2026-10-27 · CBC News
🔮 UCP board candidates must sign declaration to abide by Alberta's vote to stay in Canada
Pro-independence activists running for positions say they'll sign, but won't abandon beliefs
The United Conservative Party is requiring all candidates for its board positions to sign a declaration that they’ll abide by the Alberta referendum’s clear rejection of separating from Canada, as part of Premier Danielle Smith’s push to assert her party as a federalist movement.
Multiple pro-independence advocates seeking to win UCP director posts told CBC News on Tuesday that they’re willing to sign the agreement, but it won’t change their long-term aspirations for an independent or sovereign Alberta.
Last week, after Albertans voted by a three-to-one margin to stay in Canada and not pursue an independence referendum, Smith urged the UCP members on both sides of the referendum to avoid splitting apart and unite behind a pro-Canada position.
She also announced she expects all election candidates, party board members and riding presidents to abandon separatist advocacy — or “join a different party.”
This new declaration that all party board candidates are being asked to sign is the first apparent attempt to put that expectation into writing. assertive
The Aporia