Dreeshen steers clear of answer about Alta. separatism vote at news conference

Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen pointed fingers at the federal government when asked how he plans to vote in the October referendum.

Alberta Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen didn’t want to talk about how he plans to vote in the Oct. 19 separatist referendum.

Dreeshen was in Calgary on Friday for a funding announcement when he was asked by a reporter where he stood on the Oct. 19 vote about separation.

Rather than say yes or no, Dreeshen delivered a rambling monologue that tried to lay responsibility for the referendum on Ottawa and the federal government.

“I think there’s 100 people in this room, so my one (referendum) vote versus their 100 might be a little skewed,” Dreeshen said, “but I would say ultimately, when it comes to, I see the media has been asking lots of politicians what their opinion [is] and what their vote, what their singular [referendum] vote is going to be, but I do find it interesting that I haven’t seen a lot of pressure on the federal government to see what they’re going to do.

“Because it is the federal government’s primary responsibility to make sure that the country stays together,” he said, continuing.

“We are seeing that the Calgary Stampede is coming up here in July,” Dreeshen added. “I’ve had numerous issues with federal government, whether it’s O’Chiese First Nation who has been trying to get a federal road built in their Nation for years now -- I actually went to Ottawa two years ago with the First Nation to see if they could get federal funding and get the approval for a road to be built on their reserve and the federal government, still to this day, has said ‘no’ and we just saw two tragic deaths happen last week.”

Dreeshen said it’s up to Ottawa to make Albertans feel good about remaining part of Canada.

“To me there’s lots of federal issues and I think there’s lots of work that the federal government can do to try to make the case for why Canada works and try to convince Albertans why they should be voting to stay in Canada during the October vote,” he said.

“There’s a lot of work [by Ottawa] that can be done, and we’re doing our best part as a provincial government to make sure that we can support Albertans and make sure they have the best quality of life here in the province.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has already said that she will vote in favour of remaining in Canada.

MAGA moment

Dreeshen was photographed in 2016 sporting a Make America Great Again ballcap. According to a 2018 article in Vice, Dreeshen spent time that year travelling with the Trump campaign, training volunteers and door knocking for the U.S. president during his first election campaign.

Dreeshen co-authored, with colleague Matthew McBain, an article about the experience for the Hill Times, with the sub-headline, “Two Canadian conservatives road-trip south to campaign for Donald Trump, tapping into how an outsider politician came to win the U.S. presidency, and gleaning lessons for Canuck politicos.”