Premier Danielle Smith is soon flying to Nashville, Tennessee to meet with the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, Head of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, and the CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation.
These meetings with local officials in Nashville are somewhat comical because of how low-level they are for a provincial premier’s international trip. Imagine the Governor of Tennessee travelling to Alberta to meet with the CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce but not arranging a meeting with the Premier.
It would be strange, right?
One political strategist I recently spoke with suggested that the meetings could either be a cover for a meeting with a more important US official that was cancelled at the request of Canada’s trade negotiators or a cover for a meeting with a more important US official that will happen (remember Smith’s surprise trip to Mar-a-Lago in January 2025?).
It’s also possible these low-level meetings were arranged at the last minute to justify Smith’s vacation to Music City USA (we’re told that the personal trip has been in the works for months).
Many Albertans have dropped vacation plans to the United States to protest President Donald Trump’s threats and economic attacks against Canada.
Former UCP MLA Nathan Cooper, who works as the Alberta government’s senior representative in Washington DC, will be joining Smith in Nashville, but the government has not publicly released an itinerary of the business side of her time in Nashville.
Smith’s less than enthusiastic response to Trump’s latest round of tariffs targeting Canadian imports and his public attacks on our country was widely panned. Her reluctance to respond with retaliatory economic measures put her out of step with other provincial premiers, most notably Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford.
According to a poll from the Angus Reid Institute, sixty-four percent of Albertans support Prime Minister Mark Carney walking away from negotiations. The same poll showed that a large number of federal Conservative Party voters opposed Carney’s decision — and that group represents a big part of Smith’s United Conservative Party voter coalition.
Smith spent much of early 2025 travelling to the United States to woo Trump administration officials and MAGA influencers in the President’s orbit.
Although Smith’s connections to MAGA media circles opened doors that would not open for other Canadian premiers, which is helpful for creating lines of communications, it’s unclear whether her effort had any influence on Trump himself. Maybe the CEO of the Tennessee tourism department has some influence in the White House?
Nenshi kicks off series of Vote to Save Canada rallies
There are 49 days left until Albertans cast 10 separate referendum ballots on October 19. Rallies held over the weekend aimed to pump some energy into what has been a fairly sleepy referendum campaign.
In Calgary, NDP leader Naheed Nenshi launched the first in a series of Vote to Save Canada rallies being organized by the NDP Official Opposition Caucus.
Nenshi was joined by Calgary-Edgemont MLA Julia Hayter at the rally of supporters clad in red and white and waving maple leaf flags. The NDP’s For Alberta, For Canada has been one of the main campaigns focused on door-to-door canvassing and lawn sign placement ahead of October 19.
Former NDP MLA Shannon Phillips wrote about the NDP’s campaign and current political position for the Forward Weekly newsletter last week.
Alberta separatists gather to save a “Province in Peril”
Around 800 Alberta separation supporters gathered at the Legislature on Saturday for a three-hour long rally organized by the Alberta Prosperity Project.
Dubbed by the organizers as a rally to save “a province in peril,” event speakers included the APP’s Mitch Sylvestre and Jeffrey Rath, and other guests who spoke about the dangers of COVID-19 vaccines and other issues popular in separatist circles.
Many separation supporters at the rally were bussed to Edmonton from smaller communities and rural areas across the province.
The separatist rally was hosted by YouTubers Madison Holmes and Maycee Holmes. The sisters were awarded the Rising Star Award at the UCP’s 2025 Annual General Meeting.
I wandered down to the Legislature to watch part of the separatist rally and for most of the time I was there an evangelical pastor delivered a sermon and someone else spoke about the dangers of COVID-19 vaccines and the upcoming parliamentary inquiry led by Conservative MP Dean Allison. It was a good indication of where the Alberta separatist movement is rooted.
Perhaps signalling a quiet split in the separatist movement, this event did not include prominent separatists Keith Wilson and Tanya Clemens, who plan to hold their own rally at the Legislature on October 17.
New poll shows 74 per cent of Albertans want province to stay in Canada
According to a new poll from Research Co., 74 per cent of Albertans say they would vote for the province to remain in Canada, while 22 per cent would cast a ballot in favour of the Government of Alberta commencing the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada.
The same poll asked Albertans who they trusted on the issue of separatism:
More than half say they “definitely” or “probably” trust former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper (51%) and current Canadian prime minister Mark Carney (also 51%). The rating is lower for current federal Official Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre (47%), current provincial Official Opposition leader Naheed Nenshi (46%), former Alberta premier Rachel Notley (40%), current Alberta premier Danielle Smith (37%) and former Alberta premier Jason Kenney (32%).
Éric Grenier’s helpful Alberta referendum poll tracker puts support for Alberta remaining in Canada at 70 per cent of decided voters and support for leaving at 25.6 per cent, with only 4.4 per cent of Albertans undecided on the matter.
The Peace Country a hotspot for UCP nomination challenges
The Peace Country has turned into a hotspot of UCP MLAs facing challenges in party nominations ahead of the next provincial election. MLA Nolan Dyck is facing a challenge from Robin Coward in Grande Prairie at a nomination meeting on September 1 and MLA Dan Williams is facing a challenge from Dave Long in Peace River at a vote of local members on September 10 and 11.
Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Ron Wiebe was spared a nomination challenge when the UCP disqualified challenger Karen Peters, but the party has not officially announced his acclamation.
Meanwhile, closer to Edmonton, former UCP MLA Jordan Walker defeated separatist organizer and former UCP constituency president Kathy Flett in the party’s nomination in Sherwood Park. Walker walked away with 253 votes to Flett’s with 136 votes.
A number of updates have been added to the list of nomination candidates:
Rolly Ashdown is the newest candidate to enter the Calgary-Shaw by-election. The former Rocky View County reeve and councillor will run as an Independent candidate in the September 14 by-election.
Ashdown is the former president of the UCP association in Chestermere-Strathmore and ran for the federal Conservative nomination in Bow River in 2014. He retired from municipal politics in 2017 and was unsuccessful in his bid to return to Rocky View County council in 2025.
Former RCMP corporal Holly LeFrancois was nominated as the NDP candidate in the West Yellowhead riding.
Lawyer Ben Lotery is the latest candidate to enter the UCP nomination contest in the Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland riding. Lotery was listed as the Chief Financial Officer for the Edmonton Forward third-party advertiser in Edmonton’s 2025 municipal elections.
Sherrisa Celis and Clarence Molina have entered the UCP nomination contest in Calgary-South East.
Former UCP MLA Prasad Panda is believed to be running for the party’s nomination in Calgary-Edgemont.
Panda represented the riding from 2019 to 2023 and previously represented Calgary-Foothills as a Wildrose, then UCP MLA, from 2015 to 2019. He was Minister of Infrastructure from 2019 to 2022 and Minister of Transportation from June to October 2022.
It’s NOW for Lougheed!
Fifty-five years ago today, Albertans woke up to newspaper headlines heralding the province’s first change of government in 36 years. Peter Lougheed’s Progressive Conservatives rode a wave of change into the 1971 election and defeated the long ruling Social Credit Party led by Premier Harry Strom. It would be another 43 years before Albertans would read headlines like this again.
Irony would be Smith being turned back at the border
While I understand the importance of Calgary in the political sphere that is Alberta. Perhaps someone with influence or remind Alberta politicians of all parties, EDMONTON. ALBERTA, CANADA IS THE CAPITAL CITY. It seems that every major and or minor political announcement or event is held in Calgary. It is particularly gaulling that the Government of Alberta has always made major and minor announcements in Calgary. Just something that has stuck in my craw since I have been able to vote.