Former MP wants to explore Alberta’s future with U.S.

By Collin Gallant on March 26, 2025.

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Medicine Hat’s former Member of Parliament is part of a group hoping to open direct talks with U.S President Donald Trump about Alberta’s future, and is also now calling for a provincial independence referendum this year.

LaVar Payne is listed among the attendees of a press conference set for today in Calgary to launch the “Delegation to Washington” project. It hopes to determine the level support in Washington, D.C. toward an economic union or statehood for an independent Alberta, according to a release.

It states that a list of nine issues recently outlined by Premier Danielle Smith following a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney last week “has all but guaranteed an independence referendum to be held in Alberta this calendar year.”

At the same time, Smith, also a local MLA, implied in a statement to the News the issues could be settled soon depending on the outcome of the current federal election.

Her government isn’t planning to unilaterally hold such a vote, but she added, one could take place if support meets the relatively high standards to be certified as a citizen-led referendum.

“Although our caucus supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, I recognize that many Albertans are disenfranchised after many years of Liberal- and NDP-backed governments in Ottawa repeatedly attacking our provincial economy and way of life,” she wrote in a statement.

“Alberta has a citizen-initiated referendum law that allows concerned citizens to put forward policies for referendums,” the statement concludes. “If there is support for independence, that process is the proper avenue for citizens to bring it forward for all Albertans to have a say on.”

To be put on a ballot, a policy issue petition must contain about 300,000 signatures, including at least 20 per cent support from voters in two thirds of Alberta’s 87 ridings.

Canadians have reacted strongly to assertions by Trump that Canada should become the “51st State.” Polls show only nine per cent of Canadians would support such an outcome, but support is highest in Alberta at 15 per cent.

The “delegation” group says it is “in the process of confirming dates for meetings with the Trump Administration on a fact-finding basis to determine the level of support from the Trump Administration for Alberta self-determination.”

It would then report back to Albertans “through a series of town halls on the expected support for Alberta self determination and independence from the Trump Administration.”

Payne, the MP for Medicine Hat from 2008 to 2015, is listed as a founder and one of several members of the committee, along with Rob Anders, another former Conservative MP from Calgary.

Several others have connections to the Alberta Prosperity Project, which has gained prominence over several years holding town hall meetings in Alberta promoting what it says are economic and social benefits of independence, against pandemic health restrictions and perceived overreach by Ottawa and government in general.

Its slogan is “For a sovereign Alberta within or without Canada.”

Other founding members include current or former APP officials; medical doctor Dennis Modry, businessman Mitch Sylvestre and lawyer Jeffrey Rath.

Rath made news after appearing on U.S.-based Fox News on March 6, stating he would push for direct talks with the U.S. officials about Canadian support for becoming part of the U.S.

“(It is) a steering committee of people looking to come to Washington on an exploratory basis and meet with a representative appointed by President Trump to explore the benefits of either Alberta becoming an independent sovereign nation with economic union with the United States, becoming a U.S. territory or pursuing full statehood,” he told the interviewer. “Those are our goals.”

The group claims Albertans would be better off setting tax rates at the provincial level and eliminating a host of federal taxes and federal regulations in energy, agriculture, guns and speech.

Payne and several other Medicine Hatters also gained publicity last year during a United Conservative Party leadership vote, when the “Black Hat Group” argued for strengthening a provincial “bill of rights” and was introduced by the Smith government.

Smith said after her meeting with Carney on March 20 that a “specific list of demands” needed to be addressed by the next prime minister within six months to avoid an “unprecedented national unity crisis.”

They include guaranteeing pipeline access, repealing the federal emissions cap, clean electricity plan, electric vehicle and single-use plastic targets, and pipeline legislation, along with leaving industrial carbon prices to provinces.

“I made it clear that Albertans will no longer tolerate the way we’ve been treated by the federal Liberals over the past 10 years,” she wrote on social media at the time.

“I encourage all Albertans to get involved in what is likely one of the most pivotal and important elections in our nation’s history, and to support the party and candidates that have consistently advocated for freeing Alberta from federal overreach and the repeated economic attacks.”

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