and how the results could impact Alberta politics and Premier Danielle Smith’s future as leader of the United Conservative Party.

🎙️🇨🇦 I joined Joseph Lavoie on Craft Politics for a deep dive discussion about Alberta’s referendum and how the results could impact Alberta politics and Premier Danielle Smith’s future as leader of the United Conservative Party.

👀

Jeffrey Rath and Mitch Sylvestre were terminated from their roles with the Alberta Prosperity Project "with cause" in September. This is particularly strange, since both men were at the group's referendum watch party and spoke to media on its behalf.

By popular demand, we've secured a bigger venue! New tickets are available for Monday's event, hosted by the Peter Lougheed School of Politics and Democracy. Register here: groupize.com/gz/app/organ...

AOC: "As AI begins to encroach in our society, their goal is to take your cognition away from you. AI's goal is to take your thoughts away from you, your ability to think away from you, so that you become dependent on a machine ... reading books is active resistance"

🌭 ca.news.yahoo.com/alberta-prem...

Naheed Nenshi on the immigration questions: "I am happy to have a conversation on numbers. I am not happy to have a conversation on the dignity of newcomers, and I'm not happy to have people voting on whether other people should have human rights."

The lopsided results in Red Deer-South were preceded by an announcement from UCP MLA Jason Stephan, the only openly separatist MLA in the Legislature, that he will not run for re-election in 2027.

🇨🇦Here we are. After five months of Alberta politics feeling like a weird fever dream, Albertans have cast their ballots and we have the results of Alberta’s non-binding separation referendum. Well, some results. daveberta.substack.com/p/albertans-...

This is good news for Edmonton separatists like myself. We’ve got a real mandate to separate from Alberta and remain in Canada if this nonsense ever comes to fruition.

At first glance of the results, support for Alberta remaining in Canada is strong across the province, and strongest in the large cities of Calgary and Edmonton and overwhelming in First Nations communities.

🇨🇦✊️

"...separatist leaders and their supporters will almost certainly show up in droves to the UCP’s annual general meeting at the end of November in Calgary, where they will aim to even more firmly entrench themselves inside Smith’s party."

This whole referenda exercise is both a success and a failure Smith may have won the referenda overall (with 8 of 9 non-constitutional questions going Yes), but, appearently, 75.6% is not large enough to keep the separatists at bay She’ll have to purge them, or she’ll get purged by them

🇨🇦Here we are. After five months of Alberta politics feeling like a weird fever dream, Albertans have cast their ballots and we have the results of Alberta’s non-binding separation referendum. Well, some results. daveberta.substack.com/p/albertans-...

This is what I tell people from outside of Alberta: you notice how these people have failed after all this time to produce a single presentable standard-bearer? It’s because they have nobody presentable—this is not a broad-based movement. It is a congregation of our most egregious kooks.

🇨🇦 Albertans voted overwhelmingly in favour of staying in Canada. Remain: 76.1% Leave: 23.9% Results are stil coming in but the trend is clear. It will be interesting to see how the riding level results look in the morning.

Spectacular paragraph from the "2021 Alberta referendum" Wikipedia article.

Elections Alberts just confiirmed that they don't know if all of their polls are closed so that's why we don't have results. Given our top resource, it's wild how poorly an oiled machine we are.

Mom and dad aren't mad, they’re just disappointed that you experimented with separation.

Alberta separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre starts railing against the “new world order and globalism” on CBC News Network’s live broadcast just now

No results until 10pm tonight, folks. Elections Alberta announces that 106 voting locations across the province have extended their hours today “due to various issues that have been resolved.” The last one closes at 10pm so no results will be released until that voting station closes.

Alberta referendum, in liveblog form --> www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

Today is Referendum Day in Alberta. If you haven’t already voted, today’s polling stations are open from 9:00am to 8:00pm. The whole thing is ridiculous but it’s important, so mark your ballot. 🇨🇦 www.elections.ab.ca/current-elec...

And with Research Co in the polls, that puts remain at 72% and independence at 28%

Lunatic fringe.

🇨🇦 I’ve added former PC MLA George VanderBurg, former NDP MLA Oneil Carlier and, at the 11th hour, current Grande Prairie-Wapiti UCP MLA Ron Wiebe, as supporters of Option 1 to remain in Canada. daveberta.substack.com/p/tracking-w...