Alberta separatists trade red for blue on Canada Day

Published 3 hours agoUpdated 2 hours ago Open this photo in gallery: Whistle Stop Cafe, known for remaining open in defiance of Alberta's public health restrictions during COVID-19, hosted an Albertans' Day Rally on Wednesday. Groot/The Globe and Mail Save for laterPlease log in to bookmark this story. Log InCreate Free Account Four years ago, as the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was winding down, Chris Scott raised a massive Canadian flag attached to a pick-up truck beside his cafe in Mirror, Alta. “I hoisted that sucker 110 feet in the air. “I flew that, and you could see it for miles. You could see it just about from Bashaw,” Mr. Scott said, referring to the nearby town. Scott replaced the Maple Leaf with the Alberta flag, flying it high above the cafe, which rose to infamy when he was arrested and charged with breaking pandemic-era public health restrictions. He was later acquitted, but he said it marked a turning point in his feelings toward the country. And so, on Wednesday – as Canada marked its 159th birthday – it was the blue flag with the Alberta coat of arms that dominated. It was on people’s hoodies, T-shirts and ballcaps. There was not a red Maple Leaf to be seen. It wasn’t Canada Day in Mirror, Mr. Scott told a crowd of several-hundred gathered in lawn chairs before a stage. This was Albertans’ day. “I’m grateful that I live in Canada, and that Canada has afforded me, as an Albertan, the opportunity to decide whether or not I want to continue that relationship,” Mr. Scott said. “Do you I’m saying? I don’t see Albertans’ day as a slight to Canada or an insult. I see it as an acknowledgement that the country we live in has afforded us the opportunity to speak.” The gathering occurred at a fraught time for national unity, less than four months before the question of Alberta’s future in Canada will be put to the province’s voters in a referendum question asking residents to choose between remaining in the country or beginning the legal process to hold a second, binding secession vote. S. influence, separatist sentiment in Alberta as threats to unity, poll finds Meanwhile, the separatist Parti Québécois – which has promised an independence referendum by 2030 if it forms government – is leading in the polls ahead of Quebec’s Oct. 5 provincial election.