Writer/Researcher, Former journo (Torstar, Calgary Herald, FFWD)
Calgary, Alberta
Joined January 2009
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OK. Here's a summary of tonight's Alberta Prosperity Project meeting, with Mitch Sylvestre doing most of the talking.
Sylvestre denies he and Jeff Rath were fired from the organization, claiming Tanya Clemens and Chris Scott lacked the authority to remove them.
He accused Danielle Smith of betraying separatists and warned that alienating independence supporters could hand the next election to the NDP.
He's aiming to mobilize 1,000 independence supporters for the upcoming UCP AGM in Calgary, with plans to elect four or five sympathetic provincial board members who could help trigger a leadership review.
Another organizer noted three UCP constituency associations have already passed motions calling for a leadership review. She alleged UCP president Rob Smith was working behind the scenes to get constituency associations to pass letters supporting the premier.
APP supporters are being encouraged to buy UCP memberships, attend constituency association meetings and seek positions on local boards.
Sylvestre didn't ruled out forming a new political party if independence supporters are pushed out of the UCP. He also flatly rejected suggestions that his efforts could split the UCP and help elect the NDP.
"Who split this party up? Danielle Smith split this party up. Period. End of conversation."
And perhaps the most revealing statement of the evening came when Sylvestre explained why separatists should join the UCP:
"If you're buying a UCP membership, you are not buying it to support the UCP. You are buying it to support our cause for independence."
#abpoli #cdnpoli
UPDATE: In a APP Zoom meeting, Mitch Sylvestre says Tanya Clemens and Chris Scott are not board members and don't have authority to dismiss anyone.
"The fact that they're saying that they dismissed anybody from the APS board, they had no authority to do it. They cannot do it, and I'm really concerned with the timing of that."
#abpoli #cdnpoli
The Alberta Prosperity Project says it fired Jeff Rath and Mitch Sylvestre, removed both from its board, then deliberately kept the whole thing quiet until after the referendum because it didn’t want to distract from the vote.
Most failed states wait until after independence to start falling apart.
#abpoli #cdnpoli
The Alberta Prosperity Project says it fired Jeff Rath and Mitch Sylvestre, removed both from its board, then deliberately kept the whole thing quiet until after the referendum because it didn’t want to distract from the vote.
Most failed states wait until after independence to start falling apart.
#abpoli #cdnpoli
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
No sir, I am with Carrie on this one. It's insane that reporters can't scrum at press conferences anymore and can't get questions answered. Every level of government in Canada has gone insanely opaque. It's extremely disappointing. Canadians deserve answers and accountability from our elected officials. I personally think journalists should stop being polite and stop following the made up rules. Go to the phones first if outlets that aren't in the room want to stick to two questions, but the reporters in the room should scrum as they see fit. All this system is doing is weakening Canadians' faith in public institutions and allowing conspiracy theories to flourish.
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
So UCP loses AB-funded costly referendum (as polls told them they would ) and they move on to gerrymandering riding boundaries to try and cheat their way to another mandate. If you want to know what UCP will do next, just check what Trump and GOP are doing or have just done.
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
Naheed Nenshi is 100% correct about this.
I asked @nenshi how he can champion pipelines when federal NDP Leader @avilewis is against new ones.
Nenshi: "I don't want to be unkind, but the federal NDP is really not relevant in Alberta. Nobody talks about them, nobody worries about them."
🎧 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
How many MLAs in her caucus voted for option 2? When will we finally be told?
Smith takes her stand - bans separatist candidates, UCP officials, ministers, who won't accept referendum result. Column. calgaryherald.com/opinion/co… #ableg #abpoli #yyc #yeg #cdnpoli #abreferendum #abgov
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
A reminder that the law initially said two questions asking essentially the same thing could not be asked within five years. Then the Premier changed the legislation to get her preferred question about separating.
She does that for separatists.
“I do actually believe as premier I should follow the law.” Indeed. And bookmarked. 😉
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
She could have done this six months ago and spared us the referendum, which taught us nothing that we didn’t know before.
Smith takes her stand - bans separatist candidates, UCP officials, ministers. Column.
calgaryherald.com/opinion/co… #ableg #abpoli #yyc #yeg #cdnpoli #abreferendum #abgov
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
True leadership by Smith here in waiting until after the referendum results and then deciding she's on Team Canada.
Can't wait for her announcement in two weeks that she's a huge Brewers/Rays fan.
#BREAKING: Alberta's Danielle Smith tells UCP members to get on Team Canada or find new party ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/…
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
Pro-Alberta independence leader Mitch Sylvestre tells me:
“I won’t be the guy that splits the right. I will not come up with a new party. If the progressives want to leave the UCP, they’re very welcome to do it. We’re not going anywhere.”
politico.com/news/2026/10/21…
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
Rebel Media’s Alberta bureau chief, Sheila Gunn Reid, literally registered with Elections Alberta as a separatist-side third-party advertiser for the referendum. Let’s stop pretending that they’re anything other than right-wing propagandists dressed up as a legit news outlet.
In 2010, George Soros threatened to sue Ezra Levant for defamation. Levant and Sun Media subsequently published a retraction and apology.
Sixteen years later, Levant's Rebel News is asking Alberta's premier to investigate Soros. #abpoli #cdnpoli
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
Smith insisting the law forced her to put this separation q on the ballot.
No. The law required govt to consider the proposed question.
And Smith lowered the signature threshold to 177k from 600k.
The secessionist option garnered 496,890 votes w 94% of polls reporting.
Days after Albertans soundly rejected separatism, UCP president Rob Smith says his party needs separatists to maintain power and suggests the U.S. Tea Party as a model.
Because if there's one political success story worth importing from America, it's the Republican Party's descent into madness. #abpoli #cdnpoli
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
The gerrymandering is coming tomorrow, folks.
Be ready, it will be the most aggressive attempt to cheat in Canadian history.
Together we saved Canada! But there is another threat brewing, and again it's coming from within the UCP.
Danielle Smith wants to gerrymander our riding maps because she's terrified she will lose. She wants politicians to pick their voters. No way, premier. In Alberta, voters pick their politicians.
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
YES is falling on the nine as the count progresses. Two have dipped below 50%, and only one of the options is over 55% at this point.
So the end result is going to be a very underwhelming mandate to move on these.
Trevor Scott Howell retweeted
As usual, with Danielle Smith, watch what she does and ignore what she says. She lies well, does it often, and right to your face. All while avoiding media questions and spending more of our tax dollars to do so. Albertans are not being represented by Alberta's UCP government.
