A convoy of Alberta separatists took to Spruce Grove on Saturday for what they call a final wave of support before heading to the polls on Oct. 19. Participants say they’re prepared to fight well after the vote. Organizer Tyson Rohovich says the best part of the campaign, for him, was building a community. “We want to see change in Canada … We just want to see fairness here in Alberta,” he said, adding that he himself was not against Canada as a whole. “Obviously we don’t know what the vote is going to be, but regardless, you look around, we’ve already won.” Some 30 vehicles decked out in Alberta flags and pro-separation signs gathered in the Thanksgiving sleet outside Rotary Park, their occupants cheering on passing cars that honked to the crowd. Third-party campaigns have ramped up advertising efforts on both sides of the province’s independence debate as the 10th question on the ballot asks whether Alberta should remain part of Canada or have a second, binding referendum on seceding from the country. Forever Canadian, an active pro-federalist group that led a counter-petition to keep Alberta in Canada, landed its Unity Bus in Strathmore on Saturday to continue a final push on its side of the debate, as well. “This is the last time where we should be dividing ourselves for internal political gain,” proponent Thomas Lukaszuk told CTV News Edmonton over the summer. He, at the time, pointed to the ongoing trade war with the United States as a time to put aside Alberta’s fight and focus on national unity. But Rohovich says he intends to join fellow campaigners in pushing the message through to Ottawa no matter the outcome of the referendum. Alberta Prosperity Project, the lead group in the pro-separation movement, has said there is “no risk” to voting for a referendum on a future referendum and, in a social media post, added that “the fight for independence isn’t over after Oct. 19.” “It’ll never go back to the same … There’s been a great awakening in Alberta. It’s not for hate, it’s not for whatever. We want to see restoration,” Rohovich explained.” “It’ll be interesting to see, Oct. 19, where we’re at.”
