Betrayal on the ballot

On Oct. 19th, Albertans go to the polls to vote on 10 questions. The first question asks Albertans if they wish to begin the process for a referendum on separation from Confederation. The rest are questions about whether or not Alberta should adhere to the Constitution itself — questions layered with racism and xenophobia. All Canadians and classrooms should take a close look at these questions.

Should Alberta ignore Canada, its laws and its people despite only 23 per cent of Albertans indicating that they would vote for separation (coupled with a $130-million referendum price tag)?

While local plebiscites might seem highly democratic, consider that the Oct. 19 referendum and the 10 questions did not come from the Alberta legislature — the body made of elected representatives. The United Conservative Party (UCP) did not run on a platform of separatism. Rather, the idea to separate came directly from the executive, UCP leader and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in collusion with a band of unelected and anti-Canadian bandits.

Judicial rulings have deemed the referendum unconstitutional. Enter the notwithstanding clause.

This level of authoritarian and illiberal distrust for Confederation is what concerns Alberta writer Patrick Lennox in his latest, On Treason: Alberta Separatism, Foreign Interference, and Canada’s Survival in a Revolutionary Age — the newest title in publisher Biblioasis’ Field Notes series of books.

A former RCMP investigator who worked on security and foreign interference cases, Lennox is deeply concerned about the Albertan separatist movement, as it is backed by the American far-right, including the Trump administration, is fuelled by Russian foreign interference and propped up by local leaders who have no concern for the rule of law (many of whom have faced sanctions from medical and legal bodies, not to mention fines for violating election laws).

Drawing from his experience investigating the COVID-19 blockades at Coutts, Alta. and the trucker convoy in Ottawa, Lennox draws clear lines between those hell-bent on creating disorder and chaos — fomenting a dystopian nostalgia of the nation of Alberta — and the current separatist movement. And the prime culprits are Danielle Smith and the UCP.

“The separatist movement that had coalesced around Coutts and David Parker’s Take Back Alberta had its marching orders from the premier: go get the reduced number of signatures required to trigger a succession referendum,” Lennox explains. This was done through a watering down of Alberta election laws and duplicity on the part of the premier. On the one hand, Smith cries out for Canada; on the other, she fans the flames to tear it apart.

And it is these acts, prior to her election as leader of the UCP and premier — and followed by her relationships and meetings with Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, President Donald Trump and other American officials — that leads Lennox to describe her as a traitor, and her actions as treasonous. “Inviting contagion into our polity, as the Smith government has done, is treason,” he argues.

Furthermore, the separatist movement, in the form of the Alberta Prosperity Project and the Centurion Movement, received the entire Alberta voting list from the Alberta Republican Party. The largest privacy breach in Canada ensured the personal information of all Alberta voters is in the hands of traitors to Canada.

Based on his experience in the intelligence community, Lennox makes a clear case that the Russian government would most certainly have the list in its possession.

Meanwhile, it is the First Nations that are defending Canada. While the current federal government is appeasing Smith and her team with pipelines, it is First Nations who are defending Canada and its treaty obligations. The numbered treaties were signed before Alberta existed. Removing Alberta from the federation would be unconstitutional — as already decided in the courts.

As they always do, First Nations leaders are feeling that yoke of responsibility through an increase in racism and hostility from the far right. Indigenous Peoples in this country continue to teach us how to walk on this Earth.

The elixir is to push back, writes Lennox, and to call out the level of treason and authoritarianism in the form of courage and love. Leaning heavily on Albert Camus, he argues that we need courage to put ourselves out there, to not tolerate hate and divisiveness and to love, to actively care for something — in this case Canada, one of the last bastions of liberal democracy left in the world. While peace, order and good government might always not be perfect, what is the alternative?

On Treason is essential reading for all Canadians who dearly love and cherish this country, for all its warts. It is a rallying cry against cynicism, hate, misinformation and racism. And it asks us all, even as Canadians, to contemplate what we won’t tolerate.

In Scotland, the U.K., Catalonia and Crimea, foreign forces and authoritarian brutes are using disinformation and separatist movements to destroy liberal democracies. If we fail to see the blaring signals, what we know and love about Canada may very well vanish in front of our eyes.

Matt Henderson is superintendant of the Winnipeg School Division.