EDMONTON — Red Deer-South UCP MLA Jason Stephan says he has voted in favour of the Alberta government pursuing a binding independence referendum, becoming the first caucus member to publicly break Premier Danielle Smith's mantra calling for Albertans to vote for Alberta to remain in Canada on Oct. 19. Stephan confirmed his vote to CBC after a Red Deer town hall, where he addressed Alberta's 10 referendum questions, including whether Albertans want to hold a future binding vote on independence. .The independence question gives Albertans two options. Option one is: "Alberta should remain in Canada." Option two is: "The Government of Alberta should commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada." In a newsletter sent to constituents, Stephan said voting to remain in Canada "entrenches the status quo," and voting for a future referendum "says no to the status quo." The newsletter addresses Canada's struggling economy and asks whether Alberta's oil exports would be used as a trade-war bargaining chip if Ottawa did not face pressure from Alberta's independence movement.It also addresses arguments often made by Alberta independence supporters, including that Alberta has contributed $500 million more to Ottawa than it has received since 2000, that the Canadian constitution is unchangeable, and that it has disproportionate representation in the Senate. "Some admit that Alberta gets a raw deal but say Albertans should not give up and give Ottawa a chance," Stephan wrote in the newsletter. "But Albertans have been giving Ottawa chances for decades. THEY HAVE NO PLAN.""There is only one pipeline that Alberta does not have to FIGHT for, one that has universal support from Ottawa, and that is the ONE-WAY cash pipeline from Albertans to THEM and that will never change." .Smith is one of the people who acknowledge the flaws with Alberta's relationship with Canada, while also calling on Albertans not to give up on the country. “I know there are a lot of Albertans who are voting the way they are for different reasons, but I would say that there's a very large number who are just mad and want to have some way of expressing it,” said Smith on Sept. 22. “I keep telling them the best way to express it is to give me a mandate on those other nine questions. The same goes for leverage. I keep hearing that they think a high vote for independence will give me leverage, but I say I think we have better leverage by saying that we want to work on these nine things together.”Stephan is the only UCP MLA to break ranks and publicly say he intends to vote for Option two, so far. Smith was asked about this on Wednesday, and she asserted that the caucus' position is "a strong Alberta within a united Canada." "But we have a big tent party, and big tent means that different MLAs are able to express different views, but the position of our party, our caucus, and our government remain clear," Smith said. Stephan told CBC that he has not said he wants Alberta to leave Canada. "I've actually always said that I'd love to see Canada fix itself," said Stephan to CBC. "That's what I'd love. We have this awesome potential, and we have so poorly managed it and underachieved, and that makes me very sad.”.Alberta independence supporters rejoiced at an elected official supporting a binding independence referendum, even if he was not voting to leave Canada. "I respect Jason Stephan," wrote Alberta independence advocate Jeffrey Rath in an X post. "He is a lawyer. Unlike Smith he respects democracy and the rights of citizens to vote on fundamental issues. Hopefully he will also respect the wishes of of a super majority of the UCP membership to pursue independence." "He doesn’t necessarily support Alberta’s Independence but at least he understands what leverage is. Jason seems to understand that there is no point in to talking to someone as corrupt as Mark Carney unless you have serious leverage. Things will get interesting when Smith resigns or is removed in the coming months. Jason Stephan will likely have a big role to play.".Many believe a significant number of UCP members support Alberta independence, even if Smith is a federalist, as she claims. The Alberta NDP, led by Naheed Nenshi, has long pushed Smith and the UCP about caucus unity regarding Alberta independence, and Nenshi pounced on the Stephan situation. "She claims her caucus supports Canada but takes no action when Jason Stephan shows he is a separatist over and over again," Nenshi wrote in an X post on Wednesday. "Or when Devin Dreeshen refuses to say if he supports Canada. "It’s clear she runs a separatist party with a separatist caucus and has given them all power and control. So non-separatist UCP MLA’s (if you exist) did you know you were working with a separatist premier? Now that you do, what are you going to do about it?"
