Red Deer-South MLA who backed separation vote won’t run again
UCP MLA Jason Stephan, who voted for Option 2 in the referendum, says he will not seek re-election. His own riding voted 70 per cent to remain in Canada.
Politics
“The Alberta provincial election will be in one year. By such time, I will have served as MLA for over 8 years and I will not be seeking re-election,” Stephan said in a post on X Monday evening, hours before referendum results began coming in.
“It is time to step back,” he said in a longer statement reported by the Red Deer Advocate, adding that “there are many men and women in Red Deer South who could be excellent MLAs.”
Stephan was first elected in 2019. Before Monday’s vote, he publicly confirmed he had voted for Option 2 on the referendum’s 10th question, which asked whether the province should begin the legal process toward a binding referendum on separation, CTV News reported. He argued the option did not necessarily mean supporting independence and said it “puts Ottawa on notice.”
Premier Danielle Smith voted to remain in Canada and has described the UCP as a big-tent party where MLAs can hold different views.
Voters in Stephan’s own riding backed staying in Canada. In Red Deer-South, Remain had 70.4 per cent, 18,224 votes to 7,644, with 62 of 73 voting places reporting Tuesday afternoon, according to unofficial Elections Alberta results. Province-wide, Remain had 75.3 per cent with 87 per cent of voting places reporting.
No other sitting MLA who has publicly declared support for Option 2 has announced plans to leave. The Republican Party of Alberta published a scorecard last year listing 18 UCP MLAs as supporters of independence, but none of them has confirmed that position publicly, and several have rejected it.
Four NDP MLAs, Joe Ceci, Luanne Metz, Marlin Schmidt and Lori Sigurdson, announced in June that they will not seek re-election. None has supported separation.
The next provincial election is scheduled for October 2027.
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