EDMONTON — Stay Free Alberta CEO Mitch Sylvestre is angry with Premier Danielle Smith's decision to hold a referendum on whether to hold a referendum on Alberta independence despite having received over 301,000 signatures calling for a constitutional vote on leaving Canada. "We just continue to have one disappointment after another disappointment after another disappointment," said Sylvestre in an interview with the Western Standard. And, you know what, for the most part, I don't think any of them are called for.""We expect, uh, we expect to be given a path if we, if we reach the threshold and we do the work that we shouldn't have to play around playing silly games for forever, basically.".Sylvestre's comments come after Smith announced that Albertans will not be having a binding vote on whether Alberta should pursue independence, as he and over 301,000 Albertans had requested; instead, they will vote on whether they want the government to work towards a vote. "Well, I was surprised, disappointed, and angry," Sylvestre said. "You know what? I think it's just more kicking the can down the road.""The way we see this is that they're seeing a very real threat here, and I think they should be, to the fact that maybe we can win this vote, and I a hundred percent believe we can. So, I think what they're trying to do is delay the process as much as they can." He and other Alberta independence supporters had believed Smith would follow the will of many of her UCP members and call for a referendum on Alberta independence, despite Justice Shaina Loeanrd having dismissed Stay Free Alberta's petition on the matter. Smith said she was doing so by giving Albertans a chance to vote on independence, but could not put a direct question on the ballot, claiming that a judge would have immediately shut it down until after Leonard's is overturned by an appeal, which could take years. .Individuals on both sides of the independence movement have been divided on the matter. Some, such as constitutional lawyer Keith Wilson, have said they are displeased that a direct vote is not happening in October, but can understand why it is not possible at this time. Others, such as Sylvestre, believe Smith could have asked the question if she wanted to, but she chose to ignore the voices of her supporters who wanted to vote on Alberta independence. "That's got absolutely no teeth at all to make them do anything," Sylvestre said about Smith's referendum question. "What we signed a petition for was for a constitutional question that would open the constitution of Canada and make changes," Sylvestre said. "However, we find that Aboriginal people don't have to open the constitution to make changes. They just take it to a local judge and it seizes the whole process.".This frustration with Smith's decision has led to many individuals online, with some calling for her to be removed as party leader. Sylvestre is not going so far as to call for her removal, but he is uncertain whether she will ultimately deliver them the opportunity to vote on Alberta independence, which he claims is all they have been asking for."Up until last Thursday, I thought that the best path forward would be under Premier Smith, and she still has time to show us that that is the case," Sylvestre said. "I've asked it many, many, many town halls, 'If it comes to a choice between any leader in Alberta independence, how would you choose?' and it's unanimous. Alberta independence is the answer. So, if the Premier chooses to allow this vote to happen, like we've been told it would, by them, then I don't see any need to do anything drastic.".Despite his personal feelings, he understands why supporters are calling for Smith and other caucus members to be removed, and he said they have no one to blame but themselves. "The big problem is the government's not representing the people that put them there," Sylvestre said. "The government's not representing 301,000 conservatives and actually 400,000 others that say they want to vote on independence. So, the government is asking for its own trouble.""How do they expect people to be happy about what they're doing when they get clear direction from their base, and then they find a reason not to do it? I wouldn't expect anything but a hostile reaction from the people, especially based on what's been going on for the last three or four or five years in this country." .Conversely, many individuals have said removing Smith will only fracture the UCP and hand Naheed Nenshi and the Alberta NDP a majority government, which would kill the independence movement. This disagreement has led to some infighting online among independence supporters, but Sylvestre said that it will not harm the movement. According to him, individuals can fight and argue if they wish, but the independence movement will keep moving forward. "The freedom movement is fine," Sylvestre said. "We have the ability to disagree with each other and continue to go forward. "We're not going to form another party. We're not going to do it. We're going to work within the system we have. We're fine. And I promise you, in two weeks, we're going to come back stronger than we ever have." .As for whether the storm of recent events surrounding Alberta independence has led Sylvestre to believe the grassroots movement could benefit from a single leader, his opinion remains unchanged. "Like, who's that going to be?" Sylvestre said. "It's not going to be a politician. It's certainly not going to be any of the podcasters that are out there or the guys that are thrusting himself forward." He said the movement is better off not giving their federalist opposition a singular individual to target. "We need everybody pulling in the same direction," Sylvestre said. "We need everybody. We cannot have, as far as I'm concerned, and I've said this before, somebody that they can take out. When they take out a leader, we have to have 10 or 12 leaders out there ready to go, and that's what we've got going on.""We've got people over here and people over here and people over there. And we have a lot of people that are speaking in favour of this movement. And that's a good thing. So do we need a politician to take lead on this? Never happened." .As October approaches, Sylvestre said he and the Alberta Prosperity Project are focused on educating Albertans about Alberta independence and ensuring they deliver a clear "yes" mandate after the referendum. "Where we're at is we're organizing people," Sylvestre said. "We're organizing our volunteers to get to work. We're going to do door knocking. We're going to do pop-ups. We're going to do fairs. We're going to have a rally.""We're going to do all manner of things to do what we do. And we're going to continue to do that. And away we go."
