Alberta's Conservative Heartbeat: UCP AGM Ignites Fight for Sovereignty and Prosperity
- Jason
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By Jason LaFace , Conservative Commentator Extraordinaire
November 29, 2025
What a night for Alberta's freedom-loving patriots! Last evening, the Edmonton Expo Centre pulsed with the unfiltered energy of over 40000 United Conservative Party (UCP) delegates, gathered for the 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM). This wasn't just a convention—it was a clarion call against Ottawa's suffocating grip, a celebration of Premier Danielle Smith's bold leadership, and a rallying cry for the grassroots warriors pushing Alberta toward true independence. As the smoke clears from policy debates and fiery speeches, one thing is crystal clear: Alberta's conservative soul is alive, kicking, and ready to reclaim its destiny.
Premier Smith took the stage like a lioness defending her pride, delivering a keynote that blended pragmatic wins with unyielding defiance. Fresh off signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Prime Minister Mark Carney's federal Liberals on Thursday, Smith touted the deal as a "clear win" for Alberta's energy sector. The agreement paves the way for a new West Coast bitumen pipeline—potentially one million barrels per day, privately financed, and with Indigenous co-ownership—while scrapping the dreaded oil and gas emissions cap and easing clean electricity rules.
It's a step toward unlocking our vast resources, boosting production to six million barrels a day by 2030, and creating thousands of high-paying jobs. But let's cut through the Ottawa spin: this MOU is as good as a piece of toilet paper it's written on. Signed by a Liberal regime that's flip-flopped on pipelines for years, it's non-binding and ripe for reversal the moment political winds shift. Remember the Northern Gateway? Canceled on a whim. Trans Mountain? Ballooned to $34 billion under federal mismanagement. Smith knows this—her government wisely extracted concessions like stronger industrial carbon pricing (hiked to $130 per ton) in exchange—but true conservatives see it for what it is: a temporary truce in a war Ottawa started. We need ironclad sovereignty, not more paper promises from the East.
The real fireworks erupted when Smith gauged the crowd's mood on the deal. Asking if they felt "more confident in Canada" post-MOU, she was met with resounding boos—a raw, honest rebuke from the base that powers this party.
That's the Alberta spirit: skeptical of federal overtures, hungry for autonomy. And Smith gets it. Unlike her predecessors who cowered before Trudeau-era edicts, she's empowered everyday Albertans to seize the reins. Enter the crown jewel of her legacy: the Citizen Initiative Act, turbocharged by Bill 54 earlier this year. By slashing the signature threshold for referendums from 20% of registered voters (a near-impossible 600,000 souls) to just 10% of the last election's turnout—around 177,000 signatures—and extending the collection window to 120 days, Smith has handed the people a loaded gun against overreach.
This isn't government meddling; it's pure democratic dynamite. For the first time, Albertans can force a vote on seismic questions—like ditching equalization, defying net-zero mandates, or even charting a sovereign path—without begging politicians for permission.
No one embodies this citizen-led revolution more than the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), the grassroots powerhouse that's been tireless in educating and mobilizing our province. Led by CEO Mitch Sylvestre—a straight-talking Bonnyville businessman and UCP stalwart who's crisscrossed Alberta hosting town halls on independence—the APP filed its Citizen Initiative petition back in July, boldly posing the question: "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a Sovereign Country and cease to be a province in Canada?"
With over 250,000 pledges already in hand and legal counsel Jeffrey Rath—a sharp constitutional lawyer who's battled Ottawa's encroachments and even pitched Alberta's case to U.S. officials as our potential 51st state—guiding the charge, the APP is on the cusp of history.
Rath's no-nonsense expertise, from dismantling federal overreach in court to forging ties with American allies, underscores why Alberta must break free: lower taxes, deregulation, and control over our policing, immigration, and trade. Sylvestre's vision? A prosperous Alberta unshackled from equalization theft and endless red tape, echoing the self-reliance that built this province. Conservatives, if you're not supporting the APP yet—through donations, petitions, or showing up at their events—you're missing the fight of our lives. Visit albertaprosperityproject.com and join the surge. Alberta's future demands it.
The AGM's policy floor was a conservative feast, with delegates devouring resolutions that hit all the right notes: reintroducing coal power to our grid for affordable energy, billing temporary residents for health care to protect taxpayer dollars, banning race-based admissions in post-secondary institutions, and nixing "15-minute cities" as the nanny-state traps they are.
They even greenlit full parental disclosure on kids' extracurriculars and a push to scrap net-zero strategies that hamstring our economy. And separation? Oh, it's simmering. Draft resolutions called for a detailed pros-and-cons plan on independence, with whispers of a debate featuring APP's Sylvestre himself.
Polls show 36% of Albertans ready to vote yes on a referendum—half favoring the ballot box now—and with Smith's lowered bar, that fire could ignite fast.
Yet amid the triumphs, challenges loom. Recall petitions target 14 UCP MLAs over hot-button issues like invoking the notwithstanding clause to end the teacher strike and protect parental rights in health care. Smith dismissed them as distractions from her "amazing" work, hinting at union meddling or foreign interference—fair points in a province under siege. Critics carp about First Nations consultations, but Smith's framework honors Treaty rights while prioritizing Indigenous co-ownership in projects like the pipeline. This is leadership: inclusive, tough, and Alberta-first.
As the AGM wraps today with board elections and more networking, one takeaway towers above the rest: Danielle Smith isn't just holding the line—she's redrawing it. By enabling citizen initiatives, she's given us the tools to demand what Ottawa denies: sovereignty, prosperity, and pride. The MOU? A tactical pause, not peace. The APP, Rath, and Sylvestre? Our vanguard in the trenches. Conservatives, the base roared last night because Alberta's fed up with being Canada's cash cow. Let's channel that roar into action. Sign the petition. Back the Project. Put Alberta first—before it's too late.
Jason LaFace is a proud Alberta conservative, owns and operates Alberta Radio to cut through the noise.
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