EDMONTON — Alberta independence advocate and TPA co-leader Tanya Clemens says Alberta's October referendum is about gaining leverage to negotiate a better place within Canada, not leaving. "This first referendum is about showing that grievance and giving us the leverage to actually be able to come to the negotiation table with Ottawa from a position of strength, and we've never had that before," said Clemens, the co-leader of "Let Alberta Decide," in an interview with the Western Standard. .Alberta’s October referendum will ask Albertans whether they want to remain in Canada or give the UCP government a mandate to begin taking legal steps to pursue a future binding referendum on independence.Clemens is a firm believer in Alberta independence and the "mind-blowing" opportunities it could offer future generations, but she said Albertans are not voting on that yet.Many Alberta independence supporters were frustrated with Premier Danielle Smith when she announced the referendum question, saying it ignored the more than 300,000 Albertans who signed a petition calling for a binding referendum. However, over time, anger turned to optimism as some individuals recognized that a non-binding question could make it easier to sway people frustrated with Ottawa but who have not yet given up on Canada. .Premier Danielle Smith claims to support a "sovereign Alberta within a united Canada." She wants Alberta's relationship with Ottawa to resemble Quebec's. Clemens believes October gives Smith a chance to gain the leverage that helped Quebec secure an advantageous relationship."For the life of me, I don't understand why our premier would be campaigning actively against this," Clemens said. "When, to me, this first referendum is all about empowering her to be able to negotiate with strength to Ottawa. Right now, we're missing that. We're missing the leverage."She said Ottawa might be open to Senate reform and fair representation, undoing policies restricting Alberta's economy, or even ending Canada's equalization payment program. However, that leverage goes away if Albertans vote to remain in Canada. .Let Alberta Decide recently adopted a "Send Ottawa a message" sentiment in its advertising, including social media posts and commercials saying that voting to remain in Canada approves Alberta’s current place in Canada. Critics of Alberta independence claim it is dangerous to vote in favour of furthering the movement and prolonging alleged economic and political uncertainty in order to "Send Ottawa a message." "Is it dangerous to pursue more self-determination?" Clemens said. "Quebec does that. "They have much more self-determination and sovereignty than we do, and a lot of that comes from their leverage. The threat of if you don't give us a seat at the table, we may pursue to stand on our own two feet and leave the Confederation." Her pitch to Albertans is that October's vote is not a "yes" to independence; it is a "yes" to leverage. "Even if you have a deep love for Canada, as most of us do, and that patriotism, but you want more for Alberta, a vote for option two on the referendum empowers our provincial government with all of the negotiating strengths in the world that we have never had," Clemens said.
