During Kenney’s short tenure as Alberta’s premier, his government created the Citizens’ Initiative Act, which allowed citizens to petition to bring an issue to a general referendum.
Jason Kenney and former MLA Tyler Shandro have dismissed independence support due to the failure of separatist parties to make electoral inroads.
Shando asserted on X that nothing in Justice Shaina Leonard’s ruling prevents a separatist party from running in a general election. This is correct.
Shandro neglected to mention that nothing in Justice Leonard’s ruling prevents a referendum on independence from being scheduled by the provincial government.
Shandro had also asked, “Why won’t separatists run on a separatist platform in a general election?”
Good question.
— Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@jkenney) May 14, 2026
The answer is: because they can’t get elected to dog catcher in Alberta.
They’ve been trying for 45 years.
At least a dozen separatist parties have contested federal and provincial elections in Alberta since 1980.
They’ve only won one seat, in 1982, which they… https://t.co/So3Y5i5qWm
Former Premier Jason Kenney jumped in, quoted Shando’s posting, and mockingly added, “Because they can't get elected to dog catcher in Alberta.”
He then listed examples of poor electoral performances by separatist parties in past elections. Indeed, separatist parties haven’t had significant electoral success since the 1980s.
Where Kenney and Shandro have departed from facts is in their rationale on why independence supporters aren’t preparing to run an independence party in the next general election.
It’s because during Kenney’s short tenure as Alberta’s premier, his government created the Citizens’ Initiative Act, which allowed citizens to petition to bring an issue to a general referendum.
Instead of dedicating resources to political parties, independence supporters used the mechanism Jason Kenney gave them to focus their efforts on petitioning for a referendum.
This allowed them to unify with a common cause without the complexities inherent in political parties. It created a ground organizational structure unlike any seen before in the Alberta independence movement.
The size and momentum of the independence movement today never could have come about without Jason Kenney’s government creating the mechanism to initiate a referendum.
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