Nenshi Get Out the Vote Rally Draws 80 to Elks Hall
Warns of Separatist Threat Ahead of Oct. 19 Referendum
Naheed Nenshi, leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party, drew a crowd of approximately 80 people to the Elks Hall this afternoon for a Rally to Vote, alongside Lethbridge West MLA Rob Miyashiro. Attendees were predominantly seniors; Nenshi received a standing ovation upon arrival.
The Town Hall hosted by Danielle Smith and Justin Wright last Saturday at Higdon Hall only had 40 attendees.
Bob Wanner - Owl News
Signs reading "Vote Oct 19" and "Save Canada, vote to remain, no to the rest" were prominently displayed.
Bob Wanner, former NDP MLA and Speaker of the House, stood up and addressed the crowd before Nenshi arrived.
When he spoke about the brochure that the province had sent out to all households, there were cries of "Shame, shame shame" from the audience.
Wanner spoke about how we are all immigrants here with the exception of our indigenous people, we all came here from somewhere else.
"We represent a multicultural society and we are extremely proud of that."
Separatists Will Crawl On Broken Glass to Vote
Nenshi spoke about the importance of voter turnout in the October 19 referendum, stating that while separatists may be a smaller group, "they will crawl on broken glass to vote." He stressed the need for a decisive remain result, expressing a desire for an 80/20 split. He said that if the vote were to go 60/40 to stay, "the subject of separation will keep coming up."
Naheed Nenshi - Owl News
Nenshi stated:
"We are 16 days away from potentially losing our country. We are 16 days away from enacting unbelievably dangerous anti-immigrant measures. We are 16 days away from launching us into a constitutional battle that took up so much time and energy in the 1990s."
He also made several claims regarding provincial conditions: "As of Sept 1 healthcare has been privatized. Peter Lougheed's dreams of the best education system in the world is now the lowest funded in Canada. Alberta has the highest unemployment rate outside of Atlantic Canada. Grapes are a luxury for the wealthy."
He referenced corporate head offices that left Montreal due to separation threats in Quebec, including the Bank of Montreal, now in Toronto, and Canadian Pacific, founded in Montreal before Canada was a country and now headquartered in Calgary. He said businesses were not investing in Alberta because of the uncertainty.
Taxpayer Funded Pamphlet Garbage and Slop
Owl News
Nenshi criticized the recent pamphlets sent to every home about the referendum questions at a cost of $4 million, calling the pamphlet "garbage and slop."
Nenshi spoke about refugee children potentially not being allowed to be educated in public schools and said school trustees might end up breaking the law to educate those children.
Regarding the pamphlet's claim that it costs $1 billion per year to educate and provide health care to temporary residents, Nenshi said, "if that is true then every one of us that works is a drain on our system."
He argued temporary foreign workers are not a drain on the health care system because "they are mostly all young and healthy" and "there is no unemployment amongst them, they are all taxpayers."
He added that if the pamphlet's claim were true, "we would be even more bankrupt than the UCP has already made us."
Nenshi said the pamphlet is full of graphs and tells people how they should vote on the nine other questions, but that the question about whether to leave Canada or not only describes the question.
He said the NDP has knocked on about 500,000 doors and heard concerning things, including that 30–40% of people do not know there is a referendum and 80–90% do not know about the nine other questions.
4-5 Hour Wait On Voting Day Likely
Nenshi said with ten questions, if voters spend only 30 seconds on each question, that means each voter will spend five minutes in the booth.
He noted there will be 10 pieces of paper and 10 different colors of ballot boxes, and said "it is no joke to say the lines will be 4–5 hours long." He emphasized the need to get out the vote, warning that pro-Canada voters might see a five-hour lineup on election day and think they do not need to worry about it. He encouraged people to make calls saying, "I'm calling to save Canada," and to text five people about their voting plan, then text five more, and five more.
A Better Way to Spend $200 Million
Nenshi stated that $200 million is being spent on the referendum, and offered alternatives for that money:
another 15 seasons of Murdoch Mysteries (received with laughter)
hire 7,500 education assistants for five years,
hire thousands of nurses for five years, or
hire thousands of doctors for five years.
Nenshi said that four constitutional questions are "a bloody waste of time" and that the feds and the other provinces will never agree.
He called this "the most consequential election of our lives."
Naheed Nenshi and Jason Kenney Agree On Staying in Canada
Nenshi shared that after an event in Edmonton, he flew back to Calgary and found his seatmate was none other than former premier, Jason Kenney, who had just come from a pro-Canada event. He said Kenney was lovely and they had a good chat, other passengers were watching and perhaps marvelling at the spectacle.
Nenshi quoted to the audience something he had written a while back:
"Danielle Smith is a politician of rare skill because she accomplished something that no other politician could have imagined possible, she has made Albertans miss Jason Kenney."
Nenshi Says It Is our duty, an honour, and a Privilege to save this country
Nenshi also shared stories of his youth growing up in Calgary. His mother was pregnant when they landed so he said he was born in Canada but made in Africa. He said his family got beautiful citizenship certificates and he just got a lousy birth certificate. He realized that that those beautiful citizenship certificates and the lousy birth certificate were the most valuable things his family ever had.
He noted that Save Canada was not on his summer to-do list, and concluded that "it is not only our duty to save this country but it is an honour and it is a privilege."
