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Vol. 20, No. 34, Wednesday, May 28, 2025 www.LamontLeader.com
APP message for Alberta independence heard loud and clear in Mundare BY JANA SEMENIUK Over 150 people came out to the Mundare Recreation Centre on May 21 to hear speakers from the Alberta Prosperity Project make the case for Alberta’s Independence. What was once a movement laser focused on Alberta creating its own pension, turned into a movement for Alberta to become its own country after the Liberal party of Canada was elected to a fourth term this past April. “Six weeks ago (before the election) I was an independent Alberta in Canada guy,” said APP CEO Mitch Sylvestre. “Now I see that there’s no path out. We need to become an independent nation, then if Canada wants to renegotiate with us, it can be from a position of strength and we’ll be able to make changes.” Sylvestre, a small business owner and Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul UCP constituency association president, hosted the event with two other speakers who provided additional perspectives; APP Chair and retired head cardio thoracic surgeon Dennis Modry in addition to economist Tanner Hnidey. When the event moderator asked participants to “Raise your hand if you think Canada isn’t working for you anymore,” nearly every person in the audience shot a hand into the air. Modry was the first to speak, noting that Alberta is at a disadvantage nationally due to the constitution and he said there is an imbalance of power that will always put Alberta last. “There's no real mechanism to open and change the constitution which would help fix a lot of these problems, other than Alberta having a successful referendum on Alberta sovereignty,
When the event moderator asked participants to “Raise your hand if you think Canada isn’t working for you anymore,” nearly every person in the audience shot a hand into the air.
Alberta Prosperity Project CEO Mitch Sylvestre speaks to a crowd of more than 150 people who attended their May 21 event in Mundare. Photo: Jana Semeniuk that is the only leverage that we have to make change that's been necessary for decades,” said Modry. When economist Tanner Hnidey spoke, he addressed many common concerns including the issue of Alberta being landlocked. “What commentators too often, unfortunately omit, is that while an independent Alberta would be geographically landlocked, a dependent
Alberta, an Alberta that's in Canada right now, is also geographically landlocked.,” he said. “We’re already landlocked right now. The question actually is, would an independent Alberta navigate the challenges of land locking better than an Alberta within Canada would? That's the question.” At the conclusion of the event, people were invited to line up and ask a
question of the speakers, of which 10 people obliged. Modry, Hnidey and Sylvestre each tackled questions, one of which was whether the government could ignore a successful referendum vote on independence. “What if we have a successful referendum, and the government just ignores it, just like they did with the referendum on equalization?” asked one participant. Modry referenced the successful Feb. 2008 referendum Kosovo held where afterwards other countries acknowledged Kosovo’s independence. “And you can guess which two countries were (among) the first to acknowledge Kosovo Sovereignty; Japan and Canada,” he said. “On the day of the successful referendum, (it would be) acknowledged by the U.S. administration probably the President or Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, calling Danielle Smith and saying, Congratulations, you are now a sovereign nation, at which point Danielle Smith should be able to say that we now will unilaterally declare our sovereignty.” In an interview after the event, Sylvestre addressed a counter-petition launched by former Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk who, by his own admission, is vehemently opposed to Alberta independence and looking to stop a referendum vote on independence altogether. Lukaszuk submitted his petition application on March 15, with the referendum question, “Do you agree that Alberta must remain in Canada and any form of Separation be rejected?” Continued on Page 19