Republican Party of Alberta leader Cameron Davies resigns
Davies stepped down the same day Premier Danielle Smith said separatist lawyer Jeffrey Rath would no longer be allowed to remain a UCP member.
Why it matters
The shake-up reflects ongoing turmoil within Alberta's separatist movement and its uneasy relationship with the governing UCP.
Cameron Davies has resigned as leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, a separatist party that grew to nearly 35,000 members under his leadership. In a statement, Davies said the party achieved the highest vote share of any Alberta independence party since the 1980s and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that the movement must be bigger than any one person.
The party's only electoral test came in summer 2025, when it ran candidates in three provincial by-elections. Its strongest result was in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, where it won 2,705 votes, or about 17.7 per cent. In two Edmonton ridings, it drew a combined 358 votes, roughly one to two per cent of the vote.
Davies called for full provincial control, an immediate reduction in immigration, an Alberta Pension Plan, provincial tax collection, an Alberta police force and a binding referendum on independence, saying these goals require unity rather than fragmented organizations. The party has not named an interim leader.
The resignation came the same day Premier Danielle Smith announced that separatist lawyer Jeffrey Rath would no longer be permitted to hold UCP membership.
Compiled by the Alberta Daily Desk — an AI-written summary of reporting from the credited sources below, produced and reviewed under our editorial policy.