Ottawa wants you to look at the provincial total. Look at the map instead. Two ridings above 50 percent. Ten above 42 percent. The independence movement has a heartland, and it is growing.

This is not the end. This is the end of the beginning. Today, Albertans are participating in one of the most consequential votes in our province’s history. Many will look at today as a finish line. A moment that will determine whether the Alberta independence movement succeeds or fails. I don’t see it that way. Today is an important milestone in a journey that began nearly a century ago, when Albertans first began seriously discussing the possibility of independence from Ottawa. For the first time in our history, Albertans are walking into voting booths to cast a ballot that could determine whether our future continues to be dictated by the Laurentian elite and the voters of Eastern Canada. That alone is historic. But there’s something I think many people need to internalize. Regardless of what happens tonight, this movement has already won something extraordinary. If you had told someone just two years ago that Albertans would be casting ballots in a historic vote that could set us on the path toward independence, most people would have laughed at you. Yet here we are. And make no mistake, I still think victory tonight is possible. I’ve been watching the latest polling, the significant momentum toward Option 2, and the voter turnout numbers. I don’t think it’s inconceivable that Albertans could deliver a historic upset tonight. But even if we fall short of a majority, something far more significant has already taken place. The Alberta independence movement has crossed a threshold from which there is no going back. We’ve gone from being dismissed as a fringe movement, something people were afraid to even discuss publicly, to becoming one of the most consequential political conversations in Alberta. Ideas that were once considered unthinkable are now being debated openly by millions of Albertans. That is how political movements evolve. What begins on the fringes enters the mainstream, challenges the established order, and eventually becomes the majority opinion. We’ve reached that next stage. And I firmly believe we’re only going to grow stronger from here. The federalists have already lost the war of ideas. Why? Because throughout this entire campaign, they’ve failed to offer a single serious remedy to the legitimate, decades-long grievances Albertans have with Confederation. Instead, they appealed to an artificial sense of patriotism toward a Canada that no longer resembles the country so many of us grew up believing in. They relied on fear, stigmatization, and lies to discourage Albertans from even considering a different future. But fear is not an argument. Patriotism is not a substitute for accountability. And dismissing legitimate grievances does not make them disappear. On a long enough timeline, lies always lose. The truth is on our side. The facts are in our favour. And the fundamental arguments for Alberta independence aren’t going away, regardless of tonight’s result. We’ll soon find out just how strong this movement has become. But what I know is that we’ve already reached the critical mass necessary for a movement to begin its transformation into a majority opinion. That transformation won’t happen overnight. There will be setbacks, disappointments, and difficult battles ahead. But the momentum we’ve built, the conversations we’ve started, and the people we’ve brought together cannot simply be undone by the result of a single vote. And I want to end this with something personal. When I first started Rise of Alberta, I never imagined it would reach the number of people it has today. I never imagined the influence it might have, and frankly, that was never the goal. I saw what was happening to the province I was born and raised in. I saw the direction our country was heading. And I felt compelled to do something, however small, to help change it. What started as simply speaking my mind about issues I cared deeply about has become something far bigger than I ever anticipated. Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of meeting countless genuine patriots. Good, hardworking, loving people who want nothing more than a better future for their families, their children, and the province they call home. People who have given their time, their money, their energy, and in many cases sacrificed far more than most will ever know, simply because they believe Alberta deserves better. Whatever happens tonight, I hope every one of those people understands what they’ve helped accomplish. You’ve taken an idea that was once dismissed and turned it into a movement that can no longer be ignored. You’ve changed the political conversation in this province, perhaps forever. And you’ve helped lay the foundation for something that I believe will one day become inevitable. An Alberta governed by Albertans, free to determine its own destiny. Tonight may determine the next chapter of that journey. But it will not determine whether the journey continues. Because I have never been more convinced that Alberta’s best days are still ahead of us. This isn’t the end. It’s the end of the beginning. God bless Alberta.

“You guys don’t have to hope anymore. You have a chance to change it and get your freedom back. Godspeed. Freedom to Alberta.” — Sean Strickland, UFC Middleweight Champion

Generations talked about it. Today, Albertans get to vote on it. Go make history.