Letter: Why we show up every Saturday

By Letter to the Editor on March 11, 2026.

Dear editor,

From 11 a.m. to noon, a group of us stands outside MLA Justin Wright’s office or MLA Danielle Smith’s office holding homemade protest signs.

We wave to passing cars, talk with neighbours and sometimes answer the same question: Why protest?

The answer is simple. Because democracy only works if people show up. Albertans pride themselves on independence, fairness and looking out for our neighbours. Many of us feel those values are being tested right now.

Public health care and public education are systematically being dismantled, while our politics increasingly turns to scapegoats instead of solutions.

People on AISH are blamed. Immigrants and Temporary Foreign Workers and international students are blamed. The federal government is blamed. AHS is blamed. The LGBTQ community is blamed. Unions and organized labour are blamed.

At the same time, after the separatists were given a hand up by our premier changing legislation, their rhetoric is gaining traction. Hundreds recently attended a separatist panel in Medicine Hat.

Imagine if those same numbers showed up to defend strong public services and a confident Alberta within Canada. Many of us standing outside those offices had never protested before this. But the stakes have changed. If you are worried about the province’s direction, you are not alone.

Across Alberta, ordinary people are beginning to speak up. You don’t have to agree on everything to believe everyday Albertans deserve to be heard.

Join us on Saturdays. Stand with your neighbours. Let your voice be counted. Because democracy only works when we show up.

Anna Hansen

Medicine Hat

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