{"id":936686,"date":"2026-10-17T17:58:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T17:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936686\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T17:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T17:58:13","slug":"pro-independence-rally-outside-albertas-legislature-building-set-for-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/936686\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-independence rally outside Alberta&#8217;s legislature building set for Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 2 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">A pro-independence group is set to hold a rally at the Alberta legislature building in Edmonton Saturday afternoon, less than 48 hours before referendum day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Let Alberta Decide has scheduled the event for 3 p.m. MT, lining up 10 speakers, including Keith Wilson, a lawyer who co-chairs the organization and heads the Alberta Transition Council, which has formed a plan should the province secede from Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">People from across the province will be attending. According to the group\u2019s website, 10 buses have been rented to transport, for a round-trip fee, people who live outside of the capital city. Two each from Calgary and Leduc, Alta., have sold out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">The Edmonton Police Service issued a traffic advisory Saturday morning, saying the demonstration could affect traffic in the city&#8217;s core and around the legislative grounds. It advises motorists about potential delays in that area and to consider taking alternate routes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">The scheduled rally is just one of several that have happened, or are planned, over the final days before Monday\u2019s provincewide referendum, which will feature 10 questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">The most notable question asks Albertans whether they want the province to remain in Confederation, or if they want the provincial government to start the legal process to hold a binding secession referendum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">According to Elections Alberta, hundreds of thousands of Albertans have already cast their ballots via mail or advance polls, which close at 8 p.m. Saturday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">On Monday, voting locations are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. If there are any lineups, stations will stay open longer to allow people to finish voting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">Polling has consistently suggested that most Albertans want to stay in Canada. But according to Elections Alberta, a significant number of Albertans back the independence movement: it verified almost 222,600 signatures for the Stay Free Alberta citizen initiative petition, headed by Mitch Sylvestre, leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-b3GxD html-paragraph\">In late August, hundreds of people gathered at the legislature for <a class=\"link-_o8iA html-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/both-sides-of-alberta-separation-debate-rally-as-momentum-kicks-up-ahead-of-vote-9.7325661\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">another pro-separation rally<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-936686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}