MORGAN: Alberta’s independence movement must dump its bad actors before voters dump it

Alberta is at a turning point in history. Mitch Sylvestre with Stay Free Alberta presented over 301,000 signatures to the Elections Alberta office, demanding that a referendum be held on Alberta's independence. The signature collection process was meticulous, as over 7,000 volunteers registered, underwent training, and then demanded identification for every signature submitted to the petition. The bar to trigger a referendum was set at 178,000 signatures, and it was comfortably surpassed. It was a remarkable accomplishment achieved during the darkest, coldest months of winter. Anybody claiming it was an easy thing to achieve is either lying or has never petitioned before.The petition presentation was celebratory as it should be. Hundreds of supporters gathered for the event, and the energy was palpable. Unfortunately, a dark cloud of controversy hung in the background due to the alleged leak of voter information by David Parker’s Centurion project. A news cycle that should have been overwhelmed with positive imagery of the independence movement passing an important milestone was disrupted with constant chatter about laws being broken and privacy being violated. It hasn’t crushed the movement by any means, but it was a self-inflicted setback that never should have happened.With the petitioning finished, the independence movement must now evolve into the campaigning phase in anticipation of a fall referendum. This will be different than the petitioning campaign. In petitioning, people who already supported independence engaged themselves and sought out the signatures of hundreds of thousands of Albertans who wanted to see a referendum question on the issue. While the process in itself surely led to converting many to the independence side of the fence, it still left a large and mushy undecided middle of the population who must be won over by October 19, and it won’t be easy..To begin with, the independence movement must be squeaky clean. There can be no whiffs of corruption or misdoing, or it will sink any chance of winning the trust and support of citizens by voting time. Perhaps the mess caused by the Centurion Project debacle is something of a blessing, as it offered this hard lesson while there are still nearly six months to campaign.A mistake made by many independence supporters when the news broke of the apparent misuse and public sharing of information from the electors’ list was to circle the wagons and try to defend it. Some tried to liken the information to that contained in phone books, and others tried to claim the leak was all part of a conspiracy orchestrated by Elections Alberta. Both approaches only created mistrust within the general population, which now must be countered. The breach of information should have been immediately condemned and quarantined.Now, it appears a former premier had his home address shared during a meeting. The Centurion Project managed to make Jason Kenney a sympathetic figure and a victim..When the independence referendum is held in Alberta this fall, it will be a yes or no question on the ballot, but voters will have to answer two questions for themselves before making their mark. They will, of course, have to determine if they feel Alberta should be independent, and they will be asking themselves if they trust the independence movement to lead the province to a better place. A person committed to independence could still end up voting no if it appears the movement is dominated by corrupted or inept players within it. Mitch Sylvestre responded excellently when asked about the Centurion Project debacle. He said that David Parker had approached him with the concept, but that he felt there could be issues with the legality and chose not to be associated with it. That apparently led to friction between Sylvestre and Parker, which is a good thing. Mitch directly addressed the issue and stated clearly how it has nothing to do with the group petitioning. It also exposed a glimmer of David Parker’s nature.The independence movement is made up of a number of groups, and that has been an advantage and a disadvantage. It has allowed people to move forward together toward a shared goal, but it has led to some mixed messaging..There will be no political party or singular organization speaking for the independence movement in the next few months. The movement must still try to centralize some of the messaging to a degree and ensure that only credible people speak for it.Characters like David Parker and Cam Davies, who already have established, checkered histories, must be kept as far out of the movement as possible.People like Mitch Sylvestre must step up and take a more active role in speaking for the movement. The middle must be won, and Sylvestre’s rational, positive, and calm approach wins people over. It will take some strength and potential conflict to move the damaging elements within the movement into the background or out of it altogether. But this must be done if the trust of voters will be gained. They don’t see a bunch of different groups. They just see one independence movement, and if mavericks are continued to be embraced, it will only give opponents ammunition.The independence movement has flourished almost despite itself. To get over the largest hurdle, though, it must begin acting strategically and prove it is trustworthy. It can’t sustain scandals, and to prevent those, the known bad actors must be ejected sooner rather than later.

MORGAN: Alberta’s independence movement must dump its bad actors before voters dump it

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