‘Canada is much stronger with Alberta in it’: Red Deer mayor reacts to referendum result

In Red Deer-South, even though votes are still being counted, 18,224 voted for option one and 7,644 voted for option two.

Jefferies said she expected Red Deerians to vote for Alberta to stay in Canada.

“I would have been surprised if it had been much different from where it landed. I would have liked to have seen it a little stronger, but I feel like we were fairly confident in our vote,” she said. “It reflected what I was hearing all the way along.”

She said it’s important for the province and the city to move forward in a positive way and work towards building a stronger Alberta and Canada.

Jefferies explained she looks forward to constructive conversation in the future.

“Canada is much stronger with Alberta in it, and Alberta is much better for being in Canada,” Jefferies added.

“I hope things move forward in a good way. I don’t expect some of the chaos and uncertainty to disappear immediately, if ever. I think there will always be a little bit of uncertainty, but hopefully we can bring people to a space where they can have confidence in where we’re headed.”

The mayor stated that she understands some Albertans have concerns with how the federal government has treated the province in the past.

She believes wholeheartedly that the government wants to work with Alberta. She said that building relationships and working together is what it’s all about.

“We will get there together rather than dividing ourselves and trying to win a fight,” she said. “I’ve been in the presence of the Prime Minister four times since April, and I think the message has been strong to say to our federal counterparts you need to come to Alberta, you need to understand Alberta, and you need to work with us.

“It can’t be just for the referendum; this needs to be an ongoing relationship going forward, and there was lots of support for that.”

In addition, the Mayor hoped that more people would have voted no to the other nine questions.

Because of this, she worries about the message it sends to immigrants and newcomers in the community and to the people who are thinking about moving to Alberta.

“We’ll hope we can make the best of that going forward rather than the worst.”

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by Ian Gustafson

‘Canada is much stronger with Alberta in it’: Red Deer mayor reacts to referendum result

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