Alberta café owner closes business after losing customers over separatist events

COLD LAKE –  An Alberta café owner says his business has shuttered after he hosted separatists and lost customers.

John Ewanek says his café in Cold Lake, called Beantrees, was already struggling due to inflation. He says things got worse after he hosted multiple events earlier this year for a group collecting signatures for a petition seeking a referendum on whether Alberta should quit Canada.

He says that after those events, customers who didn’t agree with his opinions stopped coming and he eventually closed the business.

“It was just a nail in the coffin,” the 55-year-old said. “I probably lost about 15 per cent of my revenue and never recovered from that.”

He said musicians who were scheduled to perform at his café also cancelled their appearances, and someone left a sign with an expletive outside condemning the separatist events.

He closed the café, which had been a popular hub in Cold Lake since 1999, in late June and is now selling his assets to stay afloat. He said he bought the business from the previous owner in 2024.

Elections Alberta announced last week the petition by the separatist group Stay Free Alberta was successful. The agency said it verified nearly 223,000 signatures out of almost 280,000 valid names counted. It needed almost 178,000 signatures to be successful.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has cited the separatist petition and a competing pro-Canada petition as the reason why she has put a separation question on the province’s Oct. 19 referendum.

The question asks Albertans whether they want to remain in Canada or hold a second, binding referendum on leaving the country.

Ewanek said he plans to vote in favour of having a second referendum on Alberta’s place in Canada because he is a separatist.

“I believe separation is the way,” he said.

He said he joined Alberta’s so-called freedom movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said he disagreed with the public health measures put in place by Ottawa to curb the virus, including mask mandates.

“It really affected me personally because I have anxiety issues and not seeing faces really affected me,” he said.

He claimed Alberta should also leave Canada largely because Ottawa has mismanaged Canada’s food system. He said not enough food is grown domestically and it’s highly processed.

“I just can’t even touch commercial chicken anymore. It’s just disgusts me,” he said.

He said he doesn’t regret hosting the separatist events, which saw fewer than a dozen signatories.

“Even if we don’t separate, I mean, we ought to talk about this stuff, you know? People don’t want to talk about it.”

Polls have suggested a large majority of Albertans want to stay in Confederation, but the debate is splitting communities.

A rodeo parade in the town of Sundre, northwest of Calgary, was cancelled last month amid threats and abuse after parade organizers rejected a float festooned with Alberta flags.

A pro-separation billboard in the southern town of Taber also garnered attention that same month.

Separatist Cory Morgan, who paid for the billboard, refused to take it down despite an order from the town claiming it’s a public nuisance.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has opposed the separation push and described the fall vote as a  “dangerous bluff.”

He has compared it to Brexit in the U.K., adding that separatists are making unrealistic promises and refuse to acknowledge the pitfalls of separation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2026.

— By Fakiha Baig in Edmonton