I\u2019m firmly pro-Canada; she was campaigning for independence. Yet we talked \u2014 politely, candidly \u2014 for nearly 15 minutes. I\u2019ve always believed people should feel free to knock on doors and speak their truth, even when I disagree. But there are boundaries.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t set out to quiz her on legal technicalities, but I was curious how the citizen initiative actually worked. She grew visibly nervous explaining how Stay Free Alberta\u2019s volunteer canvassers coordinate with the Alberta Prosperity Project, even though both are led by the same proponent, Mitch Sylvestre<\/a>. Her discomfort stayed with me. As momentum builds toward a possible October referendum, it\u2019s a reminder that passionate causes can sometimes leave ordinary people exposed or uncertain.<\/p>\n We moved past the pleasantries; when she launched into her reasons why Alberta must leave Canada, I gently interrupted. I know the grievances intimately \u2014 I share many of them \u2014 but I don\u2019t believe separation is the answer.<\/p>\n She sighed, glanced down at her clipboard, and paused. Then she smiled and said our civil exchange was a welcome change from the yelling and anger she often faces.<\/p>\n That brief doorstep conversation about deeply held beliefs reminded me, strangely, of my time in Yemen two decades ago, where fundamentalists pressed me to swear allegiance to Islam. The only way I could steady my own rising anger was to say calmly: \u201cCan you understand that my values and beliefs mean as much to me as yours do to you?\u201d<\/p>\n I accepted her brochure, thanked her for showing up, and closed the door. Back in the kitchen, I returned to measuring ingredients for my late mother\u2019s carrot cake, trying to recapture the nostalgic comfort of family tradition. But the reverie had cracked. The knock lingered.<\/p>\n That woman on my porch \u2014 campaigning for Alberta\u2019s divorce from Canada on a cold, snowy April day \u2014 was more than a single voice. She was a living reading on Alberta\u2019s political thermometer, one no pollster or university analyst can fully capture. If separatist canvassers are reaching suburban doorsteps now, with the petition already claiming to have cleared the required 177,732-signature threshold, the temperature is clearly rising. We should brace for strange weather ahead.<\/p>\n For the rest of Canada, this is not a distant provincial sideshow. Alberta\u2019s energy sector, resources and economic weight remain central to national prosperity. A serious push for separation revives old constitutional fault lines and forces every Canadian to confront what holds this country together \u2014 or what could pull it apart.<\/p>\n I posted a quick note and a photo of the brochure on Facebook. The responses flooded in \u2014 more than 500 comments, almost entirely polarized. Supporters listed grievances and demonized opponents; critics ridiculed the separatist side. A few voices tried to inject civility, but the thread quickly turned toxic. In person we could see each other as neighbours; online, we became abstractions, shouting past one another.<\/p>\n Later that same day, a friend called with sad news: Horst Schmid, Alberta\u2019s first Minister of Culture (appointed by then premier Peter Lougheed in 1971), had died<\/a> at age 92. \u201cHe was our Pete Seeger,\u201d said Don Hill. Through food festivals like Heritage Days, folk music, and the arts in every form, Horst brought people together \u2014 because when people gather, they\u2019re less likely to fight. Horst was horrified by efforts to segregate Albertans along lines of identity.<\/p>\n Horst Schmid hosted a weekly cultural radio show on CKUA Edmonton in the late 50\u2019s-60\u2019s. Photo used with permission of the Schmid family.<\/p>\n In a 2018 recorded conversation, Horst told Don and me that it was premier Lougheed\u2019s wife, Jeanne, who had pushed<\/a> for the creation of a dedicated culture ministry \u2014 the first in any Canadian province. (Notably, the first federal minister of Canadian Heritage, which leads national culture and arts initiatives, wasn\u2019t created until 1993).<\/p>\n And it was no token gesture. The new department came with real funding to seed and nurture arts organizations, many of which continue to thrive in Alberta today. It\u2019s often convenient for today\u2019s \u201cprogressives\u201d to overlook the fact that Lougheed\u2019s Progressive Conservative government was a genuine champion of arts funding at every level \u2014 from modest local history projects to the internationally renowned Banff Centre for the Arts. Horst noted with pride that the rest of Canada took notice.<\/p>\n Peter Lougheed was a staunch federalist, yet Horst explained how the premier earned respect even from those who disagreed with him most sharply \u2014 most notably Quebec\u2019s pro-sovereigntist premier, Ren\u00e9 L\u00e9vesque. Despite their opposing visions for Canada, the two men stood together as key members of the \u201cGang of Eight\u201d against<\/a> Pierre Trudeau\u2019s unilateral patriation of the Constitution \u2014 a chapter that still shapes how Canadians debate unity today.<\/p>\n As summer approaches, Alberta\u2019s political temperature will keep climbing. The provincial NDP has already promised its own door-knocking campaign, framed around staying in Canada. More voices will arrive on porches across the province \u2014 some urging separation, others unity.<\/p>\n The real test won\u2019t be who shouts loudest at the door or online. It will be whether we can still look one another in the eye \u2014 Albertans and Canadians from coast to coast to coast \u2014 and acknowledge that our neighbour\u2019s beliefs matter as deeply as our own. Horst Schmid understood that bringing people together through shared culture was the surest way to choose connection over fracture. In this unsettled season, not just Alberta but all of Canada could use more of that wisdom \u2014 not less.<\/p>\n National Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My Easter baking rituals this year were interrupted by a knock at the front door. On the porch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[710,711,17,715,712,713,714],"class_list":{"0":"post-1051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta-legislature","9":"tag-alberta-separatism","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-free-alberta","12":"tag-horst-schmid","13":"tag-rest-of-canada","14":"tag-stay-free-alberta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/9de87d4640dee9035521afd8e96cf1f4.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n