Two unelected leaders guiding the pro-Canada and Alberta independence sides, leading to a fall referendum on the issue, rarely agree on anything.
But Jeffrey Rath of the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) and Thomas Lukaszuk take similar views on the five-member Calgary School of Public Policy panel recruited by the UCP government to assess the economic impacts of transitioning to a breakaway Alberta — that it favours the independence viewpoint.
“It’s like she basically appointed a panel of firewall signatories,” said Lukaszuk, who leads the Forever Canadian campaign to foil separatist aspirations.
The so-called firewall letter, published in 2001 and co-signed by political scientist Ted Morton, advocated for greater Alberta autonomy and called for the province to depart from Canada on issues such as pensions, policing, taxation, health care, and Senate reform — many stances taken by the UCP government.
Morton’s presence on the assessment panel, said Lukaszuk, is emblematic of the body’s likely leanings.
“They should be fitting (Morton) with a separatist suit — he’s the author of the firewall,” he said of the former Alberta government finance minister.
“(Premier Danielle Smith) has basically appointed a panel of firewall signatories.”
Other members of the panel include prominent economist Jack Mintz, who has advised Conservative politicians and been highly critical of federal government policy.
A 2020 book, co-edited by Morton and Mintz, said: “None of us favour separation as a first option. But we also see it as a viable last resort if all else fails.”
Former Saskatchewan health minister Janice McKinnon, who advanced cost-cutting and private medicine in that province, and Business Council of Alberta president Adam Legge, who expressed concern over the economic costs of Alberta separatism, are also part of the effort, as is Cenovus board chair Alex Pourbaix.
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Priddis-area lawyer Rath, who’s been an outspoken advocate for Alberta independence, mocked Smith for the choice of panel members, repeating the often-heard accusation she’s straddling both sides of the debate. And in this case, she’s favouring his team, he added.
“If there was ever (Smith) playing both sides of the fence, this is it,” he said.
“These guys are on our side — we’re pretty confident they will confirm our Value of Freedom document.”
That document says Alberta independence would save the new country about $70 billion, money that would no longer be sent to Ottawa and incur one-time setup costs of no more than $5.7 billion.
Earlier this month, Smith said transitioning to an independent Alberta could cost $400 billion, a figure Rath has called ridiculous, but a number of economists have called the APP’s numbers untenable or incomplete.
Smith defends panel
On the Corus radio show Your Province, Your Premier on Saturday, a text caller expressed concern the panel would favour Alberta independence.
Smith pushed back, saying the group was chosen to objectively review the economic data and deliver a report later in the summer before Albertans vote in an Oct. 19 referendum on whether to stay in Canada or trigger a process to hold a binding referendum on independence.
Mintz, she noted, had once worked with the C.D. Howe Institute, which she dubbed a “centrist think-tank.”
“That’s a fairly moderate group when it comes to business advocacy,” Smith said of the panel members.
“I think the finance minister did a pretty darn good job putting that (panel) together to ensure the work is overseen independently . . . to have a credible assessment of that we needed to hire some good minds.”
The fruits of the review will be examined by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe, whom Smith called a “Mr. straight and narrow, show me the facts.”
Tombe has questioned the APP’s numbers, criticism rejected by Rath.
Forever Canadian organizer Thomas Lukaszuk arrives at a Forever Canadian lawn sign pick-up event at the Renfrew Community Centre in Calgary on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
‘It’s been really, really positive,’ Lukaszuk says of campaign efforts
Meanwhile, Lukaszuk is continuing his RV-borne tour of Alberta to spread the pro-Canada message, with the group’s Unity Bus taking first prize among participants of the Innisfail Rotary Rodeo parade on Saturday.
The parade, he said, also featured a pro-Alberta independence entry.
That result, he said, is indicative of a level of support in rural Alberta for his message that many observers didn’t expect.
“I thought we’d get into towns and it would get quite ugly but it’s been really, really positive,” said Lukaszuk, a former Alberta Progressive Conservative deputy premier.
He said his group has so far distributed more than 20,000 lawn signs throughout the province, including 400 in the Bonnyville home of separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre.
Rath says his group remains in contact with U.S. officials
On Saturday, Rath scoffed at opinion polls that show his movement badly trailing the pro-Canada side, including a recent survey suggesting that gulf is 74 per cent to 19 per cent in Calgary.
And after making several trips to Washington D.C. to discuss Alberta independence with Trump administration officials, Rath said he has no immediate plans to return there, but added links that were forged continue to endure.
“Suffice to say we remain in touch with our contacts in the State Department and they remain in contact with us,” he said.
But after making past public statements that the goals of his movement could be either having Alberta become a U.S. territory or state, Rath said that’s no longer the case, insisting his movement has “evolved” past that, given its virtual political impossibility in the U.S.
“Those (Washington) meetings were planned as strictly exploratory,” said Rath.
Lawyer Jeffrey Rath, seen on May 4, 2026, when separatist petition group Stay Free Alberta delivered signature documentation to Elections Alberta headquarters.
While Rath and Lukaszuk seldom agree, they’re both critical of Smith, though for different reasons.
Lukaszuk accuses Smith of masking her separatist loyalties while Rath says the premier has betrayed her supporters by publicly championing the pro-Canada side.
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