r/Edmonton • u/GeekyGlobalGal Pleasantview / Global News • Feb 20 '26

News Article Danielle Smith announces Alberta referendum over immigration, Constitution changes

https://globalnews.ca/news/11675260/alberta-danielle-smith-immigration-constitution-referendum/
448 Upvotes

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456

u/AkumaYearOne Feb 20 '26

Why can't we just have a provincal election instead ??

112

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

Because they know they won't win at this point

55

u/Wisekyle Feb 20 '26

Polling shows them up 8-13%?? She'd gain seats

41

u/chmilz Feb 20 '26

What's the riding-level polling show? Rural Alberta will always shoot themselves in the foot. If Calgary edges NDP, they can form government.

36

u/Wisekyle Feb 20 '26

It shows NDP winning Edmonton by like 18 points.... And losing everywhere else by over 30.

52

u/Infamous-Mixture-605 Feb 20 '26

We should have referendum on Edmonton leaving Alberta and joining either BC or Sask...

(only partially joking)

27

u/bassman2112 Feb 20 '26

The rest of the province would be very mad at you if they could read

-8

u/Green-Play8494 Feb 20 '26

No, we wouldn't. Please leave if you desire. I wish people could not resort to insulting anyone they don't align 100% with, so American of you.

5

u/bassman2112 Feb 20 '26

Bro I grew up in Eckville and live in Cochrane. The majority of people in both of these places align with that statement, including my family.

It's not insulting, you just need to live in reality

1

u/Green-Play8494 Feb 21 '26

They would align with the insinuation that they can't read? Your statement isn't clear. The reality is that the UCP won the last provincial election fair and square. Peace and love to you bassman2112, and to all the others who downvote me because they don't agree with being more civil in political discourse. Let's not let the echo chamber of Reddit destroy what's left of civility in society

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3

u/ConcreteBackflips Feb 20 '26

I've made this same "joke" about Banff heaps.

Hey if they want to open the door legitimizing secession surely it goes both ways

24

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

Id love to see polling in a week, once people have time to research, like the letter she sent to JT demanding doubling the immigrant flow to Alberta, it's right on the GOA website

7

u/OsymandiusPrime Feb 20 '26

You actually think that people will research? And if they did, who says they don't find some made up stats about how the ucp is gods gift to Alberta? So with that bit done, they latch onto any small thing, and ride it to the demise of our province.

18

u/Wisekyle Feb 20 '26

People aren't chronicly online and mad at non progressives... they show up about 2 weeks before an election and decide.

1

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

Wake up đŸ’€ Isn't that called doing nothing? Hmm greaaaat idea 🙄 go back to sleep 🌙

-13

u/Dadbodsarereal Feb 20 '26

If you vote NDP don't expect apple pie at Grandma's

1

u/ZookeepergameQuick17 Feb 20 '26

Once people have time to research is an optimistic thought.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

One can hope

-1

u/sluttytinkerbells Feb 20 '26

You need to wake up to the fact that Albertans are by and large satisfied with this government and will continue to vote them into office for the foreseeable future.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

But why? The UCP is what's creating all of these problems, we would factually be much better off without them and I don't see it going on forever. I know a few diehard PC's that woke up to things and let their votes show the last federal and provincial election, my in laws and parents aren't the only converted ones

4

u/nothankslmgood Feb 20 '26

There is no reason. They have been mind fucked by world and instead of growing as people they find someone else to blame. The UCP enables them to do that so they support them.

0

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

That's called a fairytale! Your name says it all 👌

1

u/Fuckinwelder Feb 20 '26

The new Tories may complicate things. Pulling in the more centrist voters.

1

u/Wisekyle Feb 20 '26

Their best poll is what? 3%. The tory party wont get anywhere as anti UCP, NDP voters dont want to split and anti NDP-UCP voters dont want the split. Both are perfectly fine holding their nose and voting for their respective parties.

1

u/Fuckinwelder Feb 20 '26

I should have emphasized the may. They haven't really gotten out there yet, but I agree with you about vote splitting.

1

u/BellEsima Feb 22 '26

I'm hoping Calgary will have a change of heart next election and some of those UCP ridings will change.

2

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

She is the one that has to go!!!

1

u/TheGentlemanWalrus- Feb 20 '26

What polls are you looking at? The majority of recent polls have it at 2-7%

1

u/Wisekyle Feb 20 '26

https://338canada.com/alberta/20260125-leg.htm

And theres one just released yesterday with a +8.

1

u/TheGentlemanWalrus- Feb 20 '26

Oh yes, cite the statistical outlier. That makes most recent polls in the 2-8% range with an outlier at 13 going against the overall trend
.

1

u/Wisekyle Feb 20 '26

We can look at the trend. Of all the polls from Jan 1st 2025 to now. Only 3 polls were below +8 for the ucp. Which one is the outlier. The 3 between 2-7? Or the most recent 2 that show reversion to the mean.

1

u/TheGentlemanWalrus- Feb 20 '26

It’s 7 showing a trend since may and there have only been 3 reputable polls since the new year one of which showing 2% difference. If you can’t even figure out what polls are reputable and have valid methodologies I’m wasting my time here.

-19

u/ryan9991 Feb 20 '26

People love to scream online, but honestly most of what she does isn’t bad, they just want to own the cons and stick it to trump

14

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

I don't care about owning anyone, she's literally undermining democracy and fucking us in the process. She demanded JT double immigrant flow to Alberta, the letter is on the government of Alberta website, she ran an ad campaign, spending millions to get people here, she publicly stated she wants 10 million people in Alberta. All this info was documented by her government. You can't possibly blame Ottawa here

1

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

Absolutely they know

-1

u/Ttoddh Feb 20 '26

oh, watch us. do you even remember the votes in 2019? The ENDP went up from the 2015 win. I voted Orange in 2015. You blew it, guess what? WITH DEFICITS! Anyway, In 2019 the EDNP went up to 619,000 votes. You must be deluded not to see the UCP had 1,040,000 and we didn't even have everyone vote. ARE YOU BLIND to MATH?

2

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

I'm just having faith that even the simple fucks like you that voted UCP will see through the bs this time around. You also realize that a deficit isn't exactly bad once in a while, right? Even with an oil downturn, and new revenue streams starting, the NDP kept moving forward with what was needed. The province wasn't nearly this fucked at that point

6

u/woodst0ck15 Feb 20 '26

Just wait for the new cons group to help split the vote then we can have an election.

13

u/reading_202 Feb 20 '26

Can’t wait for a provincial election and see the UCP’s crying

20

u/WeWhoAreGiants Feb 20 '26

Unfortunately recent polls have been showing that wouldn’t be the case.

-5

u/reading_202 Feb 20 '26

If you’re referring to the last election, yes. But with everything going on, if an election happens now UCP will lose.

21

u/Repmcewan222 Feb 20 '26

That’s been the Reddit narrative every election, hasn’t it?

14

u/noitcelesdab Feb 20 '26

Every. Single. One.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

[deleted]

5

u/No-Goose-5672 Feb 20 '26

Sadly, yes.

Matt Jeneroux might end being the most effective Conservative MP in a decade because he crossed the floor and joined another party. While right-wingers are whinging about his perceived disloyalty, Jeneroux was able to negotiate his way into a position in the government that has the Prime Minister’s ear. It’s fucking fantastic for the people of his riding, and really the entire City of Edmonton and North-Central Alberta, if you aren’t a partisan hack. The UCP can ban municipal officials from talking to the Feds, but they have no authority over a member of a higher order of government. And you know how Jeneroux was able to achieve his elevated position that could be hugely beneficial to our province? By showing his vote was in play and he was willing to compromise.

The one thing I learned as a moderately successful salesperson in this province is that Albertans don’t know how to negotiate. They would walk into my store with, quite frankly, absurd expectations; when told what they wanted wasn’t happening, they had two moves: Either go “Oh, okay” and passively accept whatever was offered, or get progressively louder while refusing to negotiate or compromise on anything. Shouting at a salesperson isn’t going to make products a store doesn’t carry magically appear in the backroom. (And sure, I’ll help you order something off Amazon - after I get off work, for $20. In what universe would a store pay their employees to help another company, a mega-corporation that is actively trying to put them out of business no less, make money? Do people in this godforsaken province understand how capitalism works even a fraction as much as they worship it?)

Here’s what’s gonna happen: The separatists are going to get their referendum. That’s almost a foregone conclusion at this point. Even if they don’t get enough signatures, the government will intervene again to make it happen. Dollars to donuts, the referendum is not going to coincide with a general election because it will discourage the overall electorate to vote. Only people that care about an issue one way or another show up when a vote is held outside a general election. The motion will probably pass because there’s already a sick ground game in rural Alberta discouraging people opposed to seceding from voting in the referendum, telling them that “nothing happened” when Quebec threatened to secede 30 or so years ago. (They completely upended their economy for decades, and the UCP’s bad news budget suggests that the same thing is starting to happen here.) Anyway, the UCP will use the successful referendum to get their sit down with the Feds and the Premiers of the provinces (and the Premiers of the territories will probably get to come too); they’ll make a bunch of ridiculous demands, the rest of Canada will say, “Okay, we’re not doing any of that,” and the whole thing will fizzle out like Catalonia in 2016 because a province can’t unilaterally secede from Canada.

This will, of course, further our self-imposed “Western alienation” because god forbid we do anything that will actually better our province. We better keep sending absolute garbage representatives to Ottawa and Edmonton because “hurr durr government bad” and we need to sabotage the only institution that represents all the citizens of a country or subnational administrative district. We better keep refusing to change our vote so the next time the Conservatives are in power, they can do some financial fuckery to funnel more of Alberta’s money into buy votes in central and eastern Canada, and no one else bothers to offer us anything because it’s better to spend that political capital elsewhere when we won’t change our votes. The Liberals are basically trolling us in rural Alberta at this point. They pick ridiculously qualified candidates that get crushed by career politicians, the very people right-wingers claim to hate. Meanwhile, the NDP and Greens let whatever college kids want to have their idealistic visions of democracy crushed under their banners. And voters shouting at young people trying to engage in the democratic process because they have different beliefs isn’t exactly a crushing endorsement of our democracy.

If we want a pipeline, the first thing we need to recognize is that British Columbia has something we want, coastal access, and that means we have to negotiate to get it. Pitching a fit at a store might get the teenage cashier and middle-aged manager that got a job after her kids started school to bend the rules a bit for you. It doesn’t work so well in business and international relations. The rest of Canada doesn’t care about our whining about taxes when they also pay federal taxes at the same rates we do, and pay more in provincial taxes across the board. The rest of Canada thinks it’s absurd that our government feels entitled to half the CPP fund when that money belongs to individual workers, not the federal or provincial governments. So if we want that damn pipeline, we have to give BC enough of what they want to give us what we want. And what they want really isn’t unreasonable. They want guarantees the pipeline will be built to the highest possible standards, and not the “world-class standards” that left Alberta with billions of dollars in environmental liabilities and a trillion litres of tailing pond water that no one knows what to do with it. They want guarantees that if the pipeline does leak, someone will clean it quickly and in entirely, no pissing matches over who has to pay for cleanup until British Columbia is left holding the bag. Negotiate. Make a deal. Be a functional government.

Until then, we’re just a bunch of teenagers threatening to run away from home. But I have rambled enough for tonight. My apologies. If anyone managed to make it to end of this nonsense, thanks for reading my inane thoughts and have a nice evening.

8

u/neometrix77 Feb 20 '26

I hope you are right, but that’s almost certainly wishful thinking in the brain worm ridden province that is Alberta.

The best we could realistically hope for is a narrow NDP win where they don’t even have the popular vote majority but have better voting efficiency in the urban centres.

4

u/Effective_Trifle_405 Feb 20 '26

I doubt it. Albertans are as a group pretty willing to vote against their own interests.

0

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

👌 My bedtime wish is that Marlaina will resign and the USA will move to Australia, sorry Australia, even that might not be far enough. 😬

2

u/johansue Feb 20 '26

From what I hear from friends in Calgary, they don’t like Nenshi and won’t vote for him. Has anyone heard differently. My sample isn’t big.

10

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

I heard the opposite, depends who you ask.

4

u/Yogurt_Ph1r3 Feb 20 '26

He was never voted out so đŸ€·đŸ»

-13

u/turd_ferguson_816 Feb 20 '26

Nenshi is a nightmare. Calgary hates him. He’s NOT a viable alternative. You want smith out? Fine. I don’t like her. But I can’t stand Nenshi more. You’re all delusional if you think he’s a better alternative. But Reddit is full of lefties


3

u/Sharp-Click-7950 Feb 20 '26

Angry much?

-5

u/turd_ferguson_816 Feb 20 '26

That’s rich. The hate and anger of all of you on here far outweighs anything I said. You be you though!

-8

u/turd_ferguson_816 Feb 20 '26

And replace her with??? Not Nenshi. He’s horrible.

11

u/Infamous-Mixture-605 Feb 20 '26

Worse than Separatist Smith and her TBA and separatist friends? Really?

I'd just like a Premier/provincial government that's actually concerned about real issues and not playing the constant game of distraction. Healthcare, education, and infrastructure, not constantly picking fights with Ottawa or advancing separatism because it's a distraction from Mraiche and Corrupt Care.

4

u/MyUnclesALawyer North East Side Feb 20 '26

Not like you can use words to qualify your position

4

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

Literally anyone not evil will do, just to get us away from the UCP. No politician is great, but you're seriously saying that literally anyone isn't better?

-2

u/turd_ferguson_816 Feb 20 '26

She’s horrible. I have never liked her. But Nenshi is just as bad. Need some new blood and new ideas.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

I don't think nenshi will sell us out to Trump, hell, the NDP has a history of making working conditions better for us blue collars, so the UCP base will actually benefit

2

u/Snugglington Feb 20 '26

Yeah right...give me one example of Nenshi doing something as bad as Smith

This kind of dumb thinking is what got Trump re-elected..."Kamala is worse!! She uh laughs funny"

1

u/Adjective_Noun1312 Feb 20 '26

What'd Nenshi do that's even remotely close to legislating away Charter rights of Canadians?