Jerry Andres watched the results roll in Monday night from his usual perch — at his computer, in his living room in Eckville, Alta., windows open to podcasters livestreaming on YouTube and Rumble.
asserted
results → watch → YouTube
Anders, a retired oilfield worker, wasn’t surprised by the outcome, but he was disappointed.
asserted
he → surprise → outcome
“To be honest with you, I’m more anti-Carney and the Liberals than I am anything,” he said, standing on his porch a day later.
asserted
he → ’m → porch
Andres has a bushy white handlebar moustache.
asserted
Andres → have → moustache
A Harley Davidson sat in his driveway.
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Davidson → sit → driveway
A flag for an Independent Alberta — a snake coiled over the provincial crest — flew from the fence post that frames his green and white bungalow.
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that → coil → bungalow
“Some people call me a racist,” he said, his wife visible on the couch inside, watching “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
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wife → call → Trek
I don’t think I am.
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I → think → ?
I never had any issue with coloured people until the last 10 years.”
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I → have → years
Voters in Alberta Monday overwhelmingly rejected the idea of holding a binding referendum on separating from Canada.
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Monday → reject → Canada
With 99 per cent of polls reporting, 85 of Alberta’s 87 provincial districts had endorsed the idea that “Alberta should remain a province” of this country.
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Alberta → report → country
In total, about 75 per cent of Albertans voted to stay in Canada.
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cent → vote → Canada
But in the Eckville community centre, next to the curling rink, two blocks from Andres’ lawn, 71 per cent voted to leave.
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cent → vote → lawn
On Tuesday, I drove to Eckville — half an hour west of Red Deer — to find out how some of Alberta’s most ardent sovereigntists were feeling the day after a resounding federalist win.
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some → drive → win
The town of about 1000 sits in the heart of Alberta oil country near the eastern border of Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, one of the two ridings to vote in favour of a binding referendum.
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town → sit → referendum
On my two hour drive north from Calgary, I passed through fields thick with cattle, active pumpjacks and flare stacks burning off gas.
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I → pass → gas
picture my home province, many still imagine places like Eckville, resource towns on the high prairie where the community centres hold cribbage tournaments and the hockey rinks convert every summer into rodeo barns.
Rosita Edwards and Drew Daniels live just a few blocks away from the Eckville rink.
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Edwards → picture → rink
On Tuesday, their cat, Shady, played on a leash in the front yard.
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cat → play → yard
A Republic of Alberta flag hung from two hockey sticks bolted next to the side of their home.
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flag → hang → home
Daniels has spent the last 20 years working in pipelines.
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Daniels → spend → pipelines
When I asked him how most of his colleagues voted, he just laughed.
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he → ask → colleagues
“We’re oil and gas, man,” he said.
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he → ’re → ?
“I mean, it’s tough as a man to see more than 40 per cent of your wage going back that way.
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cent → mean → wage
(He gestured symbolically toward Ontario.)
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He → gesture → Ontario
I asked Daniels what changed.
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what → ask → Daniels
“Trudeau, man!” he said.
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he → say → ?
Edwards had a different take: “I think it’s when our youth couldn’t get jobs,” she said.
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she → have → jobs
She told me her son dropped out of high school because he couldn’t find part time work.
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he → tell → work
“And now he’s a pipe fitter … because he couldn’t get a job at the local Timmy’s or the local McDonald’s or DQ because it’s predominantly brown people,” she said.
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she → ’ → Timmy
“And they wouldn’t hire white kids.
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they → hire → kids
That’s something I heard repeatedly, not just in Eckville but over and over again in interviews with separatists over the past year: that immigrants brought in by the federal Liberals are stealing opportunities from local youth.
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immigrants → ’ → youth
Lacombe County, which includes Eckville, is one the whitest places in the entire province.
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which → include → province
But the idea — whipped up and stoked by Danielle Smith’s UCP government — that newcomers are a drain, that they are leeching from “real” Albertans has sunk in here nonetheless.
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they → whip → Albertans
“You go to a hospital, a restaurant, a gas station, fast food, it don’t matter,” Andres told me.
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Andres → go → me
“Anywhere you go in public, it’s all run by, or worked by immigrants.”
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it → go → immigrants
On Monday night, the riding that includes Eckville voted more than 78 per cent in favour of “Alberta taking increased control over immigration for the purposes of decreasing immigration to more sustainable levels.”
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Alberta → include → levels
That’s despite the fact that, according to the most recent tally, the county surrounding Eckville had all of 170 visible minorities out of a population of more than 10,000.
uncertain
county → ’ → 10,000
For Bonnie Boisjolie, who lives just outside of Eckville, that just makes sense.
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that → live → sense
“Why would anybody in their right mind vote not to stop immigration?” she said.
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she → vote → immigration
Like Andres, Boisjolie, a retired bus driver, gets most of her news from podcasts and online streamers.
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Boisjolie → get → podcasts
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
